Dollies in Their Underwear and a Funny Comment

My 17 year old daughter made it back from Nicaragua. She was home for one day and then left for camp (she is a counselor). She and my camera (again) will be back this weekend!! Her trip was, as I had hoped, life-changing. Every time she talks about leaving her new friends there, she cries.

I have been working steadily to complete the latest Dollandia Girls.  I had to use Bailey's camera (not good...not her camera...but me using her camera!!)  I will post better pics this weekend when I finally get my camera back!  But here is a little sneak preview anyway!

I have been working so hard to complete these girls.  All the arms and legs are ready and the bodies are ready.  I just need to make skirts, put them together and get wigs done.

Here's the funny comment:  (Keep in mind that a small amount of insanity runs in our family!)  My 15 year old daughter, Bailey, came into the studio today.  She was intently looking at the dolls and she said, "People need to be careful.  Their necks are long and I'll bet they could be broken easily."  I said, "No, there's a wooden armature in there.  They aren't really fragile."  Her answer?  "Yeah....but I feel like I would love to pick one up and just crack her head off!"  I couldn't help but laugh.  There's not much that could stand up to THAT!!  Truly.. .they aren't fragile.....but if you get one....please don't crack her head off!  Ha ha!!!

A new little painting and some bags

First things first!  Thank you so much to my wonderful friends Erin Hardin  and Kylie Fowler for their sweet blog posts about my art!  Sorry it's been a little while since my last post.  My daughter has my camera in Nicaragua!  I did think to take a couple of pictures just before she left.  The first picture is a new painting in a very different style.  It was such fun to paint!  It actually wasn't finished when I took the picture but I wanted a picture at this point.  I have since attached an antique bottle which will hold a wild flower (I'll take a picture this weekend when my camera (and daughter!) are back.

On the subject of my daughter's trip:  She is helping build 2 houses and teaching VBS in a tiny village in Nicargua.  I can't wait to hear all the stories when she returns.  I know she will have a different world view.  I went by the church the day before they were to leave and found out that the participants would be needing to keep their passports (literally) on their bodies at all times.  They needed some little passport bags that they could tuck into their shirts...sooooo....I went home and got busy!  I made 17 little zippered bags.  By the end, I was a little tired...but happy that I could help.  They really seemed to like the bags and I have gotten a kick out of seeing one here and there in the pictures that are coming back from Nicaragua.  The bags are below:

Artfest News and New Items!

I just got the fabulous news that I will again be teaching at Artfest in 2012!  For those of you who aren't aware of this amazing event, it will be held March 28th-April 1st, 2012 in Port Townsend, WA (on an island outside Seattle).  I will post the website details on August 1st (when the site goes live again).  For a little sneak preview....below are the projects from the 2 classes I will be teaching.

The first class is called "Cuff Me!".  It will cover needle felting, paperclay button making, embroidery and putting it all together.

The second class is called "Story Pieces".  My daughter and I started writing just the ending parts of stories in our journals a couple of years ago.  I thought it would be cool to incorporate these story pieces into paintings.  The class will cover background painting, painting the colorful little children of your mind and writing and adding in the story pieces of your own.  Below are the first 3 of the series.  They are painted on wood:

Artfest is an annual event.  I think it is in it's 16th year and is the largest retreat in the country (I think I even heard in the world!).  If you have never been, you should start making plans now!!  It is so creative, so supportive and the most fun event I have ever attended.  It starts on Wednesday and runs through Sunday.  It is held in an old Army fort with the beautiful Puget Sound as a backdrop.  Deer sometimes even walk by as you walk to classes! You will make friends that you keep in touch with throughout the years.  This will be my 5th Artfest year.

Onto other fun things!  I just finished a series of 6 small journals.  These journals have been a big hit at Artfest, online and locally.  I only make them a couple of times per year.  They measure 5" x 7".  Each journal features 15 pages (30 front and back) of Canson 140lb watercolor paper (it can handle any medium and is my favorite paper).  I have made them to lay mostly flat so they are easy to write or paint in (although I have not broken them in....I'll let you do that yourself!!)  The little charms on the spine are handmade by me and the lovely fibers are Italian and French yarns. I will only be selling 3 of the 6 (whichever 3 sell first).  The rest will go to Artfest.  They are $40 each + $5 to ship.  If you are interested, please email me at Sunnycdolls@aol.com to reserve yours!

The above group each feature a small original painting.  One has a brass bee, one has a pebble with the word "curious" showing through.

If you have any questions or would like additional pictures emailed to you, please let me know!  Thank you all for reading and for your lovely comments!!  xoxo

SUMMER!!!!!!!

Finally!  It's summertime!!  Submissions are over and I'm so excited to be spending some time with my now Senior and Sophmore daughters without the pressures of homework.  I spent yesterday on the back porch painting some new original journal covers (sneak peek below...I'll post them finished later this week, I hope!) and just enjoying the very HOT temps!  We are already in the 90's.  I wasn't complaining!  I'm just thrilled to be painting for the absolute thrill of it!  My sweet husband made us pizza in the evening and we watched a movie (still outside!).  I love summer!!!

