Clowning Around

Here are some pictures of a 'work in progress' during these long, hot summer afternoons.  This figure - with its temporary, maybe permanent name "Send in the Clowns" has been worked on, set aside, worked on, then set aside.  I've been in the middle of a piece that I can't reveal until mid-September -- but this art doll keeps drawing my attention back to her and so I've temporarily put aside the 'deadline' piece and have picked her up to have fun playing with the theme, the fabric, the beads and the stitching.

She began as a piece of fabric that I just loved.  Not a color that I would usually use - sort of a rose red - with multicolored dots spaced and black lines squiggled here and there.  To that I added bunches of over-stitching lines in curves and swirls.

Once that was done (for a front and back piece) I carefully hemmed all the edges.  Then came the layout -- that part where, if I can, I layout the bits and pieces that will fill the fabric spaces of each doll.  I have to allow for the embroidery stitches that I want to put here, there and everywhere on the fabric. 

One of my favorite songs, of all time is "Send in the Clowns" -- the music is lovely and the words are so poignant.  They tell the story that each of us has had at one time or another in our lives when we were ready for something but things (life) didn't work out. 

Do you ever have a project that you just want to finish so much -- not to have it done by any means but to enjoy it as being finished?  This piece is that to me -- she speaks to me in ways that I can't exactly express.  Hopefully her message will be clear once she is completed.

Isn't it bliss?

Don't you approve?

One who keeps tearing around,

One who can't move.

Where are the clowns?
- Stephen Sondheim

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

Time On My Hands

As you can see above, I've got 'time on my hands' these days and working on this piece has brought all sorts of thoughts to the surface of my mind and spirit.  'Time' as a subject for artwork is quite common and I think it must be because it is such an elusive concept.  One day may seem to last forever and the next flies by almost before it started. 

I have a love-hate relationship with my own personal time.  I tend to wake up in the morning with thoughts of 'laying out' my day.  Before my eyes are even fully open I begin to think in terms of time, sometimes even hours ("before noon I'd like to walk and clean the kitchen" or "wonder if I can get my shopping finished before 2 so that I can have some time for beading").  But then, I resent those thoughts.  I'm retired and I'm not supposed to be putting my daily schedule into hourly increments.  That kind of thinking was 'required' when I rushed out to work each day.  After all, from the moment we enter childhood our lives seem to be proscribed by time guidelines (school starts at 8 - mustn't be tardy).  I suppose it would be total chaos if businesses and offices and factories were operated on an 'as will' basis.  Didn't wake up until 10, that's okay, just wander into your workplace at any time you please, as long as the work gets done.  Sounds idyllic doesn't it? So here I am, without an office to go to -- I am my own boss -- and still the boss in me expects that I do such and such at this time and finish this and that at that time. 

BUT, there is hope!  While I bead I think nothing of time -- I try to separate myself from everything else but the work in front of me.  My hands are moving, my mind is dreaming and I am really and truly 'not of this world'.  As I ponder 'time' I think that creating something from nothing with your hands is our human answer to the boundaries of time.  For that moment we are lost in a timeless world and it is enchanting and delightful.

"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life". - William Faulkner