doing battle with my Angel

My shabby angel still in progress. I'm liking the final stages the best where I get to drip paint all over her. My new favorite color combinations are hooker green and copper. I used these two together in the background . The gold paint ontop was applied with a palet knife. I think her head is a little to big for the body. I tried to enlarge her hands a little as it is always a good guide the the hands should look like the can cover the face. I extended her elbows and made her a little chubbier. I have never painted someone with blond hair this is very rare, she was going to have black hair but I always do black hair ....I wonder why:)
And there is the Goth Angels to still do so I'll get to be in my comfort zone with dark hair and gothy themes.
Back to work for me....Love to get these paintings done before the year is out!!

Little Angel dancing!!

I've been baking all morning getting the deserts ready for tomorrows Xmas feast extravaganza. Inbetween waiting for doughs to rise and buiscuits to bake, butter to melt I stole a few moments to paint and finish of my little angel. The best part was the gauging and scratching such a great way to remove stress.
I've enjoyed this class so much that I've decided to sign up for another next year!!
Cheerio!!

christmas card for you!!

Thank you every one for taking time and joining me this year. It really has been an enjoyable time meeting new people, making friends, sharing each others creativity, its been a hoot!
Have a Wonderful time with family and friends, food, wine, dancing and creativity...all the good things in life. Keep safe and see you all in the next year for even more fun, excitement and new things!!

100 followers, Suzi Blu and ANGELS

Did you all see, look I can't believe it...100 people follow me here on my little ol' blog. Thank you Fran for being my 99th follower and to Sandi from Bearly Sane Bears for being my 100th follower! And to all my 100 followers have a safe, fun and exciting Xmas with your family and friends. Eat lots and be merry that's what holidays are for!!
As the year is ending I've a few things to tell you. I've joined an online painting group...see on the left hand side you can see my big button for Suzi Blu's lesPetit Acadamy!
So much fun and I've learned a bucket load already! I found out about SUZI BLU through Jess from Little Dirt Lane, she looked like she was having way to much fun there so I decided to join in....and wouldn't you know it there were so many other doll makers there that I had meet from my other groups! All busy working away at creating beautiful and creative work. And there are people from all over the world there...and quite a few from Australia.
What I love about this class is the use of different types of medium. I've always wanted to try but never knew quite how to go about it. so I just stuck to what I know. But now I can see there are so many possibilities to push my own work in ways I only could imagine.
So here are some of my works in progress.......

a little bit of wood burning

collage and paint of wood

Angels!! They are Angels... I joined the Angels workshop... something is missing though maybe I need a to wear a pair of angel wings while I paint...

I was very nearly tempted to do batwings on both of them...hmmm maybe I'll do that for the GOTH ANGEL!

Off I go. big day tomorrow, my brother has organized "High Tea" for our Xmas get together....I've been working on drinking out of a china cup (instead of paint jar) with my little pinky sticking out..I have my hair to do, and then decide what to wear...been living in grotty work clothes for the last few months.

Oh there is new stuff to check out in my Etsy shop and my studio is bursting at the seams with new dolls and secret stuff for the new year.

Bright red Star, Danita, Ruby Victoria and Little Dirt Lane

The Bright Red Star, a wonderful collaboration of 16 ETSY artists. You can find it here.
I was very impressed with the look of this and the story is pretty sweet. I would love to make something like this, perhaps with local artists.
Cute as a snowman's buttons.This little snowman was just too irresistible when I happened upon him over at Little Dirt Lane, I think she had just listed it on him on her Etsy shop.
I knew I had only a little time to get to him before he was gone forever as there were other interested parties!
Not even two weeks later he was here with me smiling and smelling so sweetly. I found out later that it was actually the tag that was the source of the sweet aroma.
You really should visit Little Dirt Lanes blog and Shop, her dolls are heartbreakingly beautiful!

And here are my two favorite Santa's the one in the front is by Danita, always so inspiring to see her work and read her blog. Her irresistible Etsy shop is here!

Oh NED!!

Came home to find Santa had left an early present under our tree!

I don't know how he managed to lie there without knocking everything over. Usually he is such a big oaf!
He looked just to cute that I didn't have the heart to shoo him off. I guess he spotted that bit of sun coming through the windows and he thought that looked like a toasty place for a little kip!
Needless to say I removed everything around him before he got up.

meet Rusty Annie

Looks like I found her in a little dirt lane outside a pig farm in Richlands!

Made from an old hessian sack I found in the green house, some rust nails from a friends fence,(I did ask him first before I removed them, oh now you all know I have a thing for rusty objects). Her nose is a piece of rusted metal found in our rusted metal stash. She is stuffed with remnants from my sewing.
Today I'll make her a little dress, hmmm I wonder what colour will match her complexion?

