I was a busy girl this weekend

OK, so this is round two of trying to write this blog post. I bumped the plug on the computer when I was trying to unplug Matthew's DS charger and plug back in my printer and the power to the computer went off! UGH. I was almost finished. So here I am again getting ready to write about my busy but always fun weekend with art.

So in my last post that got deleted I stated that it was 9:30 the kids were in bed and I had a glass of wine so I thought I would post. Flash forward and it's now 10 and I am on my second glass on wine and starting over to write my post! Don't judge me it's only two glasses! Ha ha  just kidding.

The past couple of weeks I decided to try my hand in sculpting, doll making to be specific.  I decided that since I have a love for all second hand and junky finds, some of them could make really cool doll sculptures.  So I set off trying to learn this new skill. I thought to myself, "like how hard could it be"? I know how to draw faces so it would just take a little adjustment. Well let me tell you the past two weeks have been fun, frustrating and slow going.  I have been using the method that is taught on this amazing website that I found. She offers tons of free lessons on how to sculpt, hair, bodies and even how to start doll making as a business. It's all FREE! Here's the link if you are interested. http://www.dollmakersdream.com/

Being a collector of odd finds I was recently given some stuff from my husbands grandma. Nora, aka Great Nannie, loved to craft as much as I do.  She was always so appreciative of all the hand made gifts the boys and I had made for  her over the years. She just loved the Mariners blanket we made her one year and it was just a cut and tie fleece blanket, but she loved it. Recently she was put into a senior home. She is 93 and just this past year she started to loose her memory and what not.   I was given all of her craft supplies and let me tell you it was like Christmas for me!  As I weeded through the stuff I found this interesting thing. It had a wooden base and the top was made out of chicken wire to resemble a tree. Wow, I thought this could make a great doll base. I thought, " ohhh, I could make an angel on top and inside the tree could be a little baby Jesus! So I set out sculpting the face for my angel.

I have been spending so much time sculpting doll faces and turning my house into a horror show according to my husband and boys,(I guess all the doll faces and body parts laying around the house is creeping them out) Jackson asked me" Hey mom, can we take the doll heads out from the toaster oven they are creeping us out!" Ha. It does look a little creepy around here. With all this doll creating I have not spent much time drawing or working on life book lessons. Yesterday I decided I would work on Mitsi B lesson this week on life book. If you have never heard of Mitsi B you have to check her out. She is so talented and funny too!  Here is the link to her site
http://mitsib.com/. 

Saturday I set out to do her lesson in between doing laundry and what not.  It was so much fun! Let me tell you, being able to let go and paint, make a mess and not give a crap was so what I needed! After fussing with sculpting faces for the past couple of weeks and feeling like I really sucked, Mitsi's lesson came at a  perfect time.The lesson was about embracing the bad side of you. I think the lesson was called, ' The good the bad and the ugly" and that is what I set out to do. The front of the page had the  lil monster inside my head that loves to tell me that I, my work or anything I do for that matter isn't good enough. I wrote down all of the horrible shit she likes to say to me and then I painted over it with madness! On the inside I wrote all the good things that I need to say to myself. The the front says" She tried to tell me so" and the inside said, " but I didn't listen" Something I am working on everyday! So here are my pics of this little journal page

Look what a big mouth my lil monster has! This process was so fun and stress relieving.  I showed my boys my journal page and the next morning I had them both with me in the studio creating their own pages. It was amazing to get to do this with the boys. To see what their insecurities are and more importantly to see what they thought about themselves. I am happy to say, they had a way easier time thinking of the good things about themselves as to the bad. Here are their pictures. Matthew's are first then Jackson's.

Note, Jackson has a picture of a wolf. That kid loves his wolves!

Today was an awesome, creative day.

We went to church and Pastor Katy had a great sermon that I so related to. In short is was about" love your enemy" It was so fitting for me. My enemy is that lil monster inside my head. Understanding that she only comes out because of fear. She says those things to stop me from taking risks, showing my work or even writing this blog. She doesn't want me to fail or worse have someone think I am a loser!  Even though Pastor Katy was speaking of that person as your neighbor or real person who just pisses you off, I so related to it because this lil monster inside my head is really starting to piss me off!  It was just so perfect to go with Mitsi B's lesson

After church we came home, I did a little laundry and then went into the studio to do some more creating.

My angels head was finished, check. Arms and body sanded and finished check. Now it was time to put on the hair.  The hair was chosen for it's color but the texture was like barbie doll hair, yuck! After many times fussing with it I decided to put a scarf on it to keep it maintained. After that I started to create the dress. There, the dress and hair was finished but it didn't look like an angel to me at all.  I started to make a cape for it but it didn't look right with all that bushy hair. So it became her skirt. I dug around in my stash of dollar store finds and found these butterflies. I took the wings off of one and decided that she would look great with a pair of these wings. I then took some moss and more butterflies and put them inside the cage. I broke up some costume jewelry that I had and used the pearls for her arms and accents on the cage. Ta da she is finished!  I kept her face and body white because I wanted that statue like feeling to her. The color is in her skirt and the butterflies.  I am happy with her. She is my first doll sculpture made out of polymer clay and paper clay. I look forward to the next doll I make. Wait to you see what kind of structure she will be sitting a top of! Here is my pictures of my butterfly girl. What should I name her? Suggestions please!

Not only was this weekend filled with learning how to make a doll sculpture/assemblage it was filled with reminders where all my fears comes from and a pleasant reminder that I don't have to listen to her!