Two Giraffes and a Fox, oh MY

My goodness but time in a crisis does fly.  I have been keeping busy with my art dolls and wooly critters.  I am sharing my giraffes and fox: the first is Raj, an eastern Prince who loves his marionette and long walks in the gardens.  He is all cloth, gessoed and painted with glass eyes.  I made his costume using a sari top that I had in my stash from a thrift store.

The giraffe is my own pattern with inspiration from Marj Gorman

The marionette is from a Karen Shifton pattern

The second giraffe is a country gentleman who loves walking in the wood and foraging for mushrooms.  He is an avid reader and lover of good food and drink. He sits about 16" tall and in total is about 26", same as his eastern friend Raj:

Chilling without his jacket on

Ready to receive guests at his country home

The back of his embroidered jacket

This country gentleman is going to a good home in Duncan.  Finally, I made Mr. Frederick Fox a good friend of Gerome (the country gentleman).  He enjoys accompanying him foraging for mushrooms.  Once again, my own design and all cloth, gessoed and painted. As you can see, he sits about 10.5" and is about 18" in total.

These fellow were great fun to do and I may do more in the future!  I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Abigail's Dream Adventures

In this troubling time of virus worry I am staying safe and inside as much as possible.  I was contacted by Karen E. Franks, an author, that lives in Bermuda to make wooly critters to bring her children's story characters to life.  I gladly accepted the challenge.

Karen's book (Abigail's Dream Adventures) feature a little girl who dreams of wonderful adventures with close friends whenever she falls asleep.  The four main characters are:

Abigail
Agatha (french Canadian, red hair, blue eyes)
Pearl (Blonde girl )
Troy (a boy that loves to colour graffiti with crayons)

Here are some illustrations in her story:

I made the four main characters using wool sweaters that I felted in the washing machine and then cut and made into adorable children dressed as animals. I loved the results:

First is Abigail, dressed as a kitten fairy with her pet unicorn, of course:

Next is one of her best friends, Pearl, the little blonde haired girl dressed as a squirrel with her pet kitty:

Next is Agatha, a french Canadian girl with red hair and blue eyes. I dressed her as a frog with her pet dog (her dog is shown in the book as her companion):

Finally, there is Troy, a fun loving, crayon carrying boy dressed as a mischievous monkey:
Troy carries his crayons anywhere he goes and a wee frog tags along with him,

I am happy to report that Karen loved my rendition of her sweet characters and we are waiting for this mess to clear before I send her the sweet darlings.

Stay safe, stay indoors and this too shall pass my friends!

Natural Connections Art Show

Natural Connections Art Show-CANCELLED due to virus

• May 1-7, 2020 at ArtSea Gallery at the Tullista Park building in Sidney BC 
• (10am to 7pm)
• A group of seven of us will have our works for sale
• There is a potter, a collage artist, a paper artist, a watercolour artist and a polymer clay artist and me of course as the figurative sculpture artist

Here is a steak preview of one of my creations that will be at the show:

I made her using Arley Berryhill's collage mermaid pattern.  The body was made using a woven white coloured fabric and then dyed using fabric paints. 

She is sitting on a candle stick which I weighted at the base with real shells, attaching them with celluclay.

The fabric is an embroidered silk with pearly buttons that I sewed on the inner tentacles.

 I enjoyed making Oceania, Octavia and hope she will be well received at the upcoming show.

I hope that if you live in the Greater Victoria Area on southern Vancouver Island, you will come and visit us this May.

2020 Begins Happy New Year

Happy Lunar New Year! Well the new decade has begun (or not as my sister maintains). My creative journey continues with Arley Berryhill ‘s pattern “Penny Dreadful “. I will be displaying her at the Coast Collective Gallery show called “Red”. She was a joy to make. I used the colour red as my inspiration:
Whenever I start a new project, I decide on the colour story and then put together fabrics and trims in a basket.  I generally never use all the fabrics I initially choose but it is important to have choices on hand when I am creating.  In making this doll, I had all the fabrics already in my home stash, including the trims and trinkets ( I love adding those special details to my dolls).  I am very pleased with the results and I named this gal Lady Victoria Scarlett Rossa, a fierce lady who always wears at least a touch of red:

Thank you Arley Berryhill for creating such a wonderful pattern for us to use.

My second entry for the "Red" show at the Coast Collective is called "Cardinal Ideas", based on a pattern by Frowning Francis (another one of my favourite designers):

The show will be on from January 29th through March 8th at the Coast Collective in Victoria.

Holiday Magic

I am blessed to have my sister spending the holidays with us so we are taking in all the beautiful sites of our city.

Craigdarrach Castle, Centennial Square and Butchart Gardens:

Gingerbread Houses to raise money for Habitat for Humanity:

I have had a wonderful holiday season and there is more to follow.  I wish all my family and friends a wonderful, joyous New Year's and a peaceful start for 2020, a brand new decade full of promise and possibilities for self love, self improvement and creativity!