Summer is Over

Well, it's been awhile since i last showed up here. So what's new with you? Kidding! 2020 as I say is a dumpster fire of a year. But somehow in between I made some art and wrote a few books and created a lot of illustrations. Like always I find inspiration in nature.

 

This little foxy and her babies doing drive by visit.  The deer and their babies are regularly looking for apples. And I have been bringing my dolls out into the flower beds.

 

We just have to keep doing, keep exploring, keep being yourself. Listen to yourself more often and if you feel overwhelmed, turn off the tv and social media.  Enjoy every day. 

Wearable Art with Meaning

 I hope everyone out there is keeping well and self-isolating during this horrible COVID-19 pandemic. It's such a stressful time. I consider myself so fortunate that I teach and I still have a paycheck. We're all under a lot of stress. The past few weeks have been bonkers building all of my classes online all the while learning the software and helping my co-workers do the same.

 Amidst the drama and the dust starting to settle I need to get back into my studio, which has been horribly ignored the past three weeks. Today I tidied it a bit because my studio is now also my virtual classroom.

These images are little oil paintings which I turned into brooches. They are embroidered, beaded, and embellished. They are in honor of the one-hundredth anniversary of women having the right to vote. Stay safe and be kind to one another, and remember to vote in November. Some of our ancestors died to get that right.

Art Dolls

 I am still working on clay cloth combinations. Who knows, perhaps this is where the universe wants me to be.

 These girls are now on my Etsy store. I call them Forest Fairies (Bird and Fauna) I drew and painted on their little bodies. Soft colors, which is a departure from my electrifying circus colors.

Today I am cleaning my studio. It was such a mess I couldn't focus. Do you get like that too? Seriously... a friend commented to me "OCD much" uh, yes I guess so. Honestly, I couldn't set a cup of coffee on the table. Sorry I haven't written here much, will be better now that I have ditched Facebook.

Don't forget to look for me on Instagram @Vixterina and you will see more posts. You can always say hi!

One Month Until NCECA

The count down starts. Flying to Pittsburgh for a reception at Morgan Glass gallery and NCECA. It'll be the first time I travel without my husband since.... ever? Actually when my parent's died... but I digress. (cue the Debbie Downer music!) Dang. But on a brighter note, the show at Morgan looks great. If you're in the area pop by. Visit these two little dears.

Brexit Sessions. 

And this piece is called We All Have Demons, Some Are Just Cuter. 

I can't wait to fill my suitcase with ceramic tools. And seriously if you're there... please say hi. I am a real chatter box.

Going with the Flow

I hurt my thumb. Smoothing out a piece of clay. I've done it thousands of times and this one time my thumb said no. Not wanting surgery I've been terrified with the thought of going to a doctor.  They have a thing with cutting. And is it ever really better when they cut? 

 In the meantime while my thumb is healing I have been exploring making dolls out of fabric. Drawing patterns and playing with shapes; what I did right and what's going horribly wrong. But it's all learning and playing. Darts are now my best friend. Who would have thought?

Holiday Time

Goodness me, it's been too long. I've fallen in love with Instagram (@Vixterina) and have neglected my good old trusted blog. Just in from a long Monday at work and seeing all sorts of marketing for the holidays I thought to myself I should do a holiday sale.

Churning it over in my brain. But not on my little cups, the big stuff. The expensive stuff. Just for a day or two. See who is watching. Did I mention only the expensive stuff? Feels sort of naughty and fun just thinking about it.

Beep Beep

Here's a little something I just brought down to Artisan's on the Ave.Women are on a roll and this little sculpture let's you know all about it. When I was younger I didn't give women's rights much thought, but I am thankful for women who blazed trails that allowed me to attend college, vote, and work and perhaps one day the wage gap will go away. And it might be easy to forget but there are places on this planet where women can't attend school. Educated women can be hard to control.

 The resistance, the calls to Congress are being made by women. So throwing it back old school: you go girl. And to the young girls live your life for you. Have a child when you want one, buy yourself a diamond (don't wait for or settle for a boy). Be good to you.

