Rag Dolls →

Most of my art-making time is spent creating two dimensional pieces. I set up still lifes in my kitchen, or take my easel outside to work en plein air using pastels on paper. Occasionally I use photos as reference, but I prefer working from life. No matter the setting, I always wind up with smudges of chalk on my hands and even my face. Lately, I have been flexing my creative muscles with a new pursuit that has given me hours of enjoyment in this solitary period during the pandemic.

Well over a year ago, I added an image to one of my Pinterest boards of a charming cloth rag doll. I kept returning to the image, but when I tried to find the doll maker I came to a dead end. I was quite disappointed, but after googling instructions on making rag dolls I decided to give it a whirl. I must confess that I grow impatient when researching some detail of the creative process when I am met with overly lengthy Youtube videos that are poorly lit and take forever to get to the point. However, I found a couple blog posts that gave me enough information to get started.

My intent was never to copy the rag doll that I first fell in love with, but to make something that was uniquely my own. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can save inspiration in one place, and I frequently use images as a starting point, especially when planning art projects to do with children. I drew my own doll pattern on card stock. Each time I have made a new doll I have tweaked the proportions a bit, sometimes because I feel that the arms are too skinny or the head too big, but also so that each doll is different. I trace the pattern onto muslin that is backed with an iron-on interfacing. All of the body parts are stitched together by hand, turned right side out with tweezers, and stuffed with a fiber filling. Joining the limbs to the body is the trickiest part for me. It is easy to wind up with a doll that is lopsided or won’t sit because she has too much stuffing in her upper thigh!

The fun part comes next. Painting the face, making the clothes and jewelry, styling the hair is where the imagination and the doll’s personality merge. My friend Madeline gave me at least a dozen vintage handkerchiefs to transform into skirts with scalloped hemlines. I turned a handmade sweater that my mom had knitted for me many years ago into a doll sweater. Tiny beads from past projects became dangling earrings. Shoes are painted on or made from felt. Tiny pompoms become hair. The innovation that the doll making involves as well as my personal attachment to some of the materials adds to the appeal of the dolls. Small imperfections exist for sure, but overall the process and the finished product have been gratifying to me.

Last Saturday I participated in an outdoor holiday market. I debated whether or not to bring the dolls. Would it be confusing to a shopper? Would I seem unfocused by showing different disciplines. In the end, I decided to bring them and they received an enthusiastic response. Another vendor, who happens to be an art teacher, observed that all the items exhibited the same aesthetic, and were obviously made by one artist. After all the back and forth that took place in my head, it took a stranger to give me clarity and confidence.

Bumble Bee Garden →

The honey bee has flourished on this planet for fifty million years. This hard working species of bee is responsible for pollinating flowers, trees, and food crops from around the world. Since much of the food we eat is dependent on honey bees for pollination, human survival is dependent on this species. Colonies of honeybees have been disappearing at an alarming rate around the world due to parasites, viral and bacterial diseases, as well as pesticides and herbicides. Honey bee colonies have been rapidly dying off and if this trend continues the honey bee will disappear from the world.

Providing a long season of nectar and pollen rich flowers for bees to feed on is something we can do to help the honey bees. Ensure you have flowers, shrubs and plants in bloom for as long as possible in your garden. Some bees may come out early, and will be looking for much needed pollen and nectar sources provided by spring bulbs such as narcissus and crocuses. Foxglove, snapdragons, and calendula are midsummer favorites. Some bees will continue foraging late into the season too, so try to ensure you include late flowering blooms in your garden, such as goldenrod.

Illustrating my Doll House Book

Doll houses evoke memories of childhood, and offer a momentary escape into a perfect miniature world. The photos document the process of designing a doll house book from the initial pencil sketches to the finished watercolors and pastels, and finally the finished printed book. The book becomes three dimensiolanal, with four little rooms, when it is opened up.

There is something intrinsically appealing about objects that are either smaller or larger than they are in reality. A sculpture, of a giant ice cream cone by Claes Oldenberg, mounted on the roof of a mall in Cologne, Germany is an example of the small made large. Although I have not seen it in person, photos make it seem as though the ice cream cone is melting and could wind up in the street at any moment. The notion that the sculpture might only be discovered if a passerby happens to look skyward, to check for rain clouds, adds to the sense of surprise.

Objects that are miniaturized also cause us to take a second look and engender a smile. Matchbox cars and tiny tea sets are designed to be played with by tiny hands, but beyond the practical these items are appealing also to adults. As a child I adored The Borrowers series by Mary Norton about a family of tiny people who live secretly in an English house and "borrow" from the inhabitants. What fun to be able to use a spool of thread as a stool or a matchbox as a dresser drawer. As an adult, reading the series to my son, I was equally enchanted.

Two rooms in my house are illustrated with watercolor, and two are done in pastel. I used my own textile designs for two of the rugs. The Adirondack chair on the back is the one that is on my patio, and the Japanese lanterns are reminiscent of the ones my mom hung for my fifth birthday party.