Susie McMahon is coming!

Well it is less than a week now til Susie McMahon visits us here in Adelaide.  We are lucky enough to have Susie teaching 2 workshops for our Cloth Doll Club.
I discovered Susie's work a few years ago, just surfing the net.  I even found old footage of a brief interview on the Carol Duvall Show on the HGTV network. 
But if you are not familiar with the type of dolls Susie does just click here and you can see the wonderful art she produces.
 The last time Susie visited I made this dolly.  I'm not sure who my dolly is, but she seems to work in an odd way.  She kind of ended up being a little girl in strange clothes with strange hair.   She is holding a sad looking clown doll and she has an odd expression. The doll has a mask face and all cloth body.

 This is Susie's Moxie as a little fairy...................
(I just checked back and it was December 2008! I kept thinking it was only last year or the year before - where does the time go???)

 But then I found this version which Susie has made herself.

So with any type of creative art, it is all open to interpretation.  Fairy or little girl?
In that last class I also sculpted a doll which is still dis-assembled in the cupboard.  I should find her and put her together.  Hmmm.....
I just haven't been able to focus on dolls since working full time now.  We will see what happens....

 

1988

How Many Sleeps?

3 Sleeps!!!!

OMG! Have you been naughty or nice?

It's the 24th October today and I have to tell you that it is just 19 more sleeps to the Adelaide Christmas pageant when Santa comes to town! Now I know this is true, because when I went shopping on Sunday, I was confronted by this as I entered the local department store........

Then as I skirted around the displays using considerable constraint to prevent myself from snapping up one of the Jim Shore Santa's  (I am a collector you know...) I then left the store and was confronted by this!!

With Santa's chair ready and waiting...............

and one redeeming feature.........

A Nativity Scene.

I have to admit, I am a little bit excited.  I LOVE Christmas.  All the build up to the big day, decorating the house, putting up the tree (on the day Santa comes to town)!  Lots of  parties, food, drink, shopping, cooking.  And all the pretty decorations and weird gifts in shops.  And the fake snow!

Don't forget we will be in full Summer.  The Christmas pageant can be a sunny 32 degrees Celcius!  Sometimes it rains.  But the pageant has never been cancelled..... or was it -  only once during the war....

Anyway take a look at what we have to look forward to  here .

The pageant is really for the little ones, and as an adult it is 'not nice' to go and stand in front where a child could have full view of all the wonder of the floats that lead Santa to his Magic Cave.  And with crowds lining the streets in the thousands, I could enjoy the pageant like I did unexpectedly last year here .

It just isn't the same without little ones to take, and I am not a grandma yet!

Last year I got all interested in  Nigella and her Christmas recipes - but I ran out of time.  Christmas snuck up on us so quickly.  So now I will have another chance to make that chocolate christmas cake and the gingerbread christmas cookie tree.

So with Santa making his list and checking it twice, I want to make sure I make it onto 'Nice'.

We still have some time...............

Now I understand why it takes so long

I do miss making dolls.  There have been a few that made me very excited during the whole creative process. When you are really in tune, you can feel the life coming into your creation.  That must be what I miss.  I admire so many doll makers, and their different styles and imagination.  Sometimes I think I have no imagination.  I am very good at copying others work.  I can see how something has been put together and I love the challenge of trying to make 'that'.
But I so want to create in a style that can be recognised.  Like - There is the doll...... and you know the doll maker.
The problem I have had in the past, has been in taking classes from my idols, all I can produce is a doll that looks like a knock off of the designers doll.
In the last post, I listed the stages of creativity.  This has helped me realise I am on the path. And since exploring that, I found an interview with Cindee Moyer  in the newsletter by Adele Sciortino
Cindee has stood out, having surfaced only in the last few years.  (I started doll making 10 years ago)  Her style is very distinctive.  It has been, right from the start.  Now you may not like her style of doll, but nevertheless - she has a clear style which cannot be copied.    Cindee is just one example.  There are so many others.
Anyway, the one thing that stood out in the article was that Cindee had also learnt from experienced doll makers.  She had explored different styles and mediums, and, after making many many dolls, started to develop her own individual style and techniques.  !!!!!!!!! So that's it.  You have to make and make and make the type of doll you want, and eventually your own style WILL emerge.  I do believe this.  I just have to make and make and make.  So now that I only have time on the weekends - (I just can't think dolls in the evening at the moment) it looks like I will have my own style in the year 2020!   I will only be 63, that's still youngish............

More inspiration.....

I found this on a blog, but I have no idea who it was, so my apologies - but this is good to know.  I am intrigued by the process of art.  I plan to explore this in the future..............

What tips would I give to those looking to designing their own :
Well, first of all, enjoy yourself! Work from your heart and let your fantasy free. I read in a book that they are 5 stages that artists go through;
the first is: the primitive stage - art as children practise it - intuïtive and you can sense that it was so much fun making the piece!
The second stage is when you notice that you are starting to improve your technical skills, you are getting the hang of it.
The third stage is when you become inventive in your art, you are starting to experiment.
The fourth stage is when you become innovative.
And the last stage - which not many artists have managed to reach ;-) - is genius!

