My Folk Art Dolls

I guess I've never grown up and find that making dolls is as fun as playing with them. This week I made dolls from my favorite childhood book, Alice in Wonderland. Although I would think it would be quite odd to visit Wonderland (everything was a bit twisted there) I still love the characters and the imagination of Lewis Carroll.

The American Holiday Artists had an Alice in Wonderland challenge for the month of March, and so I created Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. I know it's almost the end of the month but I was so very busy painting for my show at Local Colors for the first part of the month that I didn't get anything done for the challenge til this week.
"Which part of the proverb do you prefer? Better never than late, or Better late than never?" (Lewis Carroll)

I think I prefer Better late than never. At least that's what I find myself practising on a regular basis. So please visit my ebay auctions and say hello to my Wonderland friends. There are a couple of angels hanging out with them as well.

Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show

The Spring show of the Utah Watercolor Society is the big show of the year for this organization. This year it will be held in May, but we just got the results this week from the juror, Carla O'Connor. I was very excited to hear that the painting I entered was accepted into the show, hooray! It's titled 'What's Next?"

It's Nibblefest time again!

Nibblefest is a fun contest among ebay artists where all auctions start at .99 each. This month's theme is cows. I made a lovely cow doll. Her name is Missy Moo and she is a very pleasant cow with lots of personality (she was voted Miss Cowgeniality by her herd). If you are a cow person, seach NFAC on ebay for quite a cattlelog of wonderful cow art!

Opening Reception for My Show

Last Friday night was the opening reception for my show. I shared the evening with two other featured artists, a potter, Tori Miller and an artisan jeweler, Patty Street. It was a great night! I tried to get a picture of the main part of my show, but it's not a very good one. But you get an idea of what it looked like. Special thanks to all my dear friends who supported me! It was the highlight of my evening seeing each one of you.

Being an artist is certainly a journey. I am at a defining point in my career, I think. I mean, I have tried all kinds of things, experimented with styles etc. Maybe it's not so hard for some artists to define their style. My problem has been I have kind of a mixed bag of styles. So for this show I decided to paint what was in my brain rather then a more realistic approach. So that's what this show is about, letting my brain loose and seeing what comes of it. Pictured above is 'Tulip Girl', who went home with my darling friend Annette Vernon. Tulip girl is painted in acrylic on masonite and then I put a crackle finish on her with an antique glaze. I try to get a shot of all my paintings before I take them to the gallery, but didn't with this one, so I took a quick shot of her under gallery lights - which isn't the best lighting. Oh well.

If you live in Salt Lake I hope you will stop by and see the show!

Dancing With Dogs

This is a painting for my show at Local Colors. If you're in town I hope you will stop by on gallery stroll next Friday March 19th between 6 and 9 PM.

This is a large painting 3ft x 4ft. I used a lot of texture, some collage and it is painted in acrylic. Well I'm off to paint another one!

New Stuff

This past week I made some art dolls. It was fun and a new way to express creativity that 2D art does not provide. Of course I am still painting, I am the featured artist at Local Colors of Utah gallery, the opening is Friday, March 19th. So this week I am painting my socks off to get my show done.

My art dolls are on auction this week on ebay. http://stores.ebay.com/Pure-Art-Studio?_rdc=1
I hope you will take a peek!