new art doll and fairy paintings

This is my first post since the spectacular Alice in  wonderland blog event held by the lovely ladies and gents over at artdollsonly.blogspot.com...and i have several new paintings and one rather large art doll to share with you today....My mother and her husband came to visit from Ohio...and they brought me a very large supply of art paper and assorted paints...mostly water colors...water colors are a new medium for me and will take a bit of getting used to but are great fun....and being that my original love is painting i have been busy, busy, busy....here are some photos to give you an idea of what i'm working with...see all the awesome types of paper my mother and stepdad brought...wasn't that the sweetest thing....there is nothing like having the support of family...my mother is ever incouraging to brooden my artistic ideas and to go a more traditional route such as landscapes, florals,,,although more than likely she is right as mothers often are...i'm drawn to the fantasy art...fairies, day of the dead, the dark side of life so to speak...although i do like pink and pretty fairy princess's...go figure....seems the exact opposite of dark...doesn't it...oh well what can i say...i am a gemini and gemini's have two sides to their personality and i believe it is often visiable in my variety of creations...here is a few of my latest and all my new lovely paper...

these are my attemts at water colors...the day of the dead zombie picture is a mixture of acrylics and water colors...and my blue sprite is all water color...not sure why she looks so mad...i was in a good mood when i painted her...hehehe.

and there are more....i've really been excited about painting again...this lil' fairy on the scull needs work...the scull needs improving but hey this was my first attempt at painting such a large scull....so maybe with practice....it'll improve...i'm also working on a very large two by three feet painting of mother earth in the goddess form but she is still a wip...so no photo's of her yet....and last but not least here is a picture of my latest artdoll fairy princess...she is huge...eighteen inches tall and free standing...her head, hands and shoulders are polymer clay and her body is soft sculpt on a candle pedastel...i've yet to create her wings and floral beaded crown....but this is her so far...and a few pictures of my living room and doll collection.... 

and hall way...can you tell i love dolls...all kinds of them...even mass produced....(gasp) but i do prefer hand made one of a kind...and last but not least here is a collage photo of my fur babies....co-co, tarbaby and trouble such sweet animals and all rescues....these characters are truly my best friends...and funny too...always a source of happiness...well thats my news for awhile...i'll be undergoing another surgery on my right arm...third one in one years time...hopefully my last for awhile...so i'll be recovering for about a month and then i'll be back to creating...until then...hugs...christen

Stepping out of the box

after many nights of staying up late to sculpt, paint and collage....my newest art doll has come to life and is stepping out of her world into ours so to speak,,,and basically that is how i feel about creating in so many words...i often must step out of the box...mentally, emotionally and allow the clay to take on a life of its own...even when its not comfortable or I'm unable to see just where i might be going with any certain project...to try not to second guess the muse but to follow where he or she may lead....a metaphor for life,  this creation speaks to my inner hopes and fears and i hope encourages others to do the same....blessings until next time....christen

hot summer weather and cool new art dolls

it is sweltering hot here in scenic city chattanooga tennessee...one hundred degrees yesterday...almost to hot to move...but instead to sit inside under the cool air and sculpt has been my plan...and mostly that is what i've done...oh of course i've been out to weed and water the garden that is growing just beautifully this year and to take my morning walk with my little dog co-co and we've had two cook outs....in less than a week...food just tastes better off a grill i think...i also recently ordered a sculpey clay machine on line from joannes fabric and have been teaching myself to make canes...this is a slow and tedious project and takes much more pacience than my doll making....just yesterday though i did manage to make over one hundred and twenty beads...not to bad for a beginner in caning but i  definitly need to practice....but today i'm ready to move on to other things...like halloween art dolls...i miss making spooky creepy little dolls..those are my favorite and the mood has struck me to make a few...so today that is my focus....what creative little thingsa are ya'll doing in your neck of the woods?? dolls? jewelry?  any thing creative is good...i think gardening can be a form of creativity too...any thing one does to chanel beauty or inspiration into the world is art to me...here are a few photos of my creativity......i've not named either of these dolls yet for some reason...i usually will think of their named towards the end of sculpting them but not this time...but each doll is just under ten inches and the one in purple has pose able arms...while the other is a full sculpt...i didn't like her stockings as they don't seem to go with her outfit so i think i'll be changing that...also she has pierced ears so i'll be adding her earrings just as soon as i make them...

now the canes i've been working on...definitly need improving but for a beginner i'm not complaining...these haven't been cured yet and still need holes put into them to string them up later...but here they are...what do you think? well thats what i've been up to...so now its time to begin another project while these bake...and when they have cooled off i'll turn them into lovely pieces of summer jewelry to add to my etsy shop...http://fantasiesfromwithin.etsy.com...    have a great day bloggers...hugs...christen