Christmas Alligator Ornie

This is my first alligator ornie-living in Florida it was the first animal that came to mind. I made it for an Ornie swap for ADO and it has inspired me to make more-lots of fun and easy to make!

A member of the Art Dolls Only team, Yve has done a fantastic job pulling together a Halloween Ball featuring some fantastic dolls-I am pleased to say 2 of mine, Lucrezia and Bad Cat were included-please check out her wonderful website http://www.freakylittlethings.com/Site/The_Ball_Room/Entries/2009/10/31_Halloween_Midnight_Ball.html#

Gypsy Doll Progress

I am close to completing my Gypsy doll-just some finishing touches remain to the costume and the painting of the scene on her skirt. Oh, and finishing the wig and adding jewelry-ok I'm not as close to done as I thought!

Halloween ADO Challenge

Well, it's been fun doing the ADO challenge I had 2 contributions-one is Lucrezia Borgia who has brought her own special concotions with her. She is paperclay and is mounted on a vintage pincushion. I love to research historical fashion and I think I get why people like Renaissance Fairs now!

Victorian Gypsy Doll Update

My Gypsy doll is slowly coming together-I have assembled her and her costume is cut out and pinned together. Next I will be painting the figure and then sewing on the costume. My theme is the story of a Victorian era Gypsy that has fallen on hard times and is singing about her younger days on the road. Her once lavish costume is patched but she is still beautiful. I missed the deadline for the competition due to a family members illness but I am still enjoying the process. Actually, I found the materials a little too bright and new looking for my taste so now I was able to dye them and stain them with walnut ink to tone them down. It's been more fun now that I don't have a deadline to meet.

Back In The Swing

I'm back from my vacation finally and re-entry has been challenging! My day job which is too tiresome to even describe takes way too much energy away from creativity. I am still working on my latest doll which I will post some pics of shortly. In the meantime here are some pics of my antique dollhouse collection-one is from 1890 and was handed down to me on my 10th birthday-it has my name engraved on a little sterling plate on the front door. The second house is hand made and newer and houses my larger scale furniture-it's neat because it has an elevator and 2 roof gardens. I like the European style of dollhouses where the scale is mixed and there is no attempt to look like real life-I am all for fantasy! I have renovated both houses that were in tough shape, painting, papering and constructing some pieces when I either couldn't find them or couldn't afford them. You can see I'm running out of room so I am keeping an eye out for another house. I hope you enjoy the pics.

Back At Last

I am back from vacation at last and am so excited to be asked to join the ADO group! I am looking forward to connecting with other artists. I have some work in progress which I will post as soon as I unpack!

Living In Florida-Tropical Times For Now

Freckles and Peabody say it's way too hot-temp average is 92 degrees. I am currently living in Florida and here are some shots of my garden-I am trying to return to NE as this is an artistic wasteland but the plants and animals here are wonderful! I hope to do some more tiny paintings with tropical themes inspired by the colors I see outside.

Gypsy Challenge Doll Progress

I have been starting on my entry into the Gypsy Challenge and have decided to post my progress as I go-here is the initial form-I used a wire armature,foam, cotton balls and some bubble wrap to build the form and then covered everything with heavy paper and masking tape. I tried something new for me-pre made papier mache-I usually just build with strips of paper and Mod Podge. I don't know if I like it-it has a very rough surface I will have to sand down and it is taking forever to dry-3 days so far. The head is made of a foam egg covered with foil and paperclay. Right now she looks like the man in the moon!

ADO Challenge Summer Of The Shell

Here is my entry for the ADO art doll challenge-a recent trip to Captiva, a vintage cabinet photo and an antique German porcelain figurine were the inspiration. I am happy with it-I like the shell slippers and working with the decoupage-it worked so well for the water effect-the bustle in back is a real scallop shell.

(My inspiration pics are below in an earlier post-I actually finished something before the deadline !)

Tiny Paintings

I finished some tiny paintings and posted them on my Etsy site-here are a few samples. I enjoy the detail and working in this size. I was inspired by my collection of antique dolls. I am working on a new doll as well-she is inspired by a vintage pincushion I found at a local thrift store. I'm a dedicated thrifter!

Looking forward to the lake

I am counting the days until I can get away to my little lakeside cottage or "camp" as they call them in New England. "Hilltop" is an old mail order Sears Roebuck house which was delivered by rail and put together on site. It was once used as the local one room school house. It is small but much loved and is in a special spot in NH. This lake community is just as it was in the early 1900's. Most of the camps are still just for summer living with no heat, just fireplaces. Our kitchen still has a pump at the sink. Hilltop is a place where you can completely relax-everything just fades away. I am hoping to be able to create some new art there this summer and finish some old projects. The porch is as big as the living area so I can spread out and make a wonderful mess.

More Water Themes

I was so happy with the way my decoupage technique worked out that I also created a mermaid-I know everyone makes mermaids but this is my first and probably only venture under the sea! I started with a little vintage shell covered vase-probably a souvenir of a long-ago trip to the shore. Her throne is a wrecked boat made of gessoed paper, she is composed of cotton balls and masking tape over a wire armature, heavily gessoed, decoupaged and painted. The vintage trims, sequins and beads came from an antique 30"s silk dress that fell to pieces and I salvaged the beads. I like the way it turned out.

Visit my Etsy store artdolldreams.etsy.com