Finding Other Media

Here is the map to Welburn! It took us hours to 
get there. I have since learned to order online.
Shipping is cheap and it comes quickly!

 A few years ago a friend and I made the trek to Welburn Gourd Farm in San Diego Country. And what a trek it was too. As we wound down a narrow twisting road after exiting the I-15 near Fallbrook, CA, with NO phone signal, we struggled to find the place. In awe that there were so many homes, I wondered, who would live where there was no cell phone signal? They had power and land lines and, maybe, that is all they wanted.

Finally we found it, parked the car and wandered in. I I have never seen so many gourds in my life. Big, small, tiny some already to use, others needing some TLC (actually, a LOT of TLC to get them burnished enough to paint)and others ready to use!

We went in the store to find amazing examples of gourds transformed into works of art using electric tools to create on the gourd surfaces visions of indescribable beauty, some using the natural color and others using a kind of colored dyes I was not familiar with.

Truly, I had never seen anything like this before.
They even had gourd already to paint AND with 
holes already drilled for a birdhouse!

We loaded up and over the next year or so my friend turned two gourds into amazingly real looking, if not LARGE apples, and then using his ethnic Chinese heritage created two amazing gourds using dragon motifs. They were, even if painted, works of art and are proudly displayed in his home.

I was more reluctant not really knowing what to do with them. I purchased gourds already emptied of their seeds and drilled for use as a birdhouse with hanging cords. It was only when an ETSY customer asked if I could create a "Day of the Dead" birdhouse for a Christmas present that I tackled a gourd. I could help others but found it hard to  help myself.

I sketched out a birdhouse plan, got it approved and created it. I covered the entire birdhouse gourd in orange paint and then using an undercoat of cream acrylic paint that would opaquely cover the paint that would allow for the eventual design. It was an approach I HAD to use with both black and the traditional dark maroon of molas.

This was a trick I had learned with painting other dark birdhouses. If you want to use most reds, yellows and other transparent colors, you need to put down a very light, opaque paint and then paint over that. In this case just about the entire birdhouse had to be double painted. Many yellows needed a third coat. I finished it, the customer was happy and that was that.

Recently as I continue my Mola inspired journey of paintings, wooden birdhouses, tissue boxes, etc., I looked at my vast collection of things ready to paint and grabbed a gourd. Already smooth, drilled with a hole and complete with hanging cord, I spray painted the entire gourd with a flat black enamel. Having tried the enamel on a scrap overpainted with acrylic paint that worked fine, I sketched the design on the gourd of three desert parrots, something I had seen at the Tuscan Outdoor museum and added desert flowers that are abundant in the spring.

Example of white undercoat

 Then came the holidays and I created first one and then three more painted designs on canvas for a holiday card, one for myself and then another for a non-profit in town. That took hours and days to do. 

Then came an opportunity to submit a painting to the Desert Art Center in Palm Spring's February show and the birdhouse was put away again. The painting and the hours it took took precedence but also added one very important lesson. I had been using a regular black lead pencil to put down my designs and squinted and hunted for them when laying down the first white or cream undercoat. I realized there are white lead pencils and why wasn't I using them. Painting done I found and ordered a few on Amazon so that when I returned to the yet unfinished birdhouse and it's design I finished it with a white lead pencil. Since traditionally Mola's use a black or deep maroon base cloth, I wanted to be true to the design. Later I discovered that newer Mola's used a brighter and much more varied base color ... red, blue, orange, green, and egg yolk yellows. However, dark backgrounds make the sliver of bright colors pop and I was ALL for that!

 

After trying several smaller Mola type paintings including one for a local non-profit, I painted the painting below to enter in a local art showing at the Palm Springs Desert Art Center. While very colorful it really was a bit more than I think the locals were prepared for!

 That led me to finish the long ago started birdhouse of another Welburn gourd painted black and with the start of a, well frankly, who know what. Borrowing parrots I had tried before I envisioned three desert parrots in a wild spring bloom similar to something I had seen at the Tuscan Outdoor Museum. I started in black leaded pencil but finished with the newly arrived white Amazon pencils. Because of the parrots and flowers top and bottom and in-between the parrots I had to paint every line like shown above and then add colors. The more transparent the paint (that's you yellow) it might take up to three coats! But the result was more than I ever imagined!

Desert Parrot Birdhouse

Since the gourd already was drilled with a hole and included a jute cord on top to hang it all I had to do was drill a hole and cut a round piece of wood to make a perch.  Of course this is not the way most gourds are used, at least from Welburn. They have samples and wonderful photos of their gourds transformed in to sculptured works of art on par with examples I saw in markets in China. 

The beauty with natural items is they are already somewhat ready for a life outdoors. With a wooden birdhouse you have a whole bunch of pieces that are either glued or nailed together each one of which can fail no matter how well they are cared for. A gourd might loose it's decoration but unless allowed to sit on the ground un-protected will last for years. To preserve it if it is decorated just apply a fresh coat of an outdoor acrylic varnish and it will return to it original beauty!

An example of the varieties of gourds available!

 If you are interested in trying a new type of surface media, here is the information to contact Welburn:

Welburn Gourd Farm

40635 De Luz Road

Fallbrook, CA 

Open Wed. - Sat. 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

www.welburngouardfarm.com

There may be similar places like this where you live                                                                                                but I think you will be satisfied with both the quality and the prices! Please forward the information to me. I am always looking for something new to try!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

 Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!