Spring???...NOT!!!

Good Grief...it has been snowing on and off throughout the day, everyday, since Friday. Not only snow but hail, rain, little bits of blue sky, rainbows, and just plain damp and cold. It is doing the same this morning. Very unusual for Portland at the end of March. They say our weather should start to turn around tomorrow and we should see some sun and a high around 60 by Wednesday. I am so ready to see blue sky and feel some sun on my bones!

My husband left for Minneapolis, for work, this morning for the week. I'm beginning my day making a post, adding links, etc., to my blog and Art, Art, Art...the rest of the week!

Above picture is a sneak peek at one of two new projects I have been working on. The beginning of this doll was quite the learning curve for me since I've always beaded on a flat surface. It is definitely different working on a stuffed 3-D piece. And, Thank You Grace, for your sweet and thoughtful support and heads up on the curved needle! I figured it out when I kept taking my 'winged' needle and trying to wing it even further with my fingers and pliers! ~wink~ I have seen them before but never had bought one, so I went to my LBS and bought two. HUGE difference! Funny too, I find I need the straight beading needle very new and stiff or very curved. "I don't know where you get your curved beading needles from... ~Emeril~"...but I purchased two, John James #10, from my LBS for $3.00. They didn't have the bigger pack of 25, so I started looking around for the bigger pack. I found them on eBay, pack of 25 for $5.55! It was a good deal for me and if you are interested the seller is vintagesuzanne and her store is Hye on Beads.

These are my neglected dolls that I started making last year that are waiting to be brought to life. Grace's beautiful work and stunning dolls were a huge inspiration and driving force for me. I'd look at her beautiful dolls and say I want to make one too! Can you see I couldn't make just ONE! Great thanks go to Monica for sharing her ideas and inspiration on how to make an art doll and to Rhonda Kivett for sharing her free patterns and inspiration! If you don't sew or just want to get down to business trying to bead one or do any mixed media with one, go see both of these very artistic and talented gals. They both sell their doll forms for other artists and they are truly beautiful and unique! I hand stitched these with wool felt. I then proceeded to go and find a book and supplies, to make my own faces. The face molds I used were commercial ones except I made a few molds of some faces in our home. One star is Dante's face and there is another little bird face on one of the dolls too. If you don't want to make faces, I would suggest you look at Linsart Creations in Clay. She makes wonderful faces! I made most of my forms from Rhonda's patterns. I made patterns for the hummingbird, bluebird, singing lady, scuba diver, and bee's.

I made the bee's when my sister was having some difficult times to remind her to be...herself, happy, strong, peaceful, etc. He was turning out so cute, I made one for me too. Sissy has seen him and even though he isn't stuffed or embellished yet, she knows why he was made for her and what he'll remind her of! :-)




In my last post, I mentioned that I'd share my art room. This room is the biggest bedroom of the two downstairs and has the built in desk along one wall. This room was first my oldest son's bedroom and when he went to college my youngest took it over. When our youngest moved out with a friend, less than a year ago, I wanted to have my art room in there but I didn't move anything in there for quite a few months. He left his two pictures, stars, and one huge bulletin board on the other wall. He is sharing a 2 bdrm condo with a friend and just doesn't have the room right now. I LOVE being in this room! It is bright and there is a cozy feeling that surrounds me here. I haven't taken down his pictures or the photos/ items on his bulletin board either. Maybe pretty soon, just hasn't happened yet. See the "Diva" on the desk, I told you she'd be watching over me! ;) I remembered that I had an old brass easel that I wasn't using and it holds her perfectly!

The one side of the closet is all beads, one drawer in the desk, and a few other baskets and boxes. Yep!!!...have the addiction problem for which I'm not interested in any cure! My husband has said more than ??? times that I have enough beads to open a store! ~SMILE~ In the other drawers are fabric, threads, etc. Sound familiar? The last picture is the utility room where I do laundry and where the rest of my art supplies are stored! I'm just grateful to have an art room now and my storage area! Other than the storage area, my work area and supplies used to be all over the house when the kids were home!

Thank you friends for your support and comments! It means so much to me! To begin to share art with kindred spirits is so AWESOME and ENCOURAGING! Bear with me...this blog and I are certainly learning as we go!

Keep Pursuing Art...Life and Dreams!

Lisa