Thursday 3 April 2008

Several Deafening Chimes- Current Obsession


"The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things; of shoes and ships, and sealing wax of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot and wheather pigs have wings" Alice in Wonderland

The doll in the picture above (number four, Ruby-May) was very loosely based on one of my current favourite pieces of literature- Alice in Wonderland. I was inspired by a mixture of the queen of hearts and the Mad Hatter (I plan to expand on this theme in time). I'm not entirely sure where the Australian postage stamp fits into this, a flamingo would have been more appropriate, but note I did say loosely!

New Developments!


Wow! Its been a busy couple of weeks here, (which explains the delay in posting!) I currently have two "projects" on the go, one professional and one personal, both of which I'm unable to say a lot about no matter how much I want too!

Professionally I am cautiously optimistic, I've been contacted by an exhibition organiser via Etsy, who appears interested in my work and I should hopefully receive a brochure soon.

My creative output this past week has been sporadic at best. I have completed a couple more art dolls, and I've sketched a painting outline onto canvas but I seem to have spent much of my time writing up endless lists of what I actually want to do, resulting in me sitting there wondering where the hell I'm meant to start. (Not to mention incessant dwelling on the personal project I have going on!)

I have tended to do this a lot over the last few months possibly due to a severe case of creative block, but it is something I'm gradually phasing out. I had thought that I'd finally shaken it off, but it looks like there's still a bit more work to be done. When I get these blocks I just get so caught up with ideas and inspiration in an attempt to feel like I'm actually doing something, that the actual process of creating tends to pass me by. I can literally while away hours making my ideas lists- but I'm finally working through them.

The doll above is called Butterfly Betsie, and is number three in the series made in a similar vein to the others but with the added inclusion of cut up postage stamps and glitter. As a general rule I prefer super-fine glitter, not that stuff that looks like shredded tin-foil. I am begining to find that this project has taken on a life of its own- I'm planning all sorts of dolls even as I type, and I'm open to suggestion so please comment me with ideas!

At some point down the line I plan to branch out into altered mini-books and from there I had thought that it would be kind of fun to create a larger art book version of of my dolls. I'm one of those people that doesn't quite understand the point of scrapbooking but at the same time I love art books, especially ones with lots of hidden sections, tags flaps and pockets (my sketchbooks never close properly!). All in all with so much stuff buzzing round me head its unlikely I'll be sleeping much in the next couple of months!
As for the other stuff- in the best tradition of cheesy lines- watch this space!