Category Archives: Art Dolls

Bears and Happy Accidents

Mommy ‘n Me Bears

As I have been prepping sketches for this year’s Featured Artist show, I have been scanning images online. It is something I do in the planning phase of most sculptures I create. As I may have mentioned, I’ve been working on sculptures with multiple animal figures. A cold search for images with 2 or more animals has yeilded many points of inspiration. One image that caught my eye depicts two bears. In the photo, a momma grizzley bear stands on all fours with her young cub presumably along for the ride on her back. The youngest of the two bears looks so very comfortable and content. This is the feeling I strove to evoke in my piece Mommy ‘n Me.

anthropomorphic needle felted bear art doll sculpture, with cub on mother's back — Mommy ‘n Me

The mother bear is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature form. The young bear is wool over batting, and is felted on to mom’s back. Both bears have hand sewn glass bead eyes.

Happy, But Not Completely by Accident

Last week, I introduced some of my gel plate monoprints. I mentioned it is a process in which you do a lot of learning by doing, seeing what works and what doesn’t. There are a couple of points in the production of each print where you hold your breath… Will the photo-transfer of the lazer print be clear on the plate? Will the whole print come off the plate clean? What will result of the final mixing of the foreground layer and the background colors?… There is a certain amount of variability in each print that is somewhat out of your control. So, it is a moment of surprize each time you peel back your final paper.

One such print I produced yesterday is Flower Print #3. This print has several layers. I pressed a composition of flowers from my garden in a layer of blue and green and pulled off the negative space around them. I then applied a second background layer of yellow and white. Finally, I did a single overprint of yellow on the side facing full bloom. The result is a quite painterly looking print of my flower composition.

3 color original monoprint acrylic on paper using spring flowers - Flower Print #3 - 8x10 — Flower Print #3 – 8×10

Additionally, I did a photo-transfer of an image of my sculpture Remember Whales. It is always exciting when the print transfer has a nice crisp impression. I created this print with a mixture of green and blue in the foreground, a white background layer, and just a touch of watercolor to highlight his eye.

3 color monoprint photo-treansfer original in acrylic on paper - based on image of lynn's sculpture — Remembering Whales #1

Both prints are now available at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. It will be a bit of time before the bears arrive.

The Price of Elephant Dance

The title is me playing around with things that help a piece of digital content be found by search engines. I do not think my tinkering in this post will really bring any more traffic to my little art blog. It is a price I’m paying for my own education and entertainment.

Annual Feature Show

Right now, I am beginning to decide what sculptures to hold for my feature show, or make available immediately. I also need to decide which images to use to highlight that show. I reassess these decisions as work sells, and my gallery inventory dwindles. This year my feature show is in September, so I will hopefully be making many such decisions between now and then. Perhaps you all can help me decide with the sculptures below? I will update you if the availability status any work changes for any reason.

The title of the feature show I am in is RECIPROCUS. As you might guess, that is the latin root for the word reciprocal. We artists in a show come up with our titles together. I suggested “Interactions”, as several pieces I had been working on recently had two or more figures in them. A previous FA show already used that title, so Reciprocus was suggested as an alternative.

Elephant Elevation

Anthropomorphic elephant pair helping each other climb. needle felted wool art doll figure sculpture — Ele-vate

Ele-vate is a pair of elephant babies helping each other climb. They are needle felted wool over wire and batting, and are integrated with the wooden blocks they are climbing. Yes, the title is a terrible bit of punning, but you just have to go with it sometimes.

Everything has a Price

Anthropomorphic zebra with stripes that run into a barcode. needle felted wool art doll figure sculpture — Everything Has a Price

This sculpture features a lone zebra who’s stripes become a barcode. This piece is sort of a nod to the other big project I worked on for the past year or so, leading a team to set up HGA’s point of sale system. At times it felt like that was my job. This sculpture captures that. He is needle felted wool over wire and batting. Though this scupture is a lone figure, I created him with the intention that he is looking directly at the viewer and interacting with them.

