Christmas Dragons for Mother

I had a lot of fun creating Mother's Christmas gift this year.  I had been thinking about something with dragons for her for quite a while, but the entire thing didn't totally come to me until I was about halfway through sculpting.  My mother is pretty cool, you see.  She likes things like dragons, wizards, World of Warcraft, and all sorts of other fun stuff.  I love making gifts for her because we have so many of the same interests.  So much of who I am comes from my mother.  The creativity that runs through me, runs through her as well.  We often think along the same lines, so I was pretty sure she'd like this dragon candy dish.  There's a heavy dose of whimsy added to this piece! 

It took a while for the entire piece to come to together, but once I figured out what to use for a base (a metal plate with a lip which I painted)  the whole thing really started coming together.  At first I was just going to make one dragon, but once the red dragon was almost complete, I decided she needed some company.

The symbolism (Mother and Daughter dragons) came into play after I started making the smaller dragon.   While I was making and placing the dragons I was thinking of how I've always looked up to Mother, and how important she is in my life.  Of course I couldn't get too sappy, because that's just not the way Mother is- LOL!  And that's where the whimsy comes in.  Mother has a wonderfully warped sense of humor, and I knew she'd appreciate the large glow in the dark eyes and fangs.
These dragons were inspired by Dinko and Boris Tilov's dragons in Sculpting Mythical Creatures.  Of course I've been creating dragons with individual scales like these for quite a few years.  I do like their faces though- this was a different approach than usual.  And the wings are different than my usual dragon wings, but I really like this version.  I added glow in the dark plates along the wings just for fun.  Mother really liked it, and I can guarantee that it's a one of a kind piece.  I do plan on adding more dragons to CreativeCritters in 2011, and I'll be employing some of the new techniques I've learned.
I wish all my friends, family, fans, and supporters a Happy and Healthy New Year! :)