Dolls?

Am I really still playing with dolls?  Kind of.  I embroidered the antique doll that was my mother's, I made the rabbit doll out of a spice tin, I dressed the little monkey and the cat, and I gave the cat some ears.  I like them.  They make me smile when I look at them.  I hope they make you smile too!

Hand Embroidery On Antique Photograph

This is the latest photograph in a series that I am hand embroidering.
I call her "Spider Baby."

My latest embroidery project.

I have started embroidering on black and white photos.  The possibilities are endless...

Embroidered Gloves

This is becoming a signature design of mine; a curving, continuous, meandering line with lots of color.  It reminds me of a dance improvisation that I taught in my classes for many years.  Students were instructed to walk in curving pathways around the space without any sharp turns or stops.  The challenge was always to keep moving and cross each others paths smoothly, without bumping into each other.  It is an exercise to increase kinesthetic awareness and can be surprisingly difficult even though the only required movement is plain walking.  It is wonderful to be able to translate my dance experience into embroidery.

Embroidery

Oh, how I love to do embroidery these days!  I made this for my friend Annie, an email penpal that I met on the internet.  We have been writing to each other everyday for almost two years.  We talk about designing our lives as an artful experience.  I started embroidering regularly after reading a great book about some modern embroidery artists called, "Hoopla" who use embroidery to explore personal experiences, express political views, create graphic design, and facilitate community art projects.  I had already been embroidering vintage skirts with quotes from literature but I wanted to do more.  I have been embroidering everything such as postcards, vintage gloves, a window valance and even the wrapping paper that I used for Christmas presents.  

Here is another work in progress that was inspired by an artist named Richard Saja who uses pieces of toile fabric as his canvas.

Those are two meerkats with party hats, a giraffe and a woman with a tail.  I tried an owl in the blank spot between the tree and the woman's head but didn't like the look of it and took it out.  Now I am going to try a spider web. 

I have also been reading a book by Rick Hanson called, "Hardwiring Happiness," which is about retraining our neural pathways towards positive thinking.  I have been looking at images of neural pathways online and am considering a large embroidery piece using them as my inspiration.  Maybe working on the embroidery will also assist me in changing my own habits of negative thinking and feeling.  

Its all part of designing an artful life.  I'm working on it...