Crane Dance

Anthropomorphic pair of dancing Japanese cranes. needle felted wool art doll figure sculpture — Dance

My cranes are captured in a moment within their courtship dance. They evoke human behavior with out the need to be contrived. The cranes are a combination of needle felting and nano felting (wings) over wire and batting. Their legs combine black yarn and needle felted wool roving. The delicate pair is joined together, and they support and balance each other to stand on ther own.

Reminder:

The new show, It’s All About The Story, Volume IX – Jaki Shelton Green, opens at HGA next week. The opening reception will be during the Last Friday Art Walk on the 24th. The piece I shared last week, Rabbit Games and Midnight Rainbows will be part of that show.

Rabbit Games

… and the Return of the Story.

Some readers out there may remember that The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts sometimes pairs up with talented local authors for a show titled “It’s All About the Story.” This year, we will present volume IX of that series of shows with poet Jaki Shelton Greene. My piece for that show is titled Rabbit Games and Midnight Rainbows.

Rabbit Games and Midnight Rainbows - anthropomorphic art doll figure sculpture featuring a pair of dancing celestial rabbits — Rabbit Games and Midnight Rainbows

The show will be on display at HGA from February 14th through March 26th. There are two events connected with this show. The opening reception will be during the Hillsborough Last Friday Art Walk on February 24th from 6-9, and Ms. Greene will be reading in the gallery on Sunday, March 12th from 4-6 pm.

You can read all about Jaki Shelton Green and her work on the website Jakisheltongreen.com. The HGA artists have primarily created work that responds to a collection of her poems titled Breath of the Song.

The themes and topics of Ms. Greene’s poetry are wide ranging. Some are brutally honest and speak to a wide open audience, others are very intimate and personal. I first read through the collection to see if any topics or titles jumped out at me. Though there is a poem titled Paper Dolls, I felt that would be just a bit too “on the nose” and didn’t want to be overly literal, especially when responding to poetry, So, instead I read through again looking for visual phrasing that spoke to me.

Rabbit Games are born

Within one of several poems in the collection with the title Eva, I came apon the following lines…

and only precede midnight rainbows / we played the games of / rabbits

Instantly, I saw two celestially patterned rabbits dancing in the moonlight, and I started sketching Rabbit Games and Midnight Rainbows. I have to admit that this is one of those pieces where the creator has fallen on love with their creation. I can’t wait until we install the show in a couple of weeks. The two rabbit figures are needle felted wool over a wire and batting armature. They have large glass gem eyes. They stand on their own and support and balance each other.

We hope that you can stop in and check out all the other amazing work in It’s All About the Story Vol IX: Jaki Shelton Green.

Blog note from last post: Ususally art work in a feature show that sells stays with a red dot until the end of the show. However, there was a special request regarding my piece, So Many Questions, so the penguins have already gone on to their new home. My piece “Remember Whales” is serving as a stand-in until the show comes down on February 12th.

Penguin Dressed for New Year

So Many Questions is an anthropomorphic penguin and chick art doll figure sculpture. Needle felted wool over wire and quilt batting armature — So Many Questions

New Show at HGA

The next featured show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts is Melting. Melting is the first of two HGA member artist group shows to start 2023. This show’s title is up to the interpretation of the individual artist, but was originally suggested with a nod to the topic of climate change. My piece for the show features an Emperor Penguin and his chick, and is titled, “Too Many Questions.”

Penguin Dad and Baby Wait for Mom

For this sculpture I recalled watching the Oscar winning documentary, The March of The Penguins. One thing that many will remember from the film, is that the male penguins tend to the eggs and hatchlings. Meanwhile, the felmale penguins walk to the coast to fill up on fish immediately after laying their eggs. The mother’s round trip takes about 2 months. During that time, the males huddle for warmth while they incubate the eggs, and then tend the penguin hatchlings. The fathers do provide some early sustanance for the young chicks, but survival ultimately depends on the timely return of the mother.

At the time of the making of the film (2005) the coast was about 70 miles from the Antarctic ice sheet where the Emperor Penguin breed. As the ice sheets recede, the distance to the shore, and sustanence to survive grows. This, in turn, makes the round trip for fish and back grow longer and longer.

