Accepting the challenge!

How many times have you seen a "reader's challenge" in cloth paper scissors or a "call for works" and thought, "I could do that!" or "My stuff is as good as anything that I've seen here in the past!" ...and then did nothing about it?

Well... two things have come to my attention lately and I made the mistake of saying just these things in front of my wife...who said what she always does, "So do it!" So...okay I'm going to give it a try.

The two in "question" are cloth paper scissors latest challenge, "A Haunting We Will Go!" and one  that came across my emails today: Manifest Gallery's call for "Works of Collage and Assemblage Guidebook" ( www.manifestgallery.org/guidebook ). Both sound like something up my alley as I enjoy working in multi-media and collage/assemblage. Nothing ventured, nothing gained...and all that stuff. Now the big question is what to do? I have until May 19th for cloth paper scissors entry but only until April 16th for Manifest Gallery's. Hmmm. This will teach me not to make such pronouncements in front of my wife!!

I thought they were done...

It's a cold, rainy day in Loveland, Ohio...perfect time to finish up the various projects that I have going on. So... I put the finished doll heads on the Push-me-Pull-me bodies and stepped back thinking they were done. Then I realized that their eyes were painted such that they are looking down! Nuts!!!  

And...it's back to workbench for these two. I've painted out the eyes with a white base coat and once this is dry I'll repaint the eyes so that they are looking right at you! Even then they won't be done. My wife is busily knitting caps for them to finish their "look". Stay tuned.

Now to go find another one of those projects to "finish"!

A new look

Okay. So I played around with different templates yesterday and tweeked the fonts and the colors....and here is the latest look for my blog. What do you think? Yes? No? Any suggestions?

A pause...and then back at it!

The pretty spring weather we've had over the last couple of days have kept me from my basement work area and away from working on the Push-me-Pull-me doll. I have managed to "dress" the doll with some signs and stars so I'm moving closer to completion. The body is now all done and I've turned my focus to the doll's heads. I have added eyes, noses, and mouths and am waiting for these to dry before I apply a coat of white base paint. After that I'll paint in the facial features. I'll post pictures of all of this soon.

I also took some time to take some pictures of several small paintings, the other dolls I've made, and the books/journals I've made in the past for my Etsy shop. This afternoon I posted one of these paintings, one of the dolls, and one of the books to my shop so if you haven't seen these already, take a moment to look at these and let me know what you think.

Time to Ride!

The afternoon started on the right foot...I had just taken a short nap in the sun after lunch. So my mind was in the right spot as I went to get my ladder to fix my gutter. Seeing my bike parked in the garage and the glorious afternoon ahead...I thought, "The heck with this!" I put the ladder aside, changed into my riding clothes and took the bike out instead!! Now this is the way to spend an afternoon!!!  Yes, I did get the gutter fixed eventually...and some windows washed as well while I had the ladder out...but first things first!! 

Progress!

Things are moving right along with the Push-me-Pull-me-doll. I've added it's "arms" to the back of the blocks. I wasn't quite sure how this would work out...the hinges allow the two body blocks to swing together and I hope give the feeling of being connected but yet able to disconnect? Unfortunately the blocks can't close tight enough together so that the outer hinges also connect but I still like the overall look so far.

Next I added its wheels. This took a bit of doing as the space to screw the bases in was tight...a little patience and time was all this took. The doll stands up nicely once the outer wheels are locked and rolls okay when the body blocks are positioned side-by-side however, the wheels proved to be too big to allow for the body blocks to close against each other. In any case, I still like the way this doll is coming about. Now that all the hardward is on, I can now start with some embellishments to the fronts of the doll.

The doll's heads will prove the most challenging for me. In this shot, I've applied the first coat of molding paste to the paper-machie forms I made earlier. They're going to need at least a second coating then I'll start adding things like noses to the forms before I put a base coat of white paint on them. Then...adding the rest of their faces! Stay tuned!!!

DaDa?

Sometime ago I read Linda and Opie O'Brian's book, Who's Your DaDa, Redefining The Doll Through Mixed Media, and was immediately taken with the possibilities. Since then I have created three of my own "dada" dolls.Their images will soon be posted not only in this blog but also in my Etsy shop. What is pictured here is the beginning of my fourth doll. I thought it fun to post this work in progress.  While it looks like the parts of two dolls...it really is going to be one...a push-me-pull-me theme. Two bodies blanks, two head blanks, two sets of wheels, two hinges...which will soon become one! Check in for future postings as I put my "Push-me-Pull-me" doll together. This should be interesting!

Sanibel sunset

Sanibel sunset
Originally uploaded by Clearer Reflections
March can be such a fickle month and today it is still cold, gray and gloomy! Looking over my flickr pics I was drawn to this one I took last August in Sanibel. It was one of those hot days in August that was made notable by a mid-afternoon thunderstorm. The storm finally cleared give us this gorgeous sunset. Take heart...summer is coming!!!
This image can also be viewed at: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40986599

First Posting

Okay. So now I've done it...created a blog. I meant to read over a bunch of exisiting blogs first...get a feel for things..then do this. But sometimes just jumping in is the best thing to do.

Forgive the "newbie" postings as I get started...but here we go!