Am I going in circles?

These days I feel as if I am turning, turning, turning in a huge circle (or is it a U-turn).  I'm not sure -- but here I am back working full time on art dolls.  A long time ago (or does it just seem like such, time being so relative) I made primitive dolls.  For five years or so I stitched hundreds and hundreds of little arms and legs.  I tea and coffee stained so much fabric that my fingers were consistently brown.  I worked the craft show circuit in Georgia and Tennessee, packing up all my little people and taking them to urban shows and country shows.  Each year I made up lots and lots of primitive Santa's to add to my inventory.  I told the story of topsy turvy dolls and shared my vision of dolls played with during the early history of our country.  After awhile I felt as if I were on a production line of stitchery (and indeed I was) so it was time to move on.

At that time I discovered lots of new-to-me art forms.  I learned the use of handmade paper and decoupage and playing with collage.  I discovered the magazine "Somerset Studio" which opened all sorts of doors for my creative mind to peek into.  My whole world changed while I created book art.  The world of craft shows was reduced to those few gallery or art shows that I could find that would take 3D work.  The work was amazingly fun and new discoveries were always right around the corner.

As a result of my book art I discovered the world of beading -- especially encrusted beading.  And as you know I have been completely hooked on that -- laborious as it can be it is such a completely mediative art form.  Slip the beads on the needle, put the needle into fabric, lay the beads down and do this quietly, over and over again as the pattern reveals itself.  Wonderous!!!

While working on various encrusted projects I realized that I could make some figure forms using my newly learned skills.  That was a wonderful discovery for me (as you probably know if you've read earlier postings).  And now, with my latest work "Birdsong" I am back into art doll work again.  The circle has been made -- this time I enter it with a 'beading viewpoint'. 

I'm not sure why I always seem to end up with 'people' as my art form.  Perhaps I'm intrigued by them, perhaps I need more friends *smile*, perhaps I just love the idea of bringing the human form to life.  Whatever it is - once again I am trying to bring a little magic into my studio in the form of the figure.

Let's see what I come up with during this turn of the circle.

"Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm". - Earl Nightingale