Janice

My latest art doll, "Janice," was created with photo printed fabric (from my Golden Maple shattered photo), yarns, sequins and a recycled paper pulp face.

She's a bit different from "Cherish" (my first art doll) who's a bit more serene-looking, and not just in the face. Janice will make her public debut at the Salt Fork River Art Festival at Sleepy Creek Vineyards in Fairmount, Illinois, September 24-25th. I also hope to have with me a few more art quilts, in addition to the matted prints, pendants and the framed layered photos.

30 Days of Creativity

So I decided to do this 30 Days of Creativity thing, which doesn't actually start until June 1st. But I was jazzed so I started early.

First thing was actually finish up something I'd started a few days ago. It was inspired by something I saw in a blog post and I decided it was finally what I was meant to do with the single vintage clip-on earring I've had for more than 20 years (found at an antique mall, maybe; it's been a long time).

Felted Egg

My egg is plastic (the blogger who inspired me used real eggs), wool roving felted to the outside, embellished with tulle, moss, ribbon roses, string pearls, and that marvelous vintage earring I had to have.

Then yesterday I was pretty laid up with a migraine. Then this morning I made this (still headachy, but the hell with it):

Dance of Creation

I'm pretty pleased with it. She's made with painted twigs, fibers (fancy yarns), a molded paper pulp face, and beads, pinned to glitter felt set into an oval frame (glass removed). She was really fun to make.

And since I was unable to do anything on Thursday because of the migraine, I made a second thing Friday to make up for it:

Copper Mesh Egg Cradle

The free-form mesh egg cradle was made by taking a rectangle of copper mesh, folding over the edges (in an attempt to protect my fingers from the pointy edges), pushing it down into a lid for a start, then gently folding, rolling, shaping the sides into graceful (hopefully) ruffles. I was trying to get the metal to look like fabric. The copper's a nice contrast with the green egg, I think. (The egg was given to me by a friend, who told me it was petrified dinopoop, AKA coprolite. Must've been a vegetarian... *ba-dum tschhh*)

The Two I've Finished

So there they are, my first two mixed-media art quilts. I have plans for more, but I also want to try an art doll or two, using a print-to-fabric technique. I want to try it so much, in fact, it's sort of distracting me from other things. (Anyone else have this problem?)

Maybe I'll get to it later this week... 

Inspirations

Sewing & Quilting
Mom gave me The Complete Photo Guide to Textile Art for Easter, and the same day I received in the mail 2 back issues of Art Quilting Studio. The ideas that are pictured in them are very inspiring. Some things I cannot wait to try. I think I've come up with how to make the art quilt for the Hawai'ian fabric I bought nearly 4 years ago, too. I believe I need to practice some more on smaller scales first, though, before I tackle something that large.

I love that I'm getting positive feedback on the first little quilt I did. I love that the new one I'm working on is coming together so well. I do wish I was a little more confident; I still mostly feel like I don't have a clue. It's good that I learn best by doing, and that I am doing, and not just thinking and daydreaming. I have enough ideas, and enough enthusiasm, to keep me busy for a while. And all that work will give me plenty of practice, and chances to become more proficient and confident...

Which will also help, I hope, with the art dolls I want to make so much. I think part of the issue with the first little pass I made was the use of too many dissimilar fabrics that don't want to piece together neatly. If I stick to a woven cotton (even a cotton blend) I think I'll be ok. I also think I need to do a main "sheet" of piecework to cut my doll body from, rather than trying to get pieces to conform to the pattern. Perhaps I'll make my daughter's doll using some of the textile altering techniques in my books and magazines as an experimental palette. Paint, dye, stamp, resist, marbling... *grin* I need more white fabric! (But I'm probably getting ahead of myself again.)

