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.

Saul Magazine

 

SAUL MAGAZINE

I am proud to announce a project that I have dreamed about for a very long time. 

It has kept me busy for the past few months, Saul Magazine. It all started in my publication design class at Palm Beach State College, Lake Worth, because I had a belief in the skills of my students. My pupils were asked to interview people or answer a list of Q&A questions provided, create layouts and artwork to inform and the rest, as they say, is history.

You can order hard copies online, or simply read it.
Either way, I hope you enjoy the first  issue of Saul.

  If you would like to buy a hard copy you can do so at my Blurb storefront. Follow the links above.

My Art Situation

Holy cow, has it really been a year since I last posted? I've been giving all of my love to Instagram. Sorry Blogger. It's summer and I am up in our home in Northern New York recharging my batteries.

I am getting a studio together. The small step ladder above was retrieved from a trash pile and has  become my new easel. As I sit painting the sound of song birds waft through the windows. Rabbits bound across the lawn stopping to nibble on green grass and sometimes the little doe who lives in the trees just beyond visits. We throw her apples, and who new deer love marshmallows so much?

Teaching can be mentally exhausting. This time of year is all about refilling my tank. We leave for London  in a few days and I already have my museum and gallery visits planned.

The moral of the story is to remember you can't give on an empty tank. If you can't remember the last time you did something for you, what are you waiting for? Make something, do something. And make sure it's delightfully decadent.

Getting Where I Need To Be

I have a bad feeling my thumb is going to be naughty for a very long time. Went to the doctor a few weeks back and he said it was a cyst on the knuckle: suggested surgery or as a hold over he could try to drain it and cortisone shot. Don't want surgery. Is my foot better from surgery? No.

 So while my thumb is being naughty I am going to keep it bandaged and keep on sewing and adding clay parts. I have to say I love the doll I have been working on. Here is a head shot. I held her out in the bushes but it was so windy... her hair got wild. She'll soon be listed on my Etsy store.

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.

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.

More cups

I've got more cups. Happiness cups because the world is on fire. Happiness: Boom.

Going to post some pieces soon of my Women's March inspired pieces. Wearing their pink pussy hats.

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.

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.

Summer Break

Well I have been quite neglecting of my blog. Facebook has been shown the love. So I thought I post images of two dolls that are very summer timey.

They are both covered in hand made flowers and raspberries.

One is soft and ghostly and the other intense. I am really liking the soft ones lately. Perhaps it's getting older and pondering mortality, or the fading of ones being. (how depressing is that? ha ha) But I mean it in the best possible way.

On a lighter note: We are off to London and I will be running the Vitality British 10k. After my broken heel bone  6 months ago I am hoping for a good outcome. It's a wonderful route all throughout central London. Trafalgar, Victoria, Westminster, Send good vibes. And I am going to be sketching A LOT. This is my charge my batteries time.

Two Dolls included in Summer Issue: Art Doll Quarterly

I received my issue of Art Doll Quarterly in the mail today and was skimming through it when I saw two of my own dolls. Having forgotten the editor Jana Holstein requested a couple of images a few months ago. That sounds just like me to forget. But what a lovely surprise to see them. So if you're near a Barnes and Noble, look for Art Doll Quarterly and check out my kids.

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.

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.

Sea Babies

I've been painting away over the weekend and finally got time to post some new sea babies. I shot these after work today. One of my students said "where's all those dolls you posted on Facebook?" So here they are.

 This is by far my favorite. Calling her Cheyenne.

 

These are Scarlett and Cowrie. 

 

And this is Jetty. I think I am going to braid Scarlett and Cowrie's hair too. I am not sure if most people will care for their hair. I brush it with a fork. Hope you enjoy them.

Spring!

Spring is in the air. Last week I planted rose bushes and I have flowers on the brain. And on the doll. Each little flower was hand made and then attached. Butterflies and flowers and birds and bees all buzzing around my studio.

She's still wet green clay. Slowly drying. 

Painting Butterflies

I am on spring break and that means studio time. This morning I was painting this girl covered with monarch butterflies.

I built her the night the cast was taken off my leg. What a good feeling walking again. Slowly getting better. Below is when she was green. (unfired and just built).

I am still enjoying illustrating the dolls. I don't get to paint that much and it's just so nice to sculpt and paint.