Art Doll Adventures

Come Join us for a 3 day retreat/creative frenzy with amazing artists: Wanda Montgomery, Annie Morgan, Mo Mosyjowski and Me… If I wasn’t teaching this, I would definitely be attending!

I will be teaching my Sugar Plum Scary Class, a no-sew doll that not only gets your creativity going full force, but also allows for an easy way to let your friends know what you are REALLY thinking!

You will learn:

• The finer points of wielding your glue gun with accuracy, confidence and the best results.
• How to construct a two sided stump doll without ever picking up a needle.
• Using your sketch book to preview your ideas and access those deep hidden creative nuggets.
• A fun way to string hair so it will look stylishly beaded.
• How to find the face of your dark and wickedly funny side and the contrasting mug of that ever-present sunny side of yours.
• A little about the history of the fertility and ceremonial dolls of Ndebele and their uses and meanings.
• Unfettered embellishing with all that stuff you have left over from your many art and craft adventures, and some basic beading skills as well as scrap quilting collage.
• And finally you will end up with a doll that can quietly, without a single syllable said, announce your mood to the world at large and bring a smile to almost any face.

Go to their website for info on the rest of the presenters, the accommodations and the sign-up sheet!

http://www.cvartcenter.org/workshops.html

Enjoy the day and stitch, stitch, stitch away!  Li

I am not a morning person bird doll

This is the truth… I am NOT a morning person. I do my best work at night and in the shower. This little guy is part of the exhibit at the Canton Museum of Art that will open on the 16th… Next Thursday! Wow! Please come and enjoy the amazing art of the other talented women,and a bit to eat.

Get more info HERE.

Birdy Sketch Book Cover finally finished by Li

So far, this summer has found me deep in the throes of intense horticultural noodling that far outstrips my mini-former-apartment-dwelling-aggi-expertise.   That and the fact that Bob Marley seems to be haunting me with his “everything is going to be alright” chillin tunes hasnt inspired me to clean up the studio.  Why does that matter, you ask?  Well I cant make dolls if I cant find the fabric!

BUT

I do know where the machine is, and my art supplies are here somewhere… So I made this sketch book cover just to get my hands dirty with something other than dirt, and to force myself to step away from the computer.  There was another impetus tho… I discovered that my neighbor is the famed LaLa of Paper Allure in Canton, Ohio.  She was having a Driveway Sale and I scored big time!  Boxes of beads, Juicy scraps of fabric that I would never think to buy but are glistening examples of perfection, and pieces of this and that rich with possibility!  I couldn’t let the loot just sit there now could I?

Visit Paper Allure’s link here.

Also, shoot on over to Mary Ann’s store and get some patterns to make some funky dolls this summer!

Akua'ba Doll Pattern by LI Hertzi

Although some of the comments I have received – full of truly nasty and often bizarre pictures – could be inspiration for a doll, I am not ready to go down that dark alley.  So, if you want to comment, you must sign in. But while you are filling out the forms and declaring yourself neither nasty or bizarre, enjoy this Spam Moment.

Well, I have been in a bit of a doll pit lately, so I just decided to use a UFO head and put a paperclay face on it to get me started.  God know, my UFO collection is massive, so I picked a nice flatish one, simple, and easy to add clay to.

She looks a bit melancholy, but maybe spring will cheer her up… It is doing a wonderful job on me!  Crocuses poked their purpleness into the front yard and the sun finally came out, highlighting those tiny little veins in their translucent petals, Ummmm Beautiful!

Be well, Play hard, Garden often, and enjoy the Spring!

The Blue Bird of Happiness is right after the Goddess of Eureka!

The weekend before Christmas, after 3 aborted tries, I finally got to take a glass bead making class.  Lampwork is the official term, mostly referencing the original oil-fueled lamps used to melt the glass.  The kit I got included a map gas canister with a special nozzle just for bead making, a bunch of richly colored glass rods, a cookie pan (for protection of the table) some mandrills (steel rods that are used to spin the glass on) and some stylish goggles… yellow very protective stylish googles.

This craft has been around since ancient Syrian times – that would be the 1st century – old stuff!

Last night, I stayed up late making eyeballs… still working on that… but what could be better than truly BEADY eyes!

Now that I live in Ohio with a pair of sofa-nested-bird-watchers and Meeme, the cougar of Stayman Avenue, (a Ragdoll Cat) I am acutely aware of the array of feathered distractions to be had!  So with that in mind and the fact that I made several versions of “the blue chickie of happiness” from my book and still have them in varying stages of finishedness around the studio, I am bird obsessed lately.

This one is pearched on a twig in a sparse forest of the smaller twigs.

Long ago I painted lots of different things with black and white stripes because my friend Laurel was always decked out in stripes – you never know how you are going to effect the people in your life – and recently I have cycled around to them again.

If you want to try this birdy, or one like it, check out the book!