A little peek at our xmas decorations

the beautiful stick tree that my BF made for me. I just love it. NO messy pine needles, though I do miss the smell. Actually the tree was made to display my Xmas ornaments at the market stall. some of the ornament are hanging on the tree.

A few of the snowmen I've bben making. Honestly the weather we are having here in Tasmania I wouldn't be at all surprised if it snowed on Xmas day.

More pics to follow!!

Vintage Xmas

My advent calender has been in our family for ever. My mum brought this with her from Austria. I know there is another one, maybe my mum still has it.
There are lots of little windows to open and my mum had a story for each illustration. But my most favorite one was for the 6th of December which is children's day. We kids had to polish our shoes and leave them under our beds. In the morning, if we had been good, (which we always were), our shoes were filled with lollies. I was always so amazed and still am as I've never seen these lollies before and always wondered where they had come from. To this day I still look in candy stores and see if I can spot the ones that St Nick/parents bought for us to put in our shoes! I remember as we got older, I was so disappointed that we no longer kept this tradition going. But I have the calender to remind me of these times and great stories to inspire my art and illustrations.

Best swaps ever!!

Wow where do I begin. there is SO much to show and tell!
Lets start with this morning. It was such a beautiful morning that I decided to go for a run. Ahhhh,I guess nobody knew that I'm a keen jogger? Well the jogging trail is so close to my house and it is through beautiful bush lands often filled with birds and wallaby's that scatter into the bush as you approach. Anyway just as I was jogging back I spotted the postal van doing the rounds of our street. It wasn't long after I arrived home when I heard a knock on the door. Hmmm I wonder if it is the post man. AND IT WAS!! Boy it what a big parcel, I wonder who its from!
It's from Barbara! Wow already! Mr Snow man came to take a peek too! Could this really be my Elf swap that Vivian organized. Wow it sure looks big!

IT IS!! WOW LOOK at HER, I can't believe it. She is big and beautiful and I love her!
Look at her face, those gorgeous lashes and her beautifully needle sculpted nose!

She has made many new friends and will most definitely be a much cherished doll in my home!
Barbara also included some beautiful fabrics all in pretty pinks and pastels!
I can't show what I sent Barbara yet as I don't think her parcel has arrived just yet!

But I will show you what arrived yesterday for an Xmas ornament swap I entered with my ADO group. We had to either make a naughty or nice one and get either a naughty or nice one in return. Of course I choose to make and receive a naughty ornament.
My swap partner was Susie McMahon, truly a gifted artist and she lives in Tasmanian!
She teaches doll making not only in Australia but also in the USA, Her Izannah Walker dolls are just exquisite as to are her fantasy dolls. so do you think I was a little perturbed by about making her one of my grungy dolls. Well yes a little, but I also thought it was time to push myself and try something a little different for me.
I went through some of my sketches and some of you may have seen this character before, Wicked William, from a series of black and white illustrations.


I sculpted him out of Supersculpy, painted him with acrylic and pastels. I'm really happy with how he turned out and even more so that Susie really liked him!
But what did I recieve??
'Oooo', said the Snowman. 'It must be from the Queen, Look it is stamped, Royal Post'.



We all gathered round to take a look at what was inside. 'It's a girl' sang all three snowmen!


How lucky can one girl be! This beautiful doll was made by the very talented Yve Hoosen.
Such detail and gorgeous fabrics. And yes she is naughty, but that is between me and Yve:)
Again I'm just over whelmed by the generosity of these artists!
But wait that's not all. A little while back My friend Severina and I decided to do a swap between the two of us. She really like one of my little doll cats and I just adore her jewelry!
If I could I would by every item in her shop and drown myself in her jewels! As it is I wear a piece everyday and two of them are my good luck charms that I wear when I'm out on business or funerals. I've bought a beautiful choker, a pair of earrings and an Edgar Allen Poe mourning brooch. AND I STILL WANT MORE!!
Severina made for me a mourning brooch with one my childhood hero's a person I think who has made me what I am today, Vincent Price!!!
What a great year this has been. Well It's not over yet and there are still so more stories to tell!

Bigger than Ben Hur!!

Little Black Crow's gone mad, (too much sniffing of Xmas pudding and Santa's beard).
She is having a big Xmas sale at her shop on Etsy. Hurry on down and grab a bargain!!
New items will be listed throughout this week!
Here is a little peek at what's on offer!!

Elves
Annie and the white Rabbit

Gingerbread Men!!