Monday, February 3, 2014

February-Peg-A-Day!


I started this blog with the intention of writing and posting regularly. Thus far I think I have put forth a solid effort and I think I have averaged about one post every week or two, which isn't too shabby. Sometimes I go a bit long without a post, and it is much easier when there is an ongoing theme to provide inspiration. November was a fun month for me because I kept up with a post about the things for which I was grateful, and I added to it each day. It was nice having a reason to log into the blog every morning to add an update.

In the same spirit of "A Thankful November," I have come up with a new project for myself. I have named it the "February-Peg-A-Day." My goal is to paint a new peg person each day and add a picture of it to this post. It isn't necessarily going to get me writing a lot, but it will help me check off a lot of the pegs from my "to-paint" list! Normally when I get into peg-painting-mode I work on many at once and so it takes me a while to get a finished product. By giving myself the goal of only one peg a day, it simplifies the process and I finish the single peg much faster than I normally would. I might not be able to do a peg 100% of the days in the month, and maybe some days I will do more than one, but I will do my best and if I miss a day or two I can rename the project, February-Peg-A-Nearly-Everyday.

I do have my own ideas of what I'd like to paint, but I think it would be more fun to hear YOUR ideas. If they are super fantastic, maybe you'll see your idea come to life! Er, well, not actual life, but to existence on a wooden peg.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre the completed February pegs!

February 1st: In honor of the baptism of my niece and goddaughter, I present Saint Anne. I apologize for the poor quality, I took the picture on my cell phone.


February 2nd and 3rd: The Olympics begin later this week! To celebrate this year's winter games in Sochi, Russia, I decided to paint pegs that look like the nesting matryoshka dolls. I feel like the pair needs another friend to make the set complete, though. I'll see what I can do!

Problem solved! I got brave and made a tiny addition to make this pair of dolls a trio! Anybody notice that all of the colors I chose come from the Olympic rings?

February 4th: Mama suggested that I paint an octopus, and because I love her, I decided to tackle it! When the four of us kids would constantly hassle her with, "Mom I need this! Mom do that! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mama!" She would cleverly respond, "I'm not an octopus!" We thought it was hilarious, it kind of became a thing, and every time I see an octopus I think of her. Painting an octopus peg turned out to be harder than I anticipated; my original intention was to make it more "real" looking, but that was frustrating and I was using up a lot of my eraser, so I took a more abstract approach. It doesn't necessarily look like an octopus right away, but once you know what you are seeing, I think it is pretty cute. Originally I was going to draw and then paint all the legs, but I ended up free-handing it, which meant that I accidentally only gave it seven legs. Luckily there IS a seven-arm octopus, so this peg is legit. The camera had a hard time focusing on the whole peg, but it loved my favorite part, the bottom, where I tried to give the impression of those little suckers under the tentacles. Enjoy this cutie patootie! All it needs now is a name. Any suggestions, Mama?


February 5th: It is late, but I am happy to bring you today's creations! I outdid myself today, making four pegs, instead of one, but the theme was Harry Potter and I couldn't help myself. More than a year ago, I made my first Harry peg, and it was a little rough: I messed up his face and had to paint over the whole thing, his glasses were hard to paint, and I was still getting control over the paintbrush. See?

I have come a long way since then and I am very pleased to show you what I did today. I based the pegs on the costuming from The Sorcerer's Stone, because, let's face it, that is when the trio was most adorable. I absolutely love them and I will just come out and say it: Hermione is precious and her hair is probably the best I have painted yet.





I also decided to give myself a challenge and paint Harry the Seeker! Please ooh and ahh over the Gryffindor crest, the broomstick, and the snitch.

February 6: Yesterday's Harry Potter characters were so cute that I had to add more today: Draco, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. From here on out I really need to stick to one peg a day or I am going to run out of pegs to paint!

Coming Soon . . . Princesses and Star Wars! 


February 7: I didn't get to complete my new set of princesses that I made in the fall because I ran out of pegs. Now, I have just enough to complete it, so today I got started with Jasmine!

February 10: I'm back! And here is Jasmine, ready to marry Aladdin. :)

February 11: I never really watched Disney's Sleeping Beauty as a kid (There was something about an animated Maleficent that freaked me out), but there was a live action version that I loved. As a grown-up now, I'd like to someday buy the DVD to view and share with my future kids. Here is the first of a trio of Auroras!
The sun is finally shining today! Natural lighting made photographing this beauty so pleasant.

February 12: Here is Aurora, part 2 - pretty in pink!

February 13: Blue Aurora, backed up by the rest of the trio.

February 19: I admit it - I am a slacker. I spent much of February 14th working on a peg that just wasn't working out. Over the long weekend I hung out with my awesome husband and did not a stroke of painting. I picked up the brushes again yesterday and finished the peg today. My ultimate plan is to create a set of pegs to represent the months of the year. In honor of St. Valentine's Day, I began the project out of order and I hereby present to you this handsome February peg, complete with a heart shaped box of chocolates and a bright bouquet of flowers.

February 20: Today I wrapped up my current installment of Disney princess pegs! I know they are not all actually princesses, but I don't care. In the future I do want to paint a set of seven dwarfs and the adorable fairies from Sleeping Beauty, and I am going to need some princes for the ladies, but that is all for a future project. For now, Mulan is ready to train for war against the Huns!

February 21: Perhaps I spoke too soon about being done with princesses; I began work on my Star Wars collection today and started it all with the lovely Princess Leia. I think this is one of my favorite pegs ever, because of her hair, of course. And her adorable belt. And because the white paint came out so clean thanks to my new white-only brushes. I am a happy painter. Gosh, this one just makes me so happy!

February 22: Here is our favorite hairy Star Wars friend - Chewbacca!

February 23: Time for Leia's twin - Luke!

February 24: Hans Solo- a wookie's BFF.

February 25: Obi Won Kenobi!

February 26:  A tiny green Jedi master Yoda is.

February 27: The baddest darth of them all - Darth Vader! I was really nervous about this one, especially after drawing the details on in pencil first, but I am SO happily surprised at how wondrfully it turned out. I didn't want to use flash on the camera, but I had to so that you could see the details on his face. In real life, the contrast is much less noticeable and much more Darth Vader-like. Dun dun dun, dun, dundun, dun, dundun!

February 28: Here is the last day of the peg-a-day! C3PO and R2D2!



The February-Peg-A-Nearly-Everyday is complete! Alas, I didn't complete a new peg every single day, but since I pulled extra weight a few days, I ended up painting 29 pegs in 28 days! The only one I don't have anymore is St. Anne, because she is now with my Goddaughter, but here are a couple of shots of the other 28 pegs. I felt like a photographer on school pictured day lining them all up just right.



May the Force be with you!


I introduced the new princesses to my existing collection. All together they are so colorful and beautiful!




Leave a comment telling me which February Peg was your favorite!