Claudette

 I just wanted to share with you my newest creation, Claudette!   Claudette is a mixed media, needle-sculpted cloth, ball jointed, cage art doll, with a cloth facial overlay.  She was inspired by romance, whispered words remembered from a dream, and Santos cage dolls.

She has a shrine to romance inside her cage skirt.  I used a variety of mixed media techniques to create the picture frame inside her skirt cage shrine.  

I hope you like her!

Another Week in the life of an Artist

Another week has passed living the life of a full time artist.  I am still trying to find my balance and establish a routine.  A friend of mine mentioned that it may take six months.  I love waking up every day to the knowledge that my day will be spent engaged in my art but it takes enormous self-control not to chase every fleeting artistic fancy that floats across my mind down the rabbit hole while focusing on completing my current project.  I remember reading a post on Facebook not that long ago that compared the artistic mind to having all your browser pages open on your computer at all times. Whoever wrote that comparison hit the nail on the head.

My current project, a tuck comb inspired doll named Bridgette, has kept me immersed within Jane Austin’s time. While watching a show on Netfilx about the  Highclere Castle with my husband Bob, I noticed a beaded face screen by the fireplace on the show.  I had to share with him what it was and why it was used.  Why would I know what a face screen is you may ask?  Well, Mary Ann Tate so kindly shared another Jane Austin website https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2009/02/ on which I found information about face screens (just part of my never ending search for the end of the internet).  They were beautiful beaded screens placed between one’s face and the fireplace to protect one’s face from the heat of the fire.  Some say it was to keep the wax make-up from melting off.  During Jane Austin’s time women often huddled up close to the warmth of the fire while engaged in the fine art of needlework.  The thoughts of these women sitting by the fire with needle in hand filter into my mind as I sit in my home engaged in the many hours of intricate needlework I am completing while working on Bridgette’s costume.  I have been using timeless embroidery stitches to create bullion roses, lazy daisies, and fly stitch borders on her dress.  

The life of an artist truly can be bliss!