Monday, July 18, 2011

Getting This Blog Up And Running Again...


It has been so long since I posted anything here...  Not for lack of thinking about it and writing up notes and 'practice posts' in a journal.  I've been on a journey.... through my own creative processes and struggles; a Heroine's journey of sorts. I had to focus on each step and task and creative struggle on my own. I needed to go into a kind of vacum and stop absorbing so much of other artist's processes and journeys.

Blogging is such a community activity. Even as you sit on your own, writing and contemplating, you are reaching out to others. You are becoming a part of a large circle. You feel that, when someone extends themselves to you through a comment or through their own art, you need to acknowledge and respond and you can't help but absorb their influence in some way. Artists are sponges.
I felt that I was becoming one of those overmixed, overblended colours we often get on a pallette.... something muddy and unsure; too many things together all at once. I needed to go away, find a cave, isolate myself and explore my own creative soul again.


The journey was long... (it's still ongoing) and I felt so bad and guilty for abandoning my blog... but the result has been wonderful. I found her again! That artist-girl/woman inside me who sees/hears/touches/feels the world around her and transmutes it all into fertile creative seeds. I found my own "girls/women" on the pages of old books. I found them in piles of colourful felt and fabric. I found my own niche again. I opened myself to EVERYTHING that inspires me... including dark artists and artwork, books, nature, colours, folklore, fairy stories, vampires, gothic fiction, herbal lore, traditional handicrafts.... on and on and on.
While this was all going on.... my sons went off to college; one in Philadelphia PA and one in Burlington VT. My "little birds" are grown into two beautiful young men now. I am adoring how-- every time they come home for a weekend, or on a break-- they are so new to me. They have their own experiences and these other lives and relationships...  so many new facets to them and yet, they're still my two boys. That is inspiring me too. I'm not quite an empty nester yet, but I'm getting there.

Creative rebirth is a hard thing. I've been through it before... But I really feel that this time, this moment is my first true big step to being the artist I've always dreamed of and wanted to be.
This past spring myself and my art-soul sister Cindy... truly stepped out with our Sundial Sisters art biz. We did a MAJOR local craft show: Crafts At Rhinebeck @ Dutchess County Fairgrounds. It was a big deal for us. A huge investment of time and money to get it all done right. It was fantastic; we had a great time and got a great response to our artwork. The show was also a catalyst for me... to FINALLY get my stuff into our Etsy shop.  There's more to list, but it was a really daunting step for me... it took a long time to feel confident enough to do it.
We're looking to the fall now and a full schedule of shows and even a Sundial studio tour with the local arts council. One step leads to another and another and another and another... and pretty soon, you're not just talking the talk.... you're walking the walk too! This is what I went into my creative cocoon for.

 **these little gals  are my Book Girl dolls... birthed from my own design and pattern based on my Book Woman drawings and paintings. They are entirely hand sewn... a very long process, but completely worth it. They are 'my little art daughters'; I love them... each one is so unique and has so much to tell me. I adore the way the hand sewing looks. And best of all............. when the girls made their debut at the Rhinebeck Craft Show... little girls loved them.... and wanted them!!!  My inner little girl always dreamed of making/having dolls like this... I lovelovelove that other little girls love and want them too.



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