New Easter Peg Doll

I came up with a new design for my peg dolls, just in time for Easter.  Meet the Easter gnome, who loves Easter so much she dresses up like the Easter bunny.
I needle felted the nest and eggs from roving and I have been trying out new embroidery stitches.  Recently, I went to the library and checked out about 10 books on embroidery and crewel.  Generally, what I found is there is a short basic set of stitches with a lot of variations to make them look different. 

 

 

Lastly, here is a photo of one of my lovebug peg dolls.  The heart felt is from an experiment with alcohol inks. 

Some More Dolls in Progress

Here are two more dolls in progress.  I created the pattern, cut out doubled muslin and cotton fabric and machine and hand stitched these two little lovelies.  I  painted the eyes last night.  I decided to keep the focus on the eyes and make the mouth and nose very simple.  For me this harkens to the Waldorf ideal a bit, where their dolls have neutral, primitive faces to engage the imagination.  The eyes go beyond primitive here, and certainly indicate personality, but I don't think that's a bad thing, in this case. 

I think these dolls must be friends, even though they have very different personalities.  Originally I was making one doll as a birthday present for a little girl I know, and then I figured I'd make two.  I'm torn now, as I'm thinking I'd like to send them in to see if they might get published in Stuffed or Prims.  I might just have to make some more with the same pattern.

I'll post more pictures when they have hair and clothes :).

 

 

Artfest 2012!

I just got back from Artfest 2012, an art retreat coordinated by Teesha and Tracey Moore   (visit Teesha's site at teeshamoore.com).  I have wanted to attend for years (eight to be exact) and the timing or money situation has always been wrong).  This year I decided, with some encouragement from my husband, that I just needed to make this work.  So I did, and I'm incredibly thankful I had the opportunity to do so.  It was an amazing experience being surrounded by supportive, creative people.  The instructors were fabulous and since I made the point of taking classes that focused on different techniques, I came away from them with a new set of strategies for making art.

These paintings are the result of my class with Mindy Lacefield, who was so sweet and inspiring.  Everyone in class, no matter what skill level they were at, came out of the class with wonderful art.  She is one of those rare teachers who truly pulls out the best in her students.

I'm really happy with how my paintings turned out, and I plan on playing more with the techniques I learned.  And the color--who would have thought I would love using florescent colors so much. 

As I have time, I will post my work from the other classes as well, so stay tuned.