So what I'm trying to say is: if you really love what you do, this will reflect in your work and people will notice it. And then later on, if you have had time enough to practise and to grow, your work will start to evolve and it will get more and more beautiful and refined.

Thank you for that insight.  I can't wait to practice, practice, practice.............

Being patient, trusting, beleiveing....

I found this on http://dubuhdudesigns.typepad.com/du_buh_du_designs/  blog by Christine Alvarado
This really resonates with me.  I know I have had to make a lot of dolls to find my 'style'
And I have made a LOT of dolls.  But I am still dissatisfied.  And this inspirational piece will remind me of what I have to do - and why.  I know this to be true.  Time will tell.............



Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I love birds - I think?

Yesterday I decided to walk the 3 kilometres from home to our new offices.   I have always enjoyed walking, but I can be lazy and tend to get too busy to make time for exercise.  Well, because our office is only 3 kms I thought - I can do that - 1/2 an hour - I do an easy 1/2 hour walk along the beach, so off I went...........
Who would have thought I was in danger????  No my friends, it was not a criminal of the human kind, it was not the busy traffic or the gum trees (which can drop huge boughs when they feel like it)..........
It was...............
The BIRDS!!!!!

Now, here in the Southern Hemisphere Spring is in the air.  And if you know anything about the birds and the bees ......well trust me they are all doing it!  So as I walked happily across the local park to my surprise and concern I was encircled by 'the birds'.  Not one or two but at least a dozen actually circling me and flying into my 'personal space' in a threatening (or protective) manner!  At first I was a little frightened - you do remember that movie..................

And I was being surrounded - for the whole length of the park (300 metres at least) they kept circling and flying toward me.  But I was brave (like Tippi) I stood my ground and forged ahead.  It was bizarre.  there were no other people around at the time, just me, and the birds..............all around me! Beleive me, I was glad to get across that park.  I have to assume there were a whole lot of nests in those gum trees.  And just for the record, I guess I should admit - the birds were little swallows! 

Such lovely, cute little birds.  (Remember Tippi had a problem with sparrows in the house.................you really can't trust those little guys.)
Well this saga has not ended.........I then made my way through the leafy suburbs, avoiding the busy main road with the trucks and cars.

So I am walking along the path and there in front of me is not one, not two, but three magpies. 
They were obviously catching breakfast - but I was on their turf. 
Again I had to steel myself and nonchalantly side step around the trio.  These are big birds, with pointy beaks and they have a reputation for being very territorial.  People in country areas have been swooped on by magpies protecting their nesting areas.  They will take your eye out!!  Children have stuck big eyes on the back of their hats to detract birds attacking.......it's true.......
Well anyway, they let me pass.  But I decided it was a bit dangerous walking that way.  Today I tried a different route.  I still had to cross the park, but there were only 4 swallow sentries out today, it was a different time of day too.  But see how hard it is to just get a bit of exercise?  There is danger everywhere..............  But i still love birds  :-)

A strange thing is happening to me.........

I have not made a doll in months.  I have been working 8 hour days, my routine after work is cook dinner, do chores, sit down in front of the TV, turn on my laptop and search blogs, or play cards or put that away and do some knitting.  Well, then I get bored with knitting.  I just need something that will give me quick results.  Our generation of instant gratification.......

So in my travels searching the net, I stumbled across this web site  http://gingermelondolls.blogspot.com/

I always check back on older posts, just to see the threads and any other interesting things on the site.

So I found these cute little animals........

And I was so taken with how cute and small they were.

I wanted to make one.  Just a small teddy (I have made quite a few teddy bears in the past.  Enough to know, I like to make small ones, hand sewn from mohair - not that synthetic stuff.

Well I was able to buy an e-pattern and now I

will have to make the time to sew up a little creature.

But can you see what is going on here......?

I can't leave crafting alone.

I need to try new things, keep my hands busy and do something (while I am sitting in front of the TV)

Now, I know many of you would say why do you plonk yourself in front of that thing anyway?

Well, for those who have not heard this before, I like it!  TV is my friend.  It talks incessantly, but if I don't need to hear it, I can press mute and just look at the pictures.  A lot of people would say there is a lot of rubbish on TV.  Believe me I agree.  But I am selective, and if there really is nothing that interests me I turn it off - that is as long as my DH is already asleep!  But I have always felt a little guilty, just sitting there, not doing anything and watching stuff.  So to feel like I am actually not being lazy, I find some sort of craft to occupy my hands - and my brain.

Amazing what the brain can do, absorb TV shows while working out how to create craft as well as controlling heartbeat, breathing, blinking and digesting coffee and chocolate!

So thankyou to Gingermelondolls and.......

Thankyou to all you bloggers out there who make, and do, and share your work.  Know that at some stage, someone, somewhere will be inspired by your work and it will keep some idle hands busy, and bring some joy from the achievement of being able to say "I made this" - while watching 'Inspector Rex'!

Do you see the resmeblence?

Patti Culea's Maudlin Maddie