Yesterday I had a booth at a small “Handmade” art festival. This was my first art show, I have done craft shows, and doll shows, but my work hasn’t really fit in to either. The other exhibitors were all wonderful and supportive, while the attendees really appreciated the work put in to each piece. I didn’t hear a single person say, “That’s too much money.” as I have heard so many times at craft shows. It was a truly wonderful day!
My parents have always teased me about this saying. They say I never knew there was a box…
This weekend, I was able to make an alternate top for my Eyesbox, a pirate (Arrrrg, matey!). I have been thinking about it forever, and now it is at the mold makers shop. I am anxious to see the first prototype finished. I will release it in the late summer for the first time.
It’s been a while…I must admit I got a little discouraged that my blog has gone almost unnoticed, but I have been lax in letting everyone know it’s here. So I will keep posting, and find an audience.
So let me rewind a little bit…On February 29th, my husband of almost 12 years and I celebrated the fourth anniversary of our first date. It’s fun to celebrate something special on leap day. On that day Martha Stewart had a segment on her television program about Etsy.com, what a discovery that was. I have been trying to find an outlet for my handmade goods, and there it was on the tv screen! That evening I opened a shop, and have had my inspiration to create rejuvenated. If you find me here, please check Etsy out, it is an amazing resource for artists.
As I’ve mentioned before, I bring fabric scraps home from work, and incorporate them into my creations. I noticed in the piles that there were several different colors of the same fabric that was perfect to make dolls. I originally wanted to make seasons or the elements, but then realized I had all the colors of the chakras. With a little research, I found out what natural stones went with each chakra, and found some wonderful pewter charms as well. (Pewter charms are a theme with my soft sculpture dolls.) I am really excited about how they turned out, and will make as many as I can with the scraps I’ve got.
Now today was too beautiful to stay inside and work, as much as I love to make the little women, I can’t resist the call of the garden. Last weekend my daughter and I planted a garden of tomatoes, peppers, water melon, herbs and flowers. Today we weeded and fertilized, planted baby carrot seeds and then topped everything off with a beautiful red mulch. It’s a small garden but gorgeous, and there will be enough of a harvest to share with the neighbors. A garden is so full of possibilities, and it just feels good to dig in the warm earth; my spirit is renewed.
I recently purchased a wonderful book called “Artist To Artist: 23 Major Illustrator’s Talk to Children about Their Art”. The following is a quote that I personally should read every day.
“So my young friend, never let anyone tell you that you cannot do something. You can. All it takes - and this is a lot - is the desire to do it, the persistence to learn how to do it well, and the courage to stand strong when people around you are discouraging your dreams.”
The last part I have experienced often; so many people have given up on their dreams (or had none to begin with), and can’t stand the prospect of another person finding that fulfillment, so they discourage people like me (artists). This quote will serve me well as a reminder when I have to face the naysayers, I hope it will do the same for others as well.
I had a small table at a POW (Promoting Outstanding Writers (and artists) http://www.pow100.com )show this past Saturday, and put my Eyesboxes out on display for the first time. Mind you, the original box was made and copyrighted in 1984 and I finally found someone to make a mold to pour copies. It’s really exciting to see a group of them lined up, sleeping (that’s what it looks like to me). Now comes the challenge of marketing and selling it. This box is tough to characterize; it is sui generis*, with an unexpected humor when opened. This is the first incarnation of several designs on the table using this concept.
*su·i ge·ne·ris [soo
-i ge-ne-ris; Eng. soo-ahy jen-er-is, soo-ee] - Of his, her, its, or their own kind; unique.
sui generis. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved December 09, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sui generis
I’m sure many artists go through this…at the end of the day, after work, driving to pick up the kid(s), cooking dinner and cleaning up, there is no energy left to work on my own projects. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, and I wouldn’t trade my daughter for anything, but I miss being creative for myself. There are days I think about just giving up on my own pursuits, there isn’t time or energy left most days, but I can’t give up what is such an integral part of me. I just think about this image of a blade of grass growing through the sidewalk. This is a real photo, untouched by photoshop that I asked my husband to take on his cell phone last August.
We met my parents and my sister’s family to celebrate my Mom’s birthday, I saw this little blade of grass growing in the concrete and thought ,”Wow, that is so inspiring.” It seems so impossible for a tender blade of grass to grow in the solid cement, yet there it was. There wasn’t a crack to grow through, and when I gave the blade a tug, it was firmly rooted in the ground. I really felt it grew there just for me to see.
I think about this grass when I am frustrated, and realize if grass can grow in those conditions, I should be able to grow (as an artist) in my situation as well.
I hope this simple picture can offer the same kind of assurance to everyone, as it gives to me.
Back to the dream about tomatoes; I believe the tomatoes represent my ideas and inspirations. Over the last twenty + years, I have been inspired to create many, many things. All of these ideas have great potential, they are original and (some) are slightly humorous.
The ripening tomato in plain sight is one of these works very close to being released to the world. It is an idea that has been in the design stage (ripening) since 1984 (about time, right?). The tomatoes under the platform are other projects, the large ripe ones are finished, polished and ready to release, but need funding to produce. The ones that are being eaten by worms are the ideas that I have abandoned because other people have beat me to the punch getting them produced. The rotting tomatoes are the ideas that could not be practically carried out; they had potential, but have fallen to the side and been deserted.
My brain sent me this message in my sleep, and as I was telling the dream to my Mom, the interpretation came to me. Now comes the time to make the dream a reality…
I decided to play with fur today, and ended up with this teddy bear. My Dad (who is a big fan of my bears) asked me what made me decide to do this, and I told him I was just inspired. So he said “Grin and Bear it?”, thus the title of this post. I don’t have a name for this one yet…My first bear was rainbow colors, so I named him “R. Beau Skittles”. This one is red and black with Swarovski Austrian crystal rhinestone accents. It’s hard to see his character in this picture, but I would love suggestions for a name for this bear…
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A little more about me…I work in a smallish costume shop. Our humble, (but talented) crew makes costumes for cruise lines, theme parks, theaters and whomever sounds interesting…we love a challenge! Because we have such a wide variety of vendees, the fabrics and trims that run through our eager hands are PHENOMENAL! Driving home every day my imagination runs wild, dreaming of the things I can make with the scraps.
Ever since I started making dolls for Cirque du Soleil, I realized the joy of recycling the leftover fabric scraps (typically thrown away) into fantastical critters. Sometimes the pieces are on a couple inches square, but it’s enough for the characters I make. This week we got a magical shipment of faux fur in glorious colors, with iridescent fibers running throughout. I already told my bosses I can’t wait to pick the garbage when those are cut. 
It wasn’t actually last night, but I thought this would be an interesting start to my blog. I dreamed that I had a tomato garden, and was showing it to a friend of mine. The plants were tall, but only a few leaves and tomatoes were visible. Most of the plants were below a platform in the dark. I was excited to see that one of the fruits on the higher branches was beginning to ripen. So we went out to the garden and discovered that beneath the platform were several more enormous ripe tomatoes, the size of melons. Some were perfect and healthy, some were eaten away by worms, and some were touching the ground and starting to rot.
That was the dream, I have my own ideas about what it means, but would like to hear what anyone else thinks. Any takers?
