Just kidding...

I hate when I doubt myself and my talent. You know, when you you hit a slump and you start hearing in the back of your head. "who are you kidding, you're not an artist, you just make stuff."
I was bummed because I only sold 3 of those wee art quilty ornaments at the Clay Squared show and my recycled sweater purses are always big comment getters but no one buys them at shows.

But then... I start work on something like this:

I find out the sweater bags ARE selling in San Fransisco, I will have dolls published in the Feb. issue of Legacy and I just got accepted to Craftstravaganza.

In the spirit of waking my muse and shutting down the critic, I updated my Etsy shop with some new buttons and a few of those wee art quilties. If you don't see one listed that you like, take a look at them all here and drop me a note, chances are, it's still available.

Nesting...

The next best thing to hibernation is nesting. So that's what I did this weekend.

I tidied and dusted. Finally came up with a new mantel scape, 14 pounds of river rocks and some IKEA candles and voila, atmosphere!

While thrifting I found a dresser that is perfect for a sofa table/ console thingy. It's solid wood, probably birch and has some water marks and scratches on the top but with a runner, you don't even see them. Eventually I will paint or refinish the piece but for now, it's perfect for holding hats and mittens and the other flotsam this house tends to generate. Everything at the thrift store was 50% this weekend, I paid $12.50! I picked up new knobs at Home Depot so grand total for said piece is $27.50! I love thrifting!

I also finished up some wee friends for Zara. They live in the dollhouse Santa brought for the kids this year. I needle felted them using pipe cleaners for the armature. I am going to add these to the 40 doll project but only count them as one, since they are a duo.
Once again, it's the handwork that brings my head around. As I finished them, I realized the technique would work really well for another doll I had planned, so I started a larger armature and have been happily felting away today. The sun has set, so no pictures of the progress right now, I'll try tomorrow.

1 down, 39 to go...

I love being silly. Especially if I can amuse others in the process. So to celebrate my birthday I wanted to make a silly, happy doll. The dark, introspective ones will follow, don't worry.

I thought about my birthdays growing up. I was a tomboy, playing sports and not interested in getting too "girly". My room was decorated in colors of red, white and blue and man trying to find wall paper in the mid 70's that wasn't patriotic, was tough.

My mom always made these cool shaped cakes for our birthdays, from this book (she did the Teddy Bear on the cover)...

I am pretty sure I never wanted a cake that looked like the skirt of a doll, that was just weird.

Because I am getting weirder by the day, I decided to make myself a doll cake. The pink frosting is felted wool and the chocolate cake is brown corduroy.

I did it!

I mailed in my proposal for a one woman show, called "I'm Just Getting Started" to the Hopkins Center for the Arts and it will arrive today, (please think good thoughts for me.)

Here is what I sent (my BIL helped me tweak the wording)...
Proposed exhibit:
"Crossing the age of forty is pivotal time in a woman’s life for many reasons, biological, cultural and spiritual. On November 6, 2006 I will begin a year-long project to create 40 mixed-media dolls, to be completed by my 40th birthday one year later (November 6, 2007). The completed show will be a visual biography of sorts, a mixed-media exhibit of a mixed-media life. In a broad sense, the show will also be a biography of the oldest members of Generation X—those of us buffeted in the wake of the baby boomers.
But mostly, the show will be a quirky, fun, thought-provoking, and above all, celebratory, a series of snapshots captured in mixed media. I will journal or “blog” my experiences during the year—through sketches, photos and the written word. These mixed-media blog entries will be integrated into the show. A minimum of 20 pieces will be for sale. The title of the show is a counter statement to the idea that life at and after 40 is “Over the Hill”.

I also propose that as part of the year-long project, I offer a series of “Art Parties” at the HCA specifically targeted at women. These workshops would be marketed as a fun way to try out a new art form, and also as a way to participate in a larger, communal, artistic meditation on womanhood, aging, and those pivotal moments women encounter in their lives. The workshops will be framed as welcoming to women of all ages, but there is a large market of women whose lives have been so busy with families and careers they have neglected pursuing their own artistic interests. These workshops would be for anyone who fits that description.

I can offer a variety of classes that range from 1-3 hours. A series of 3-hour small art doll classes would be perfect. I supply all the supplies and each person begins and finishes their own mixed media art doll during the workshop, using a variety of fabrics, paint, polymer clay, fabric stamping and bead embroidery. "

I have been playing with this idea for a while now and it's not a new concept by any means, but something I feel the NEED to do. So even if they don't want to show it, I will start approaching other galleries, because I do intend to do it regardless. I will know sometime in March.