In my sculpture, I have anthropomorphasised my young penguin to be at about the level of a human 2 to 3 year old. As any parent will recall, this is a time when, “why” is a favorite question. I envision my young penguin chick to be asking his dad why it is taking mom so long to return.

Show Runs January 10th through February 12th

Check out all of the work inspired by the theme, Melting, at the Hillsborough Gallery this month. The show will be in the Featured Exhibit gallery January 10th through February 12th, with a reception during the Last Friday art Walk on January 27th from 6 to 9pm.

postcard for Melting show at HGA January 2023 — Melting Postcard

Gargoyle Trio

In recent weeks I created three gargoyle guardian figures. I’ve had a project at the gallery that has kept me quite busy. So, I’m just now taking the time to share them here with you.

Gargoyles are mythological creatures that serve dual duty in the protection of a building. As part of the roof drainage system, they protect a building from physical water damage. They also serve as guardians against evil. I’ve designed my gargoyles as protection against specific modern perils, with sort of a nod to Norman Rockwell’s 4 freedoms paintings?

Gargoyle Gauardian Illness

Needle felted gargoyle figure sculpture serves as protection against illness (COVID) — Gargoyle Guardian Illness

My Guardian Gargoyle Illness was the first of the three I completed. He has his left paw (claw?) on a stylized version of the Covid-19 virus. Along with all the other protections we can employ against such threats (vaccine, masks, hiygene, etc.) a little supernatural protection certainly can’t hurt. He is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature with glass bead eyes.

Gargoyle Gauardian Ignorance

Needle felted gargoyle figure sculpture serves as protection against ignorance — Gargoyle Guardian Ignorance

I don’t know about you, but I find myself yelling “READ A BOOK” in my head more often than I like to admit. Perhaps, social media just allows us greater access to more people’s ignorance. However, I don’t think I recall so many proud to celebrate it. My guardian is holding an open book in his lap. I think that I also could have depicted him as a traveler or explorer, as I find seeing other parts of the world and meeting different people are also strong protections against this particular threat. Gargoyle guardian Ignorance features the same constuction as his predecessor with irredecent glass eyes.

Gargoyle Guardian World

Needle felted gargoyle figure sculpture serves as protection against environmental destruction — Gargoyle Guardian World

The last of this trio of gargoyles is guarding the planet earth. He has a daunting endeavor ahead of him. It sometimes seems we humans are determined to ruin our one and only home. This seems all the more crazy given the threats that already exist of the cosmic and natural disaster nature. This guardian is perched atop the globe, and is holding tight with all four claws and his tail. He is similarly constucted as well.

In The Gallery Soon!

The trio of gargoyles will be in the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts soon.

Summer Work

As Show Closes

My fetaured artist show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts is now down. The remaining work has been distributed around the gallery, and I’ve had a chance to sit at my studio table again. Getting new ideas going after mounting a show is sometimes a tricky activity. I always need to rev up my sketching. Not everything that I put to paper ends up executed in 3D, but this seems to be the process that works for me. I also take in a lot inspiration visual and otherwise. This can include anything from scrolling on Pinterest to catching a phrase while reading.

Following the Spark

Meet Persistence.

Needle felted snail sculpture based on imagery pulled from Virginia Wolfe short story Kew Gardens — Persistence

The idea of Persistence came to me from a couple of directions. I first just had the thought of creating a snail, no deeper meaning connected. I like the interesting form of the animal, and the endless variety of the size and shapes of their shells. When an idea occurs this way, I will often do a search of the topic. I look for meanings or symbolosm connected to the image.

Among the results that came up when I searched snail symbolism was a short story by Virginia Wolfe titled Kew Gardens. In this story an unnamed narrator is observing the garden along the side of a flower bed. Several pairs of people walk by each engaged in conversation. In between these snippits of dialogue, the narrator turns to describing the flower bed itself. Several of these descriptive musings note the progress of a snail. One critique I read of the story describes the snail as a manefestation of Wolfe’s depression. I have to say that I disagree with that interpretation. The snail seems to be steadfast in its determination to keep going on its path, and completely unaware of the concerns or even existence of the people passing by. I saw this little snail as persistent.

