lack of posting

I have been somewhat negligent of late, so I just wanted to give you all an update and an excuse.

I started a new position and it is a bit overwhelming. It's not that I think I don't have the skills to do the job, but it is a huge job just to learn about the way people do things in a different organization, and to learn who all the people are that I should be working with. All that while trying to figure out what my job is, and actually produce something that I can be comfortable signing my name to.

I haven't been totally neglectful of my artworks either, although that has slowed down a bit. I made a number of things for Halloween, including a bunch of little glow-in-the-dark ghosts, a basilisk tooth in a box, and a few 'things in jars'. The things in jars are a lot of fun to make, because it doesn't take a lot to make them look quite real. In fact, when I showed one to my brother, He thought it was real and wanted to know what kind of animal embryo it was. They are quite difficult to photograph, so I haven't managed to get any good pictures, but I will try again when I have some sunlight.

Art Doll

I was inspired by many of the doll artists who participated in the Art Dolls Only Four Elements challenge, and decided to try some of the techniques they were using. I thought I would try the puppet body style on this doll, as well as trying a new medium (paper clay). The clay is very soft and creamy, but it is really difficult to make hands and feet that have any lyrical movement. I used straws to make sure that there was a nice smooth hole to string the limbs once it was completed, and used wooden beads for the ball joints. I was going for Tree Nymph, so the skin is painted with a kind of generic wood grain. Her dress has a ruffle on the front, and a long train at the back, and is made entirely by wrapping (no stitches). She is about 8 inches high.

Storm clean up

I haven't had a lot of time for art work this last week. A terrible windstorm blew through our area and broke twenty or so of our large trees (and many littler ones beside them were crushed under the weight when they came down). All the trees that fell into the yard have to be chopped up into logs and the branches and brush have to be raked up and burned. Some of the trees look like they were twisted where they broke, although the storm wasn't officially labelled a tornado.

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but most of these trees were at least 40 feet tall.

This one barely missed hitting the house. There were a few branches on the roof, but nothing was damaged, apart from the tree and the little cranberry bush it fell on.

This little pile of fallen trees was just one of many, and it took us two complete days to clean out the path.

We still have many days of clean up to do - we have only tackled two of five piles.

Although we lost a lot of trees, we aren't complaining. Nothing hit the house, and there was no significant damage. The storm continued on to Camrose (about 30 miles east of our house), where it killed one person and injured dozens who were attending an outdoor concert.

Earth Goddess

I made it! This art doll represents the earth element and was completed for the Art Dolls Only Elements Challenge.

This is my Earth Goddess. She is wearing a snow white gown and a spring green cape. She likes to keep her feet bare, so she can feel the grass between her toes, and she needs a crystal ball to learn the future of her planet....

Hand, hand, fingers, toes ...

...eyes and ears, mouth and nose.

I have had more than my fair share of troubles with this one, and she just didn't want to be ready for tomorrow. Perhaps she thinks it takes some of the mystery out of being the goddess of Earth if people know what she looks like.

My decisions to go outside my comfort zone and make a much larger doll, and to experiment with a new armature based on Dawn's tutorial probably didn't help much, either.

I think she will be ready for the unveilling tomorrow, though!

More encaustics

I have been enjoying playing with encaustics, in between sculpting my challenge doll, of course!), and I thought I would post a few images. These two are small (4 inches square).

This one is a bit larger (7 inches square):

They are all painted on solid board.

Art Doll Challenge

I am going to try to take part in an art doll challenge from the Art Dolls Only group. It may be difficult, because I have a lot of other committments during the same time period, so I will see how far I get, but I am excited about taking part. I started sculpting the hands out of polymer clay last night, and then went a completely different direction today and drew out a pattern for a cloth doll. I'm not sure which way I will go, but it isn't wasted effort which ever path I choose.