Bee Keeper in Art Doll Quarterly

Happy to say that my Doll B Keeper is included in the latest issue of Art Doll Quarterly magazine.

 This doll is up at Piedmont Craftsmen Gallery in Winston-Salem, NC if you want to see her.

It's always a really nice surprise to come home from work and pick up a favorite magazine and see my work. From dragging tail to chipper. My husband leaves magazines on the couch for me so I can drop and veg. (thank you Jody) And thank you to Jana Holstein for publishing my dolls.

1984

I have just ordered a new copy of George Orwell's 1984. Seems so timely. This doll is inspired by the Million Women's March. Wearing her pink cap and her big pink box is inscribed with quotes from Orwell's book. Seemed appropriate. This pussy is a tiger.

Happiness Cups

Most of us can probably remember hearing our elders complain about how the world has gone to hell. It sort of seems like it has. So rather than belly aching about it, I have made happiness cups.

These cups can make you happy. Fill it with candy. Happy. Fill it with flowers. Happy. Fill it with vodka. Very happy.

Wishing you all a happy new year. Watch my Etsy shop for a lot of happiness cups. Hold good thoughts and believe it can get better.

New Bits

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I've had an awful upper respiratory infection and have been knocked out for a week. I've actually had it for over a month but it knocked me on my butt this week. I've got my antibiotics so I am hopeful it takes care of everything. So I've been doing a bit of painting and reworking old figures when I am able.

 I think I have finished these two.  A person sent me a message and referred to the "lavender bird girl" so I am calling this one Lavender Raven.

 And keeping with the bird theme this is Chicken Man even though it's a girl. Do any of you remember Chicken Man? The adventures of the white winged warrior- The most fantastic crime-fighter the world has ever known! Or am I the only weirdo out there?  I can remember hearing it on the radio when I was very little. It's a bird, it's a plane... no it's Chicken Man! He's everywhere! He's everywhere! Bock bock bock bock!!! (Please, excuse me. I blame it on the NyQuil).

Being the explorer that I am I just had to Google it and of course I found it on YouTube. So won't you join me in my cough syrup antibiotic madness? It's really so silly but it brings back really fond childhood memories. Had almost forgotten about it. Enjoy both chicken men.

New Little Faces

Spread love everywhere you go: First of all in your own house...kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness. ~ Mother Teresa 

 I told my students today that if you have passion for what you do you will find success as an artist. If you live your truth and are happy you can't go wrong. Here I am at 50. Nothing pulls me from making art. It's my comfort in the sea of madness that engulfs our world.

These little faces calm me. Fresh faced and freckles provide a sense of innocence that I still believe in. The past few weeks  have shown me that I need nice people around. Cut ties with the negative.

Kind people who think make my heart sing. Find a way to let your heart sing.

You've Got to Work It.

You've got to rework it is more like it. Normally my studio wall has pieces displayed that are either fresh made, ready for the gallery, or hate it and it's ready for "hammer time". Hammer time is when I take a hammer and smash the crap out of them. I mean I can't let yucky ones out there into the world. That would be so wrong.
So I have been reworking these. And now I am liking them. And it's taking my mind off this awful election.

New hair. New puppets, new body, feathers, wings. 

If life was only so easy.

Can you imagine how this would change bad hair days? I'd scoop out a new bob or braids. Take some fat off the thighs. Add wings. Perfect.

Just goes to show you, nothing is lost until it is... Or is it?

Boat Sculpture

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” 

 H. Jackson Brown Jr., PS I love You.
   

The subject of boats seem to raise their head every now and then in my art. My dad worked on and restored boats and it turns out I had ancestors who were Admirals in the Royal Navy way back in the day. So boats mean a lot to me symbolically. And I think the quote above speaks why a lot of us connect to them.

 Going to keep the colors very soft. Watercolor is my favorite paint medium. By far. Making my own masts from bits of wood.

 You can even see my finger prints in this face detail. How I love seeing the presence of the human hand in a work of art.

So today throw off the bowlines and sail.

Free standing sculptures

A friend of mine recently said could you make a few figures that are freestanding. So I did. I didn't want to fuss with skinny legs and bases so I thought about ways of doing it.