He is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting form that contains a small sand bag inder his shell. The sand bag provides ballast to keep his head up. Hand sewn glass beads serve as his green eyes and tips of his tenticles.

Scary Cute

Pandas are often fodder for anthropomorphic art. The real animals are just so full of personality. The giant panda usually gets the attention, but the red panda can be equally as engaging. I came across a photo of two red pandas trying their best to intimidate the other. The result is nothing short of adorable! Much in the oxymoronic fashion of “ugly-pretty” I found their intimidation scary-cute.

My Panda is needle felted wool, over a wire and quilt batting armature. He has hand sewn glass bead eyes, and knotted yarn claws. This work features quite a bit of felting with a reverse needle to provide him with his fluffy look.

Last New Work Struts

Strut is just what he appears to be. An anthropomorphic rooster wearing spats and an ascot, and using a glass-topped and silver-tipped walking stick. Roosters seem so embued with confidence and flamboyance that depicting one as a bit of a dandy borders on cliche. He does seem to pull it off with flare, however.

Strut features colorful needle felted wool over a carefully balanced wire and quilt batting armature. His tail feathers I constructed by stitching a central anchor line in a strip of denim, and then fraying and trimming the sides. His spats are needle felted wool with copper brad embellishments. I used glass beads for his eyes and cane topper. The walking stick itself is a trimmed down chopstick painted black, with a jewelry ferrule tip, and silver wire and glass bead top.

That’s all the new sculpture work I have for you for now. Stay tuned.

Remembering Whales

I’m of a vintage to be able to remember ‘Save the Whales” as being a thing. I know that the global moratorium on whaling isn’t complete, and doesn’t block all whaling. But, it has allowed many species of whale populations to rebound. Why did I find my self thinking about this the past week or so? It might have some connection to watching my daughter doing some fundraising for Ukrainian refugees at school, and working an internship at a non-profit that deals with poverty issues. It is inspiring to witness empathy and caring. In recalling this rallying cry from youth for people to care about something, I was inspired to bring my own whale to life.

Remember Whales

I’m not sure if some would count him as anthropomorphic or not. I do not have this humpback whale doing something overtly human, and he’s certainly not dressed up. However, I find a certain intelligence expressed by most species of cetaceans. My whale seems ready for a conversation. His bright blue eyes sparkle with knowing, and he is propped up on his fins to look the viewer in the eye. A conversation with this humpback might prove quite embued with humanity

Remembering Whales is needle felted wool over wire and batting. HIs upper coloring is a hand blend of grey and blue fibers. Blue glass beads are sewn and felted in place for his eyes. He will be available at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts the last week of May.

Helping Sunflower Stand Tall

It is impossible to filter out all that happens in the world, and just create sculptures that depict cute happy little creatures. So, I’ve responded by creating some cute happy little creatures trying to say or do a bit more. “Helping Sunflower” is the next piece that will be available during my feature show in May. In this sculpture, three woodland creatures are working together to help a sunflower stand tall and straight.

Helping Sunflower is needle felted wool sculpture over a wire and quilt batting armature form. Anthropomorphic raccoon, mouse and robin work together to help a sunflower — Helping Sunflower

Ukrainian Sunflower

The whole world is now aware of the sunflower as symbol of Ukrainian national identity. We are also painfully conscious of that nation and its people’s need for help right now. I decided to depict that need and hopefully the resulting aid through this piece. My blossom is being aided by a trio of woodland animals.

Racoon Stability

The raccoon at the base of the sculpture is doing more than holding up the stem of the sunflower. I filled his bottom with a small pouch of glass gems so that he provides ballast to this taller than average sculpture. His construction is needle felted wool over foam, batting and wire. His glass bead eyes are sewn and felted in place, and his whiskers are fishing line knotted in place. The fur is purposely felted in with ends loose to provide a fluffy fur coat and tail.

Mouse Has The Leaves

A field mouse is perched on one leaf while he steadies another. His construction is felted wool over quilt batting. The mouse eyes and whiskers are the same as his raccoon friend.

