Art Explosion Wednesday

My art zines that I won on e-bay arrived in the mail today. Yay! Here is the first group. Blogger only lets me upload five images at a time :( so I'll post the rest of the zines and dolls tomorrow. I've been stalking my mail delivery person everyday waiting for these. Oh, btw, Priority Mail does NOT always mean two day delivery. These were mailed Friday and I just received them today. So, when they say they don't guarantee two days, they mean it. There are so many goodies in the box I can't wait to dig in. Lots of inspiration and a variety of art; everything from altered art to bookmaking. Cool stuff! Enough gushing about all of that. I'm like a little kid when I get stuff in the mail.

I also included a sampling of what I've been working on lately. My feeble attempt at doll-making is a learning experience. Air dry clay is great. I love working with it. The learning curve for ME in color blending, etc. in painting the faces is very LARGE. But, I've got lots of faces to practice on and can always make more. ;)

The second picture is a sample of some of my work in progress. I have fallen in love with all of the great yarns out there now. Knitting has made a resurgence, and there are aisles and aisles of yarn that are just yummy! I picked up a ton of yarn at a flea market for $1/pkg. This is the stuff that's at the craft stores for $5 and $6 each. Woohoo, did I love that! So, I went to work teaching myself to knit. And being a lefty, everything is so geared for right-handed people, I just tried it like a "normal" person. I had to laugh when the so called "directions for left handers" included the sentence: "substitute the word "right" with the word "left" and hold your work up to a mirror." What? Are you kidding me?!

So, for now, I knit right-handed! These are some of the wigs for my dolls. I love making these. The fibers in these yarns just scream to be made into doll hair. So, I did. You'll see none of them have faces painted yet. That's coming. Just thought I'd show you a small sample of some wigs. I think after I get them onto the heads, then the idea for the face will follow. The dolls have their own personalities after you give them hair!

The third picture is a small 5 x 5 canvas that I am working on. I love the background. It is sort of a goth feel, but a little softer. I'm working on her dress now. She looks kind of dreamy, and the canvas is working out to have a dreamy feel to it. You'll see what I mean when I finish. I did like her face. After blending three different flesh colors of paint with a hint of pink, I think I came up with the perfect formula.

The next one is my very rough first attempt at "sculpting" a sitting body. I'm not too worried about it because her dress will cover it all up. I just needed a form to fit the dress to. I already have her arms and hands finished, so I just thought I'd show you what the first try looked like. I approach all of this with the attitude that it's fun to try things. There is no pressure to have it look a certain way. It just has to please me! Check out those little boots! I loved them!

And, finally, my little guy that keeps making me laugh every time I look at him. The photo turned out blurry (sorry, my bad), but he's really funny! I'm still thinking about what to do with him. Stay tuned...

I've also had family visiting this past week and tried to spend as much time with them as possible, since who knows when I'll see them again. My visit with Sherry was alot of fun, but too short for my taste. Paula came in Saturday afternoon and had to leave Sunday morning. It was fun to catch up on everything. Unfortunately, that night she and her daughter were both sick. Paula sounds like she has walking pneumonia and her cough kept her up. My niece, Liza, seemed to have a case of the nerves. Just a nervous stomach and a little too much pizza. Not a good mix.

That's all for now. I'll post part two of all of the above tomorrow. Need to tend to some real-world issues so I can get back home and escape into the art world...