Merry Christmas 2015

"Holly Angel"

Merry Christmas!

Houston International Quilt Festival!

The International Quilt Festival is in full swing!  With beautiful quilts:

Best of Show winner Janet Stone with her beautiful quilt "Ewe Are My Sunshine"

More gorgeous quilts

Beautifully handcrafted garments:

And of course, the best part, the doll exhibits!

I have two dolls in the show this year.  "In Celebration of the Doll" is an invitational exhibit, with dolls coming from all over the country (and around the world).  I feel very fortunate to be included with these wonderful artists.  My "Celebration" doll this year is

"Handmaid of the Sacred Heart"

This is my interpretation of a Santos figure, in cloth of course.  Her torso, arms and skirt are felted merino wool.  Her apron and headpiece are hand dyed velvet, with machine embroidery and beading.

My other doll is in the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists exhibit "Block Party 3".  Each doll in this exhibit features a quilt block.  The one I chose is the farmer's daughter quilt block, which inspired the piece.

"The Farmer's Daughter"

Her dress and poke bonnet are constructed from a vintage Liberty of London cotton print.  Her cotton apron features the farmer's daughter quilt block on the bib. Her hair is Tibetan lambskin.  In her arms she holds a basket of hand felted heirloom tomatoes in shades of red, yellow, orange and green merino wool.

It's always an honor to exhibit my dolls at the International Quilt Festival!  And I'm so lucky to live in Houston and be able to attend this show every year.

Eco Dyeing Workshop

I had the good fortune to attend an eco dyeing workshop recently with Nicola Brown.

Here are the results:

The piece at the bottom was made using Japanese maple leaves on silk habotai with rust as the mordant.

close up

Another piece of silk habotai using rose leaves with rust:

in this detail shot you can see how the strings used to bind the fabric make a print on the ends

These are large eucalyptus leaves on a silk/wool blend, with vinegar as the mordant.

in the detail shot you can see the print made from folding the fabric in half

This piece was made with the small eucalyptus leaves on silk.

close up

What a fun workshop!  I hope to do more eco dyeing in the future.  I'm seeing a series of eco dyed dolls.......

:)

Art of the Contemporary Doll book arrived!

The new book Art of the Contemporary Doll is here and I am so happy and proud to be included!

Sim Shalom

Orelia

This is a lovely book and it's fun to see many of my art doll friends included. I am honored to be in their company! 

Ankie Daanen's wonderful doll graces the cover.

You can find it on Amazon.

Art Doll Quarterly: ODACA:Behind the Scenes Part 2

The May June July 2015 issue of Art Doll Quarterly magazine is out 

and there is a wonderful article about ODACA (Original Doll Artists Council of America) by Lillian Alberti.  I was thrilled to be profiled and see two of my dolls "Sim Shalom" and "Once Upon a Starry Night" in this article!

Other artists profiled in this article are Sarah Maldanado and Barbara Schoenoff.  Lillian is writing a series of articles about ODACA artists for ADQ.  Thank you Lillian!

The Art of the Contemporary Doll

I just found out that I will have two dolls published in an upcoming book:  The Art of the Contemporary Doll, available July 2015!

Here are my two dolls that will be in this book:

"Orelia"

"Sim Shalom" ("Let There be Peace")

Very exciting!  Such an honor!  I can't wait to see the book. :)

Art Doll Challenge

There is an Art Doll Challenge going on Facebook right now.  I don't know who started it but the idea is to post 3 photos per day for 5 days of your art, and to nominate a new artist each day.  I was challenged this past week, so I am posting my 5 days of photos here also.  It was a fun exercise!

Day 1:  Just-for-fun pieces

Pumpkin Men

Moon Dance

Jolly Holly

Day 2:  Silk Fusion Dolls

Thy Word

By the Waters of Babylon

Bequest, Reminiscence, Dwelling

Day 3:  Some lovely ladies

Bianca

Chasing Dreams

All-American Bathing Beauties

Day 4:  Some older pieces

Emerging

Ripe Plums Are Falling

The Green Man

And the final day, Day 5:  It's all about the fiber!

Sim Shalom (Let There Be Peace)

Orelia (Golden One)

Forest Canticle

And that's a brief tour through the last decade of my doll making career!