Tag Archives: one of a kind

Posting and Sharing

art doll - Reading

Reading

I just finished setting up a Flickr feed as another place to share images of my art dolls.  Why? Like many artists I try to increase the exposure of my work to a wider audience.  Exactly the best way to do this online is a question I see raised often.  If I’m to believe the greatest portion of my blog comments and replies (spam) some people have Search Engine Optimization and web promotion all figured out, and they are only too happy to help you increase yours… for a fee, of course.

The fact that the landscape keeps changing, and what worked last year no longer does, makes it even more challenging.  Anyone with a separate Facebook fan page for their work knows that now even those who had taken the time to “like” your page probably don’t see your posts on their news feed.  You have to pay to “boost” your posts, or run ads for that to happen.  I got another such surprise when I went to add a new image to my Fine Art America page last week.  As a 3D artists I never had any reason to use their paid service to sell prints or canvases of my work.  Recently, they limited the number of images that free users could have to 25.  I have about four times that already.  I’d have to sit and delete 75+ one at a time to add just one new piece of work.  You can upgrade to a premium account to address the issue. Needless to say, don’t check there for my new work.

Hopefully, some of the new things I’ve added like Pinterest boards and a Flickr stream, or that I’ve done like changing the way I name and tag images will help.  There are some things I’m still researching like coordinated Instagram and Twitter usage. Others, like opening an Etsy shop, I just don’t think are for me.

Right here where you are on my blog will remain the best way to keep up with what I’m working on, like “Reading” that I photographed earlier today.  If you’re an artist friend, share what you do or are trying to get your work out. I’d love to hear.

Photographing a Moving Doll

art doll cirque 2

Cirque II

“Cirque II” is my latest art doll figure.  Like my original “Cirque” she is a fanciful aerial silks acrobat. I enjoy occasionally creating dolls like these that hang rather than sit or stand on a base.  They allow for movement to enter into the design.  Properly balanced and positioned, a doll like Cirque II can catch the slightest bit of air movement and dance or spin.

I like how this adds another dimension of interest to the piece.  It also allows for greater flexibility in display. However, it does provide a unique challenge in the area of photography.  Obtaining that crisp and clear photograph of a sculpture that is moving, no matter how slowly, can be vexing.

Thankfully, the dolls are not very large, or heavy. The addition of a couple more strands of mono-filament at strategic locations to tether her in a fixed position seems to be the answer.  Trying to give the illusion that she is still moving while she is not was the goal.

Here is a shot of her predecessor…

art doll cirque

Cirque

Fine Feathered Friend

Bird girl art doll on swing

Bird Girl

Sometimes an idea for an element of a piece becomes a project unto itself. Such was the case with my newest, Bird Girl, art doll. For this figure I decided that I wanted to try to create fabric feathers. I did a quick Google on “how to make fabric feathers” and was off.

The actual technique is not too difficult. For each feather, you stitch together two rectangles of fabric up their centerline with a zig-zag stitch. Then you cut your desired feather shape out. The last step is to fray out the feather shape from the edge to your center zig-zag line… This is where the process became a project. Some fabrics, like burlap, fray very easily. I chose some cottons that I would guess are somewhere in the middle of the “fray-able” spectrum. It still took me sitting for hours with needle in hand teasing the threads off of the edge of each feather against a tray on my lap.

Am I happy with the results? Yes. Will I most likely do it again? Yeah. Will I choose fabrics that are a bit easier to fray? Quite possibly.

Bird Girl is now happily perched on her swing, and I’m on to new friends.

Stories

art doll driving in reverse

Driving in Reverse

“Driving in Reverse” is my piece for “It’s All About The Story”, the February feature show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. The area in and around Hillsborough is home to a number of acclaimed authors, and we produce a collaborative show with one each year. This year we have teamed up with Jill McCorkle, and have created work based on her Going Away Shoes collection of short stories.

The story “Driving to the Moon” follows 30 years of connections and disconnections between two high school sweethearts, and the car that registered the miles along the way. The female main character is reminiscing while driving to visit one last time. The art doll “Driving in Reverse” is driving forward while keeping one eye in her rear view. She is keenly aware of the passage of time, and obviously has some things locked up inside.

