A Special Studio Peek!

Now don't go and get all excited on me, I do not have a glorious clean and organized Entire space to share with you! God knows, I wish that I did!! So many of my art friends are so wonderfully gifted at being able to organize and envison neat and accessible work spaces!! I can see what I want in my mind's eye but getting there is a totally different challenge! SIGH!!! I think that I am genetically hardwired to be a messy, BUT PRODUCTIVE artist. At least I am a productive mess!!!!

I am in the process of going thru many of my spaces- cabinets and drawers and taking a hard look at the contents. If I have not used the items nor thought of them since moving 4 years ago, out they have gone- feels great

I have collected a wonderful group of things that I cherish from other artists, particularly Art Dolls. These have come to me as swaps from Yahoo group exchnages as well as private trades and gifts from dear friends.Several I have fallen so in love with that I have purchased them
and I feel really good about showing their creatiors how much I appreciate their work!! As a result of my space clearing efforts I have set up a small Art Doll shrine . It is directly in front of my partially cleared work table so as I work I can sit and look at all of the glorious talent and creations of these dear people.

Starting at the top you see my fabulous girl created by Katlyn Avila! Kat has just retired from teaching art after 26 years and she is getting ready to teach- doll creation and other subjects- she ahs promised us!!!! She does such an amazing job of putting together found objects with incredible bead work and fabrics and sculpted faces. Each of her dolls has such wonderful energy and spirit!!!

Next you see a little flat doll with hair made form electrical fuses and long pink legs- I made her.

Then on the right you see a wonderful blue Angel Mothie Doll crafted by the Beautiful Barbara Burkhard!

Right below Blue Angel is Anzu the Sprout, created by Squirrel Momma- this gal is such a delight- you must visit her!!~!

Then sitting in a tarnished silver goblet is a Painted Mermaid Doll that I bought in Duck, NC. I love her- her hair is made of lichen with tiny shells glued into it and sea glass wired into a swag that she holds in her hands!!

In the rose covered mug sits one of my dolls from Dear Dot!! Dot lives in Australia and I met her thru a yahoo group that we used to both belong to. This wonderful Matrushka doll with babies is such a delight!! All of the stitching is done by hand and Dot does such a fabulous job with her beadwork. Each of her creations is infused with Dot's loving spirit!! You can see all of Dot's wonderful creations here, on her Etsy site, and she also has a wonderful blog!

Over to the far right, also sitting in a silver goblet, is another one of Dot's signature Dolls. This is an Amelia Doll. I purchased her just a s Dot was begininng to sell her creations and I just adore the turquoise and red color combo that she used!

Moving over to the right, you can see a small yellow trinket shelf that my Mom painted when she was a teenager. She was very intrigued by the art work of folk artist Peter Hunt and did an entire set of mismatched bedroom furniture in this style. I just adore this little shelf and it is perfect for holding some little vintage tresures that she and others have given me.

Even further to the right you can see my very first art doll that I got in a swap. She is seated on the gray shelf and has a bright green face. The idea behind this swap was to create a face in any media, send it off to your partner and then they would create a doll inspired by the face that you sent. So I made this funky GREEN face ( I guess that I was trying to present a challenge) and my friend Lee sent me back this amazing doll!

In this shot you can see another one of Dot's amazing creations that she gifted to me! Did I say how wonderfully talented and generous my friend Dot is????? This wonderfully bead encrusted bird shelters a little Egg Doll behind her wing. You can just see the little one peeking out if you look closely. It is so obvious from Dot's work taht she loves to stitch!!

Below and to the left of Scarlet Bird is a wonderful creation by my wonderful friend Jacky. Jacky also lives in Australia and I have gotten to know her through the same Yahoo group and thru Dot. Dot and Jacky are fast friends and share lots of their wonderful artwork with other artists all over the world. Jacky paints the most wonderfully expressive faces for her dolls and calls them her Klimt Dolls, as they were inspired by the work of Gustave Klimnt. I am so blessed to have one of these treasures as Jacky does not sell them.

Then to the right you see an absolute little fragrant treasure by the ultra talented and generous Pat Winter!! the little doll is stuffed with Lavendar blossoms !I have gotten to know Pat thru the Comfort Doll Project that she started to bring comfort in the form of Hand crafted art dolls, all gathered thru donations, to the lives of battered and abused women. Monthly, Pat sends off dozenbs of Art Dolls to shelters all over the world to let women know that they are loved and thought of by generous and talented artists. Pat has also become very well known for her AMAZING Crazy Quilting and she has recently been published in Art Doll Quarterly, Somerset Home and Belle Armoire Jewelry!! She has an amazing blog where she shares alot of her work and her generous and kind spirit.

On the left hand side of the above picture you see a white scallop shell that is held in front of the body of one of my very first attempts at an art doll. This is my Mermaid Book Doll. Tucked inside the shell is an accordian folded book that contains a poem that I wrote babout the ocean. She is made of polymer clay and has wild red wire hair with all sorts of sea stuff tangled in it.

Then in the center of the picture you see my latest addition who is named Sweet Baby June. I purchased her at the first Trash to Treasure Art show to be held over the summer at Liberty Town in Fredericksburg. I walked into the gallery as the show was being set up and I purchased her immediately. She is crafted by artist Dana West who lives here in this area. The base of Baby June is a vintage children's story book titled Baby June and Friends. The body is an old lamp base and the Doll head was purchased in a flea market in France. I just adore this piece and all of her various jewels and trinkets!! As you can see, I have left more room for special additions and I do intend to create more dolls myself.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing my collection and I invite you to click on all of the links that have been provided to visit all of my wonderful friends, to see more of their wonderful work and to shop from their Etsy Sites for treasures of your own! It is not to early to think about Christmas and to make it extra special and very affordable by shopping from all of the wonderful artists at ETSY. com!!

Hugs!