Robin Provides Sunflower Air Support

At the very top a robin in flight grasps a petal in his beak. The robin was the trickiest element construction wise. I wanted to make sure he appeared to be pulling the flower upward. The wire armature travels up through the petal edge and on into the bird. The wing edges are left purposely loose to give the illusion of movement. The robin features needle felted wool over wire and batting with hand sewn glass bead eyes. The sunflower incorporates recycled chopsticks and wire in its stem, a machine stitched center that provides the illusion of seeds, and individually formed petals.

The sculpture will be at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts beginning May 24th.

Three for May

Three to share today

It has been much too long since I’ve shared some new work from my studio work table. I have been busy creating new sculptures, but other computer work priorities have kept me from telling you about them here. As a result they have actually backed up a bit, so I have three new pieces to share today. They are all being saved for my featured artist show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in May.

A Frog to Start the Trio

Pond-er, anthropomorphic frog needle felted art doll figure sculpture seated in 'Thinker"pose — **Pond-er**

Pond-er is the first of these three new art doll sculptures. Yes, he is reminiscent of Rodin’s “Thinker”, in a lighthearted amphibious way. He is an ultimate example of my frequent aim of minimal anthropomorphism. Trying to create figures that express human characteristic as minimally as possibly, and not by simply dressing them up in clothes. Pond-er is a natural for this approach, as the famous sculpture he is based on is also a nude figure.

Pond-er is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature frame. His eyes are glass beads that are sewn in place. Admittedly, he does just make me smile, and that is why I created him.

Two of Three

Morph, anthropomorphic zebra needle felted art doll figure sculpture with rainbow butterfly wings — **Morph**

Secondly, I’d like to introduce you to Morph. Morph is a rainbow zebra pega-fly? Tricky nomenclature aside, Morph is just a flight of fancy on my part. In my head I saw a zebra with butterfly wings where the black stripes became the borderlines of the wings, and the white gradates into the colors of the rainbow. I think that my expression of these ideas in Morph is pretty spot on. I will admit that Morph isn’t necessarily imbued with any particular human characteristics, she’s just a feast for the eyes. Though, she may express some thoughts of change and inclusion through her coloring and metamorphic nature. Morph’s construction is similar Pond-er.

A Bear in Solitude

Considered Solitude anthropomorphic needle felted bear art doll figure sculpture — **Considered Solitude**

The last of these three new pieces is Considered Solitude. It started by looking at the word solitude, and finding that a bear is an animal that is supposed to be representative of that concept. From there, I thought what might a bear do in its moments of solitude? Mine is carefully considering a daisy. This seated figure does have a simple scarf wrapped around his neck (perhaps it’s an ascot?) He just seemed to need something extra. Considered Solitude has the same felted wool over wire and quilt batting construction.

All three of these new works will be available at the end of May at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. I will share more details as the date approaches.

Dare To Clash

Next week a new show installs at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. Entitled, Stirrings, the show will feature new work by HGA member artists. For my contribution to the show I thought about the first few anthropomorphic pieces I created. Though I had sculpted animal inspired art dolls before, this was a whole new direction. High Fashion, was one of the first of these creatures, and she has remained one of my personal favorites. Dare to Clash recalls her predecessor. This giraffe is displaying her own unique style.

Perhaps she is over doing it just a bit with the animal prints, but her purple flats are on point. She also seems quite happy with her visor and large hoop earrings. They show off her long slender neck.

“Dare” stands a little over 13 inches high. She has bright glass bead eyes capped off with long black lashes. Her custom footwear is hand sewn from faux leather.

This piece really a represents a labor of love. I fully recall how labor intensive adding all of the giraffe spots to High Fashion was. Now I added leopard spots, and tiger and zebra stripes to mix! Needless to say, she took quite some time.

Close up of dare to clash — Dare close up

Dare to Clash will be at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts starting Tuesday, February 22nd. Come and check her out along with all new the “Stirrings”.

Wartski Art Dolls and Sculpture

Art dolls and mixed media sculpture