A lovely, generous artist whom I met in Mentone this past weekend, Ricki, posted about my art on her blog this morning (thank you, Ricki!!).  You can go over and see it here.

One more quick thing:  I am so sorry that I haven't been posting on all your blogs lately.  I am having severe computer problems (I have ordered a new one!!) and for some reason I can't leave comments.

New Small Painting + Pennies

I am still working on submissions for Artfest and a show this weekend.  After this weekend, I am FREE for the summer!  (Meaning I will be working on things that I WANT to work on!)  I did manage to finish 4 paintings this week.  3 are submissions so will (for now) be kept under wraps.  The extra one is below:

Rod's Pennies of Wisdom:

On a family trip to Savannah, GA, we all sat relaxing on a balcony at the end of a fun day.  During a lull in the conversation, I asked Rod, "what is it you love about Lisa?"  With absolutely no hesitation, he answered, "Well, we get along great and I can find her in Wal-Mart!"

Rod's Pennies of Wisdom

I have been a little slow in posting lately.  Even though Artfest 2012 is about a year away, now is the time for submissions for classes...so that's what I've been working on!!  Eeeek!  It's so hard to think of that when we just finished Artfest 2011!  Soooooo....here's something different for now:

The only person to have heard this story is Tammy McGee:    My brother, Rod, has Autism.  He is highly functioning but his thought process is very different than my own (not that I am that "normal"!!).  I see him every Friday night and he never ceases to crack me up with his view of the world.  My parents were told when he was young that he would never graduate high school, never work, drive or marry.  My parents did not accept this and now years later,with their constant encouragement (and sometimes pushing),  he has done all of these things.  He drives, has worked for the DOT in the county that we live in for 25 years and has a wonderful wife (who is just like him...Lisa...I'm sure you'll hear about her "Pennies" as well later on!).
I want to explain the title "Rod's Pennies of Wisdom".  Tonight, Rod said that sometimes when you listen to a vinyl record, it will skip but if you put pennies on the arm of the needle, it will push down the arm and you can hear the music.  You will get "the wisdom" and that is how he sees himself...the Pennies of Wisdom!!....Okay!  We'll go with that!  I wanted to explain that because from time to time I will post Rod's Pennies of Wisdom and I wanted you to know the initial story.
Here is the first one:  The tornadoes happened last Wednesday here in Alabama.  On the following Friday night (2 days after) Rod said to me, "I REMEMBER when it happened"!!  I cracked up!  Guess what..I remember it, too!!  The most wonderful thing about Rod is that he is able to laugh at himself.  In fact, it is with his permission that I will be posting his Pennies of Wisdom.  More to come.....

Rolling Again!

It seemed to take me a loooong time to recover from Artfest and get back to work.  In reality, it was only about a week...and that was mostly due to the obligations of my other life....at....the...office!  This week I got started on a new gaggle of Dollandia girls.  Here are some Work In Progress Pics so you can watch as things progress.  One of these girls already has a new home to go to as soon as she makes her final appearance.  The final picture is of a few small paintings that are also WIPs.  They will be mounted on wood.  I'll post final pics of everything when ready.

Back From Artfest...

Artfest was once again wonderful.  It was so great to see all the old friends, meet the new ones and see the amazing art.  I will post a few pics here and a link to the whole album on my Facebook page.  http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?id=1502799918&aid=2075244  Thanks to all who took my classes.  I hope you had a great time, learned some new techniques and will continue on your art journey.  I love you all.

 Tracy and Teesha Moore on opening night.

 A demo in one of my classes.

 Me and Tracy Moore on Show and Tell night (I just noticed that it looks like I'm giving the finger!  LOL).

 My girls!!!  From left:  me, Cheryl McCloud, Kathie Vezanni, Mindy Lacefield and Kate Daniel.  This was on the last night at Sirens, a restaurant in Port Townsend, WA.

 Kate Daniel and Nikki Gammon ("my stalker" - she says that, not me!!) looking so cute in their hats.

A drawing I did in Tracy Moore's Journal.  After all the traveling and craziness, I realized I forgot to sign it!  I did sign it on the last night.

New painting-Sisters

Here is a new small painting.  I just wanted to do something about women supporting each other.  It was loose and fast painting, mostly acrylic but with watercolor, Genesis and some napkins and stuff thrown in.  It measures about 9" x 3".

Also, I finished my trades for Artfest!  Yahoo!  I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to trade this year.  I did porcelain tiles featuring art from my paintings of the last year.

I truly can't wait to see you all...if I could leave today, I would!!

The Last Dollandia Girls (for now!)

I finally shipped everything out to Washington yesterday.  I said a prayer and now I will just have to wait and hope it all makes the trip without being in a million pieces!

I finished 2 final Dollandia girls and they made the trip as well.  They are smaller than the others, maybe about 7" total.

Back to the studio!!  I'm still making zippered pouches since I can pack them in my suitcase.

I can't wait to see you all!!!