Watercolor Journal

I bought a book called "Artist's Journal Workshop" by Cathy Johnson and was so inspired that I decided to start a watercolor journal last week. Instead of painting a page a day I chose to paint a little bit each day. Now I just need to keep motivated to continue painting every day!

Dragonfly Marie

I had the good fortune to attend Andrea Melione's, aka Eraser Queen's, Altered Women Workshop at the Art For All conference in Rochester last June. IT WAS WONDERFUL! I had so much fun that I asked Andrea if it was alright to share some of what I learned at her workshop with my doll making club in Ottawa, All Dolled Up. Being the generous and sharing artist that she is she gave me the okay. I will be presenting the Gothic Arch and Artist Trading Card program this Sunday in Ottawa and made the Dragonfly Marie to prepare for the program. You can see an article on the Altered Women workshop in the ArtTrader Magazine issue 12 which is free to download at
http://www.arttradermag.com/ and you can check out Andrea's website at http://eraserqueenstudios.blogspot.com/

Wishing Everyone a Wonderful New Year!

Beads, Beads, and More Beads

I have been busy just beading away. I have beaded jewelry onto my cloth representation of Kuan Yin and started work on her headdress. I looked up a simple tutorial on the Internet on how to make french beaded flowers and used the technique to make the petals for her headdress. I also plan to use this technique in the creation of the lotus petals for her to rest on.



On top of all of this beading, Barbara Lukas was so kind to teach all the members of All Dolled Up in Ottawa how to knit/crochet wire and beads into jewelry. I thoroughly enjoyed her presentation and completed this necklace using the techniques she taught. I'm sure I will create a few more when I have a little more time.

The beading has begun!

I started the beading for my representation of Kuan Yin. I am using silver lined glass beads. I draped the piece of fabric I am going to use for her skirt on her lap.

The beginings of Kuan Yin

Although I do not have a new completed doll to share with you, I have been strongly encouraged by my good friend Maria (who is a wonderful artist whose work you can see at http://www.greeneearthoriginals.blogspot.com/) to show the progress of my work as I go through the process of creating a new work of figurative art. So I will share with you the progress I have been making with the current project I am working on, a cloth representation of Kuan Yin. For those unfamiliar with Kuan Yin, she is known by many as the goddess of compassion, one who hears the cries of all beings. She is also known in Buddhism as a Bodhisattva, one who puts off Nirvana in order to liberate all sentient beings. Many representations of Kuan Yin depict her as a beautiful oriental woman in flowing gowns carrying a vessel filled with the waters of compassion. She is often seen standing or sitting on a lotus blossom. In the representation of Kuan Yin that I am currently working on she has golden colored skin and is seated in the Bodhisattva pose. I chose to utilize ball joints for her knees and elbows in this representation of her for pose-ability. I needle sculpted her facial features and her feet. I have included pictures of her in various stages of development. She is far from completed but already she has the look of compassion in her eyes. Eventually she will be seated on a lotus blossom and will have an ornately beaded headdress and costume.

Thoughts of Spring