It's all in the Cards

My apologies for being so long between posts. Since being an artist is my passion, but not my employment, sometimes my day job takes more time than others. So for the next few weeks, when we are at our busiest, I will probably be posting less frequently.

This particular piece is called "The King of Hearts Steps out with the Queen of Diamonds" and it was created for a doll challenge called "It's All in the Cards" held at the Jeykll Island Doll Seminar between 10-12 years ago.

The idea of the piece was create a three dimensional card deck with the characters literally coming out of the cards. The king and queen both have one arm and one leg still in the deck, and on the back of the piece the jester is more in the deck than out, although he is three dimensional on his own card. The king and queen are coming out of the top of the deck.

The king has 52 heart shapes in his clothing and crown representing the 52 cards in a deck (sans jokers).

Although I have made a lot of dolls, and most of them are more traditionally representational, I have a lot more fun making things like this that are out of the box. I hope you enjoy this piece and a small view into my weird mind.

Once they were small

None of the grand kids are babies anymore, they are all in high school or older, but we all like to remember the days when they were younger.

This painting was created from a composite of four formal portraits done of the kids when they were younger. All were taken in the same year, so the age relationship is correct, the youngest was under two, the two older girls were seven and the young man was around three. Our grandson will graduate from high school this year. My how time flies.

Portrait painting is not my strength, but I do love trying to capture someones essence and image in paint. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don't. Some time ago, I painted two of the grandchildren in separate portraits for their parents as a gift. I thought the one of my grandson captured him very well, but I felt that I missed the mark on my granddaughter. When the parents opened the gifts, they saw it entirely differently.

It's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?

And the winner is....

Congratulations to Nelson LeMay, whose name was pulled in the drawing to win a painting.

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy to New Year.

Hold everything, I found the Lights!

"Hold it everyone, I found the lights! Now we can put them on the tree." If your house is anything like mine, this is how you probably found them as well. Now to hope they all work.

I found the little wooden lights at a craft store and bought every package I could get my hands on at the time. They were NOT strung, so I used dark green button thread doubled to get the job done. What fun tangling them around his body!

His little white hat was hand felted from Cotswald wool by a friend, I cut two small slits on each side for the pointed ears to come out, added the band and the feather and fell in love with this little guy.

Check out the stripes on his legs, I am very proud of how well they match up, they are only about 1/8" wide. Let me tell you, it was a challenge. They match on both the front and back, as they do on the arms and the body. Lots and lots of little pins!

Tomorrow is Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone. I hope your day is filled with the love of your family and friends, and may all your Christmas dreams come true!

Elf with Bead Garland

This is a nice closeup of one of the elves faces. Although none of my shots captured the ears, they are sewn on separately and are pointed as elf ears should be. I tend to make all of my elves as young, so I add freckles to capture that youth.

This particular elf, in her beret and apron has been busy in the workshop all morning and is taking time out to help trim the tree. Her small Nantucket basket is filled with the beaded garland.

When she is set up in the Christmas elf display, the end of the garland is in the hands of the purple elf who is perched on the ladder to get it high up on the tree.

Working with the tiny stripes is a challenge when you are using them horizontally, but it's worth it for the overall look. I now have a collection of tiny stripes in all colors, just waiting for more elves to spring forth someday when I retire.

Elf with Bear

What fun making this elf was. I loved all the fabrics and putting them together. The bear was hand stitched using a pattern, and I really wish I could remember who created the pattern, it's not my original. The bear is made from ultrasuede and is only about 3" high with arms and legs that move.

I found some miniature holly leaves and berries at a craft store which were perfect to add to her hat. And of course, someone had to have some fur on her boots - it IS the North Pole after all.

Don't forget to enter the drawing for a free painting, submit a comment or follow this blog bt 12/31/10. Winner announced in 8 days on 1/1/11.

Bear detail (left) Face detail (right)