Gardening & Photography
A lot of my photos have come from my own or friends' gardens. Sadly, when we moved, I left behind an established (small) flower bed that I was quite fond of. The new house has weedy, sad, very neglected beds that I hope to turn into wonderful inspiring gardens soon. Getting perennials isn't cheap though, so this year I'll jumpstart the process using seed mixtures, containing both annual and perennial seeds. Hopefully those will be successful and I can get back to my camera later in the summer, but until then I need to see what the local area has to offer in terms of preserves, parks and trails. And I can always pester the neighbors for their flowers, or maybe drive out to the Chicago Botanic Garden (a mere 45 minutes away).

My passions have a way of feeding each other. One thing sparks another, which distracts my attention from a third thing, and pretty soon I've gotten so far afield, it's hard to know how I got to where I am. This sort of short-attention-span art tends to leave me with a lot of UFOs, but I also learn so much by experimenting with new things. It's hard to be upset with the destination, when the journey has been so entertaining.

Finished Art Quilt

There. It's finished -- tagged, priced, and in the gallery. Hopefully someone will think it's awesome and buy it.

I had a great deal of fun with this, even as I sweated the details. I want to do more. But I also have this burning desire to make art dolls, using the same sort of elements, including my own Shattered Photos. The tiny little doll in the lower right corner of this one was so much fun. And she was so simple: I just freehanded the outline of the body (almost a peapod shape) and stuffed her. The face is recycled paper, pulped and molded, painted with nail polish, with burlap hair. Twig arms, and a tree painted on her torso with craft paints.

The dolls I want to make are inspired by one I bought in Canada. I don't want to replicate that artist's work, but jump off with my own ideas from hers. I don't want someone to look at my doll and see her work, I want them to see mine. More specifically, I want them to see the kaleidoscopic patterns of my altered photos and how they blend seamlessly into another medium. Or that's the plan anyway.

The art quilt was fun, and I already have ideas in my head for the next ones - and the base chosen with specific photos in mind. But it's a flat deal, really, 3-D elements notwithstanding. The dolls are going to have round bases so they'll stand on their own without support (thinking about weighting the bottoms with little sandbags), and round bases means that the front and back pieces must go all the way around -- less "play," more math. (C = π x d) So... on a 4-inch diameter base, the bottom edges of the front and back pieces need to be about 6.5 inches across (with the seam allowance) to make the needed circumference of 12.6 inches, and then however tall she will be. I've dug through my scrap stash for material I can use for my first experiment. I think I'll make the first one to give to my daughter, using images of her own face and hair in place of the molded paper. I think she'll get a kick out of that.

Art Quilting?

I've got my photos in a gallery/gift shop, and I'm working on adding other, different things to my inventory. I'm making a small art quilt, using an iron-on transfer of one of the shattered photos, fat quarters, and some other stuff... some of that "stuff" yet to be determined, but one thing will be a nifty little art doll who will hold the haiku I wrote for the piece, stamped onto a copper tag. It's going to be awesome.
I hope.

Mostly, I'm looking at this new creative outlet combining my love of photos with mixed media. But there's also an element of exploration, expansion, experimentation, and excitement. I'm trying to get it done in time for the next "meet the artists" night - Friday, 5 days from now. I've several more planned (sorta) in my head, and I am hoping the process goes smoothly once I get the hang of what I'm doing. Trouble is, I don't know what I'm doing.

My sewing skills are pretty basic, and this is my second art quilt; the first I gave to a friend with love, and hope she enjoys it, simple as it is. I'm trying to let myself forget even spacing, parallel lines, and perfect symmetry, but it's not easy. I've been looking at what other artists are up to, but their vision isn't mine, so it's hard to find inspiration outside of the vague images in my head. I'll figure it out, or I'll get frustrated and quit. It's going pretty well so far, though, so I think I'm on the right track.

Paper (Art!) Dolls

These are my Ode to Universal Monster paper dolls (art dolls!) winging their was to a Hallowe'en ATC swap. Making them is tremendously entertaining, even if the pieces get on the small-and-fiddly side.
But my paper doll pride and joy is this one:
She was made for a friend of mine who is a dancer, for her birthday. She has 15 points of articulation including positionable hair.

Another set done for a swap is these guys:

Made with homemade paper and found images, they are simplistic and strange. I love 'em!