“It’s All About The Story” runs from February 24th though March 23rd with opening reception on Friday, February 28th from 6-9pm, and an author reading and signing with Jill McCorkle on Sunday, March 2 from 2-4pm.

Themes and Challenges

I would guess that most often artists find themselves creating from their own ideas, or perhaps those of a patron for a commission.  Occasionally we do create for an upcoming show’s predetermined theme.  For these shows serendipity can sometimes play a role, and when a “call-to-artists” is read there is already something completed and on hand that is just right. Other times you have to sit down with the sketchbook and think of something that perhaps you wouldn’t have.

In general, I like creating for these shows, and the way they force you to stretch creatively.  That is not to say that some do not drive me to distraction.  About a month ago I worked on one such piece.  I’ll share that one in a couple of weeks when the show goes up in the gallery.

Below is my newest art doll “Wednesday’s Child.”  She was created in answer to a monthly challenge that is posted by an art doll group that I belong to.  I hadn’t created any dolls to date that were based on nursery rhymes, though it does seem a natural area for fodder given the medium.  Gesture in these small figures is always a focus for me.  I think her body language says woe, but hopefully she’s thinking of ways to make things better.

Wednesday's Child

Wednesday’s Child

 

And To All A Good Night

I was thinking about giving art as gifts today.    Part of what inspired and gave me the confidence to work on my art full time were the reactions I received to gifts I created years ago.  I heard just enough, “you should do this professionally” to help me think that perhaps I could.  I must admit that it is with much greater anticipation and perhaps just a bit of anxiety that I await the reaction to a piece of my art than anything I will ever purchase.  This is heightened even further when creating a piece specifically for someone special.

Portrait doll for a soccer keeper

Portrait doll for a soccer keeper

I worked in the gallery today.  I noticed that just as much of the conversation was about the person to receive the gift as the piece of art or the artist. To me this made perfect sense.  I always try to select or create that piece that somehow says that person’s name to me.

I had a great experience recently of picking out existing sculptures as gifts for some friends.  I was pleasantly surprised by one recipient noticing the work before I had a chance to give them, and specifically asking about the piece I had intended for them.  That completely made my evening.

Happy holidays, and if you happen to be one of the readers who might recognize the doll in this post… Shhhh

Steam

My most recent art doll, Steam, is dressed in her steampunk finest complete with “leather” top hat, goggles, metal boustier, and knee high boots.  She looks all ready for a trip in a time machine.  I  was challenged by scale of fabric patterns with this piece.  Little beings can easily be swallowed up in a pattern made for the clothing or furniture of us giants. I found a black and white plaid to work into her skirt.

 

Steam

Steam

Sometimes this question of scale requires taking matters into your own hands. This “tie-dye” on my piece Janice, I did with Sharpie markers and alcohol added with a dropper.

Janice's tie-dye shirt

Janice’s tie-dye shirt

Delight in the Details

As I was sewing a pair of lace up boots for a new art doll sculpture, I was thinking to myself that these little details are part of what makes these pieces so intriguing.  Since that doll isn’t quite finished, I figured that I’d share a few examples from some earlier dolls.

“Janice” sits and strums a guitar fashioned from copper, aluminum, a spoon handle, wire and beads.

spoon handled guitar and hands from Janice doll

spoon handled guitar and hands from Janice doll

“Janice” also sports a nifty pair of high top sneakers.

Janice's sneaker

Janice’s sneaker

For “Garden Girl #2” I created a small copper garden basket, and a teeny, tiny, trowel.

Garden Girl 2 holds basket and trowel in her leather garden gloves

Garden Girl 2 holds basket and trowel in her leather garden gloves

“Time Keeper” has boots made at my metal work table out of copper tubing.

Time Keeper's copper boots

Time Keeper’s copper boots

The front of “Snow Queen” shows her lace up bodice, leather mittens, and beaded ice scepter.

 

front of Snow Queen

front of Snow Queen

And just in case you need one more pair of tiny shoes… Here is a close up of “Lacing” tying up the ribbons on one of her toe shoes.

 

Lacing shoe detail

Lacing shoe detail