 And I remembered as a child I dreamed of owning a horse. I would hold old tv tray legs around me and gallop through the yard and I was on a horse. Or a broom, or branch, or anything really.

And rather than making them like real horses I look into my kooky mind for hybrid beasts.

This one is called Lies and Lies and it's based on genealogy research I have done. I've really gotten into family trees and DNA tests this summer (Ancestry and FamilyTree). My paternal grandfather was always a mystery and thank you to my brother for the yDNA now I know my grandfather's name. Why do families lie? I mean I know why because people get pregnant when they're not married or mess with married people. But the mystery is solved and my last name was actually my grandfather's middle name. Funny. So watch for a lot of work based on family history research. Another new passion: just what I needed.

The Body is Home

My bones are in Florida but my brain is back up in northern New York. However, I return to Florida renewed and inspired. The reward after a morning run was 2 large coconut coffees and the best seat in the village park.  When I was a kid I remember

our class would go to the park to sketch or explore. When I am there now I rediscover my long lost 10 year old self. She's still in there. She emerged while I was tip toeing along the riverbank when I spotted a mink playing along the waters edge. Also while I watched black squirrels running spirals along the trunk of a tree. There is no charge for observing the beauty around you. It's free.

The color of the sunset, the village dock, familiar signs and banners, white fluffy clouds and how the blue sky pops against it. All this makes me happy and it's free.

Now I ask you: what makes you happy? And (more important) are you doing what makes you happy? Are you doing something to bring yourself closer to your happy place? We make decisions every day. To go to work or not. To smile at the clerk selling us that cup of coffee, letting that car into traffic instead of beeping your horn and shouting. And it goes on and on. You can be just as sad in a big mansion as you can in a $2 hotel room. Or while in the village park with coffee balancing on your knee.

Look for beauty in every day events. They are all around us. Are you unhappy? Then ask yourself what is the opposite of your sadness or feelings of self doubt? And how will that change things?

Is it city or country? Alone or with someone? Me, I've decided that I am going to do my best to buy a small summer get away in my hometown. Damn it. I will make it happen. I will have a studio in that house, trailer, etc. This summer I realized that I liked the person I was while I am on the St. Lawrence River. That person was truly inspired by small things. For about 2 months prior to going home I felt stuck. No ideas. I asked myself should I keep making art? Perhaps you have you done the same?

I was just so tired. Life can get you bogged down and I just wanted to say, please don't let it. Find that thing or that happy place in you. People who don't support your efforts for happiness should be tuned out. Look after yourselves. And thanks for listening.

Vacation Ends

The bags are packed and we're headed back to daily life. We started our vacation in London, then New York City and now Alexandria Bay (hometown). Each leg of the journey had its strengths. London was electric inspiration I ran a 10K with jet lag while in a sweater (yes it was at times as bad as it sounds).

New York City was dirty fast paced exploration in man made chasms. Dust in your eyes and looking up.

 And Alexandria Bay was total relaxation. It was as if my stresses were loaded into a bathtub

and the drain plug was pulled free. A favorite? Easy being around family. Feeling inspired to create. Before vacation I just couldn't find it and somehow by wandering my soul feels once again settled. Can't wait to get into the studio.

Update: Flowers

Here's a photo of the green (unfired) doll from an earlier post. She's covered in flowers.

Quite colorful. Me being a Virgo I loved painting all of the fussy details.

Seeing Pink on Monday

It's Monday night and I am dragging tail. In an attempt to "snap out of it I went for a walk. Then I went into my studio and stood there blinking. You know, some nights you just can't muster the energy. But just as it was getting dark I tried snapping a picture of a new figure. I didn't sculpt but at least I did something.

Her name is tentatively Summer because she feels like summer. A day at the beach, light. Well, except for her Club a Go-Go eye make up. And how about that pink backdrop? Summer.

and more dolls

 So I thought I'd post two more new dolls. Butterflies and birds everywhere. Spring is in the air.

I am still recovering from my surgery in January. Very happy to be walking. In my heart I am floating on air, or being carried by butterflies. Or birds.