I’ve finished something. It’s been a while. This is the first of the green men. No, not little green men… Green Man men.
a detail-
Monthly Archives: November 2007
thrifting
This is how it works at my favorite thrift store. The stuff is marked with colored labels. Prices are as marked, on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, one color label is half price and one color is $1. This week, for the first time, I decided to try to go over on Wednesday morning. Woohoo. I came home, feeling like Santa Claus, with 2 large full bags of wool goodies. I spent $13.
3 jackets, 2 skirts, 2 coats-
and 2 cashmere sweaters, 1 wool and angora, and 1Â wool vest that someone in the house might actually wear.
So, I come up to the door, dragging my booty and there is a package on the stoop. Presents! Kristen sent me this wonderful toile tablecloth which she thrifted!
A great day for scoring materials! I spent much of yesterday and this morning, cutting apart and washing all the woven wools. I will do the knits another day.
Tomorrow night is the Craftland opening. I’ll be there, for at least part of it. I am looking forward to seeing the space all set up, the other work, and meet other artists.
another day out of the studio
I spent another day out of my studio… when I have been away for a while, it can be hard to get back into the groove. Today, I drove down to Cape Cod and had lunch and a visit with Salley Mavor. I got to see the projects she is working on, such as this self-portrait-
She is also working on a book of nursery rhymes- she has been working on it for 2 years and thinks it will be another 2 years before it is finished. She showed me pages and pages of her beautiful work. It is truly inspirational. I picked her brain about card making and selling and also about book publishing. All so interesting. And, Theresa, she has your magnet on her fridge!
desk photos- I love to see how people work!
All the beads on the pipe cleaners have little faces painted on them-
Bags of flower parts, sorted by color-
reworking and balance vs passion
I used to think it was somehow a sin to go back and change (or fix) an artwork that I’d considered “finished”. I seem to have gotten over that. Some of the pieces that stay around for a while, continue to talk to me. This baby has been around for a year or so. I redid the applique. Much better-
And, I decided this fellow needed some more oomph in his hair-
I’ve been pondering the notion of balance (in ones life). Is there any intersection of passion and balance? I don’t think of myself as ever living a balanced life… I get involved in things very intensely. These passions- my artwork, garden design, etc- take over. It is what I think about, dream about, bore everyone around me with… And then there is the question of being passionately involved in ones work versus being a workaholic. That came up at Thanksgiving with my daughter, her roommate (a painter) and me. My reply was that a workaholic is what other people call the person who is passionate about their work. It is that other persons’ way of saying, you are not paying enough attention to me. I have continued to think about it though.
love of a bean
I’m back from Chicago. Despite a bad cold, I had a wonderful and mostly relaxing time- ie, more family time then attractions. I will go to all those museums next time!
I love this sculpture–
Everybody, and there are crowds, is having fun as they admire and interact with this art.
It is inspiration for anyone with a camera.
No one can resist a self-portrait.
This is a view looking up from underneath-
While we were there, 2 construction workers were also looking at it. They proudly told us that they had worked on the assembly and pointed out where the seam lines were.
While in Chicago, we toured the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I was blown away by the facilities and the size of the school. The huge studio for fabric printing made me want to go back to art school. Our guide talked about the importance of writing for an art student. The students need to be able to write proposals to galleries for shows because all art is now conceptual art… huh?! Yeah, right. What a very limited definition of art… it made me sad and also reminded me of the down side of art school education.
busy
I’ve been going in all directions for the past few days. I spent the weekend trying to figure out where I was with everything. Sorting inventory for Craftland meant pulling everything out to see. Sometimes looking with fresh eyes is a very good thing. Hello to this fellow’s NEW face-
below was his OLD face. It had been bugging me. I am happier with him now. Just a little cosmetic stitchery!
Getting inventory ready has inspired me to think hard about the hang tags for my dolls. What do you think the difference is between “recycled” and “reclaimed”. I wrote both since both words seem accurate. Any thoughts?
And my desk and work table are showing the strain of me going in several directions.
I have 3 more tattooed guys in progress but have set them aside to cut out some of the green man faces. I want to have a project to take to Chicago and since I do most of the work on these faces before I stuff them, they are easier then the dolls to travel with. Then, I also have a few pieces that need a little rework before they go on to Etsy or Providence. The tattoo guy on the left of the sewing machine for example. I’m going to give him a belt before I declare him finished (again).
Piles and piles everywhere!
I posted an annotated photo of the work area here at flickr.
jumping the queue
Some part of my brain was going to explode if I didn’t get this Green Man out-
I will have some more tattoo guys- I’ve got 3 more to go… but for right this minute, I’m working on this.
And here is a kitty, laundry, robot photo for you-
and now, a beard
A beard was a challenge! I needed to balance out the black of the beard- I made HEAVY eyebrows and decided that the belt idea, suggested by several commenters, was a good one. I didn’t want to go over into the Strong man category, so kept the belt on the small side. And on the other end is the trapeze artist… It’s a fine line to get it just right! Oh, that reminds me, then there is the tightrope walker… hmmm
side of the head view, and also the back-
There is another picture here on Flickr.
Thank you, thank you for all the comment love from the past few weeks- here and also on flickr. I thrive on it! I have been remiss in acknowledging it. I try to reply to comments on the blog- when I can think of something to say or when someone is new. I’ve never figured out a way that works for me to thank flickr comments. As you may have noticed, I’ve been working very hard lately on the dolls and the computer stuff is lagging behind. If I haven’t replied to an email, please pester me… I might have lost it in the pile.
I am preparing inventory, in my rather haphazard and disorganized way, for Craftland, in Providence, RI. I will post more when it get closer. I am hoping that I can get my act together over the weekend and read all the paperwork for Craftland, sort through what I have, make decisions about what to send them and then post some new work to Etsy.
2 circus tattooed men
I’ve got 2 finished. Short days and rainy weather makes photographing them a challenge. Also, they look lumpy in places in the photograph that look fine in real life- the realities and hardships of being a model!
I took a different approach to the hair this time- I’m thinking about pompadours.
and chins- I’m having fun with those, too.
next…
The babies are finished and yesterday I started some new tattooed men. They are a little different from the first four- more about that below. I’ve reworked the pattern, dyed several batches of fabric,  cut and stitched together six guys.
That is probably the easy part. Now, 2 of them have their stitched fingers and are mostly stuffed. Lots more fine detail work to go.
Here is what I was thinking about today as I worked on these dolls. I got a lot of positive feedback about my tattooed guys. I thrive on positive feedback. Yeah, internet! Sometimes though, the positive feedback can make me afraid to make changes or take the next step. Once I admit that, I can move forward. The issue was, who were these guys that I was making? I struggled with the lower torsos on the first four. Also, I couldn’t get their shoes right- it was driving me nuts! Well, this batch is circus tattooed men. Now everything is working for me- the body design, the shoes, the colors, and I’ve got lots more ideas for hair and faces. Tattoo man 2.0 Yes!