His Dream

A new painting from a little series currently in progress..about childhood memories...this painting titled 'His Dream' is about a little boy on his hobby horse..daydreaming he is a cowboy or riding a real horse through the country...or what ever else little boys dream about when they are on their hobby horses!
Recently I was contacted by Lisa Cousineau from ArtistCellar, where I buy my mixed media products and asked to have this painting added to their online gallery. How exciting!
Thank you Lisa

Work, work, work!

Ned In Bed

Hi everyone...it's been a very productive few weeks for me..lot of new paintings, bears and paper mache dolls are either finished or in progress..my lounge and dining room have gone missing...seems it's been replace by studio space..yay..visitors are welcomed but must stay behind the white line, a bag of Mexican corn chips and red wine will be available at the door to feed the artist!
If you want to take a peek at whats new in my studio you will find photo's HERE.
And if you have been one of my etsy customers in the past you will find the Bunny and Elephant gallery pages, up the top...I'm still updating them..it's a lot of work...but if you see your doll and you didn't get a special tag with the date and number of your doll you can find it there..also if you see your doll and the date and name are wrong or have changed just email me so I can update it. Well off with the computer for now and into my big extended studio!

View of Mount Wellington, just up the road

Xmas In July Etsy Sale

Yep another sale at Little Black Crow's Studio shop on ETSY...Xmas In July!! Sale lasts for three weeks, so hurry and grab yourself a bargain or two!

Trish and Jason, brother and sister bunnies, new critters in my shop!

Netty's Journey ends

My first memories were of twinkling lights, laughter and little warm hands holding mine,

A voice sweetly whispered in my ear, ‘we would be together forever’!

For many years we did, her first day at school, birthday parties, trains rides to see the big city and Ferry rides to the beach, which was always a favourite especially when gelato ice-creams were handed round.

But my favourite time with her was when it was just us alone together. We would sit side by side under the old pear tree and sometimes we would read books about ghosts or sailing adventures. Other times she would confess a secret, what would make her sad and cry and what would make her happy or angry.

The seasons went by, summer days seemed endless.
Spring brought with it the promise of new flowers in the garden.
Autumn we played in leaves of red, gold brown.
Winter was never cold when with her!
But something changed, my friend was growing up!

Then one day in winter another hand took mine, a much older and colder hand, a voice said out loud, ‘you are too old for dolls now!’ I heard my friend cry out but to no avail, I was hastily taken up the stairs and tossed into a dark musty corner!

For days I waited for my friend to rescue me but she never came. I’m not sure now when I fell asleep but or for how long but it must have been a very long time.

A light entered the room and another little warm hand reached out to me through the cobwebs and the years of dust. She brushed the surface of my face, my eyes had faded I couldn’t see her, my mouth was almost gone I couldn’t speak to her.
My cheeks still had a little colour .My paint work was cracked and dirty..
My body once ivory white was now stained and rotting.
My hair once a rusty red now almost gnawed off by the rats.
My clothes turned to dust.
I can’t remember the colour of my eyes or what I had worn. Who called love a doll like me now?

I was carried down the stairs and passed onto another pair of hands who gently place me into a box.
I was a little afraid but a voice whispered, ‘don’t worry little one, we are sending you off to for repairs and when you come back you will be beautiful and we will be best friends for ever!

 story continues....dress and additional journal entries by Kailee.

 Story and journal entries continue....by Susie MacMahon...

"Gentle hands put me back in the box and my long journey continued. I don't know how long it took, but it felt like many days. I don't mind the darkness, because I have lived in the dark since I lost my eyes so long ago.
Gentle hands removed me from the box again..............a tickling sensation on my face! What WAS it?
I see a glimmer of pale light.........still the tickling continues!
I CAN SEE!
I CAN SEE!
I HAVE EYES!
After so many years in the dark, the world is bright and new again.
The sky!
The trees!
The water!
I see them all again.The tickling goes on until I have a bright new face, hair and shoes.
The gentle hand sewed me some new clothes because it is cold here - much colder...........and so, I think I have come home.

"I told her we would be together forever", said a kind and familiar voice as she handed me to small soft hands.
"Oh Mummy! I love your doll!" said a younger voice as she hugged me close.
"Well, she belongs to you now, darling. Look after her, won't you? She's very special to me".

So once again, a small voice whispered into my ear:
"We will be together FOREVER!"

My life has come full circle.

Circus bears

yesterday was a good day for finishing off a few bears. I'm happy with the way they turned out. But now that I've made a few bears some with my own pattern and some using other peoples patterns I'm realizing more and more how much I love making them and have started to work seriously on making more of my own patterns...so stay tuned...oh and I have some dogs playing around in my head..and maybe a Tassie devil to!!
I made these bears out of a recycled coat made from camel hair..kindly donated to me by a friend. The bears have been individually coffee stained..I don't like staining the fabric before I use it I much prefer to brush it into the doll/bear once they have been all assembled.

 Oh and Ned...just look at him...poor little guy just loves being rugged up in my stripy shawl...this cat just loves anything knitted..even a ball of wall...and no he doesn't play with it he pats it down and purrs like crazy as he does it! Ned has to wait another week before his stitches come out...till then he's my little Frankenstein cat!

Better get back to the studio....cheerio!!