2nd Fairy, Michigan & Christmas Cookies Already?



Swap Fairy from Jill Webb, pattern by Susan Barmore

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dollstreet Dreamers had a fairy swap.  To accommodate everyone's busy schedule, the deadline got pushed back a couple of times.  I was very happy to get my fairy  from Jill Webb in the mailbox right before I left.  (Really, it came the last day I had mail service!)  I had to pack her in the suitcase and just got around to photographing her. 



My fairy, original design by Penney Hughes

I really enjoyed my brief time in Michigan.  I loved the seasons, the woods behind my house and all the wildlife wandering through.  I loved the chance to work with the Lansing Maker's Network folks and I learned a lot.  The people of Michigan were friendly and welcoming.  I enjoyed many special beverages that I had never seen before, like Faygo (Rock 'n Rye!), Vernors, Meads like B Nektar's Zombie Killer, various local hard ciders and the spirits of American Fifth.  I hope to return to Michigan when it is time to hang up the towel with overseas life.  When I do, I want to explore the art scene more and look deeper at the work of artists like Jane Reiter, Kelly Boyle, and ceramic artists Doug DeLind and his daughter Jody DeLind.

Christmas Cookies?  I know, not even Halloween yet but Christmas crafting starts now, so I have created a Christmas themed design for this week's Spoonflower contest, Pop Art Cookies.  I hope you will consider voting.

Fairies, Mom, & Still the Giveaway

It has been a while since I worked on a doll of any size.  Doll Street Dreamers is having a fairy swap for members.  The deadline has not yet arrived so you still have time to join and participate.
This is my Pink Fairy for the Mini Fairy swap.  She is of my own design.  Her body is cotton and she has paper wings, organza and chiffon dress and rainbow dyed mohair hair.

In other news, Spoonflower's  weekly contest is designing a floral border print.  Spoonflower suggests the design could become a skirt for mom.  If you remember my post on my chicken curtains that you won't be surprised my design, Garden Path with Onagadoris Yellow Border, includes roosters in with the flowers.  My mom always liked the bright colors that complement her dark hair and fair skin.  I think she would like this.  Please consider voting starting on Thursday, until then the Bee contest is still up.  See previous post.

Garden Path with Onagadoris Yellow Border

And lastly, my celebration giveaway on Spoonflower is still running until the end of April.  Drawing will be held May 1.  Comment with your favorite of my designs for a chance to win and favorite a design for a second chance. 

After Harper



Weaver Bird in color pencils and Pigma pen

It seems like it has been a while since I posted a swap-bot swap.  I have been busy with other projects lately so I only have three cards to share.  The top two designs were inspired by the artwork of Charley Harper.  Instead of ATC's this swap was to design a circular card.  I chose the Weaver Bird which is so common in Africa as my subject.  I have had the pleasure of taking many photos of these birds and I thought their homes would work well with a Harper-like geometrical emphasis. 

I have enjoyed Charley Harper's artwork every since I ran across his original prints while working for Creighton Davis gallery back when I lived in the Washington DC area. (By the way they are having an online auction this Wednesday.)  I wish I had been in the position to purchase a couple at that time.  Sadly, Charley Harper died in 2007 but his work looks as fresh as ever.

Weaver Bird and Mate hand drawn with colored pencils and Pigma pen

This ATC was for Sender's choice, so I modified one of the Tree series I had painted earlier adding this giraffe and the suggestion of the background  trees. I used photographs taken in South Africa as a reference.

South African Bush with Giraffe painted and hand drawn with acrylic paints and Pigma pen

Long Neck Kitties

Mama Cat Baby Kitty Love

Trying out a slightly larger format for a swap.  This is a 4x6 drawing in colored pencil and ink on watercolor paper. It was inspired by the tradition in Senegal of painting people with long, elegant necks.

Red Swap

My first swap of the year with swap-bot.  The swap guidelines are for piece of art at least 5 x 5 inches in which the predominate color must be red.  This work measures about 7 1/2 x 8 1/2.  I began by painting a red background on watercolor paper.  I then stamped the paper with browns and golds to add subtle detail.  I hand-drew flowers with black Micron pen over the stamping and then added some paper collage elements and tissue paper for texture.  The figurative elements are drawn with oil pastels.  The last details were the sari fabric scraps I sewed and glued in place.
Below is the wonderful artwork I received from my partner, Bug. The heart is an impression of a hand carved stamp.  She has used embossing ink to give it a little texture.  This is one of my favorite swap-bot pieces.

Fabric Postcard Exchange

I have been pretty quiet these days with the DollStreet Dreamers online group.  I am still interested in making artdolls but other projects are taking up my time.  So, I try to occasionally take part in group activities with this amazing group of artists so despite packing up and getting ready to leave South Africa.  Last month I committed to sending 10 fabric postcards out to other artists with the optional theme "Spring".  I must be crazy.
I miniaturized my Spoonflower fabric, Love in All Seasons for the back ground and then used Wonder Under to applique hand painted fabric tree tops and commercial fabric trunks to the the background.  I finished the design with commercial stamps of birds.  I hope they enjoy the postcards.  I mailed these out a couple of weeks ago.

If Venus of Willendorf were a paper doll

I have joined another Swap-bot swap, this time, a paperdoll with the theme Earth!  Immediately, I thought of Venus of Willendorf (see inset.)  She epitomizes Earth for me, but then I thought what would she look if she were modern? 
She is made of hand-made paper painted with copper paint which should develop a nice patina over time.  I then added details with gel pens and acrylic paint. 
As I was designing this doll I began to reminisce about my mom.  Every year when I was a little girl and the Ms Universe pageant was on TV my mom would paint our nails and we would wear our best dresses.  She also made my sister and I voluptuous paperdolls on cardboard and designed them dresses from flocked wallpaper.  The dresses were gold, ruby red and sapphire blue.  I decided that in honor of my mom, I would give my earth mama seasonal outfits.  All of the outfits are made from commerical scrapbooking papers with additional details, like the faux fur trim on the winter snowsuit or the lace on the summer frock.

Another Tree; Tree of Life ATC

I just love creating art with trees as my focus. They are so figurative. The picture above is ink and colored pencil Tree of Life ATC for a swap on swap-bot. As I was working on the theme, I easily came up with a dozen ideas....my next theme for a series of art quilts? Hmmm.

Per usual I retain all rights to my images on this blog, copyright Penney Hughes

Children's ATC Swap

My older son recently noticed my Artist Trading Card collection and thought they were neat. He asked if he could make a couple. These are the designs we came up with; the upper left card is my younger son's "The Space Alien A", upper right is my older son's "Falling Ball" and the bottom card was designed by me, "The Trip." Artist Trading Cards are little baseball (or Pokemon) card sized artworks that are created to be given away or exchanged with others. Many cards are made of collaged items or stamped but I have cards of almost every media that can be put on some kind of paper. If you are collaging materials, I suggest recylcling some of your more interesting looking junk mail. Mirkwood Designs has a really great ATC template to print out onto cardstock to get you started.

The kids were excited to trade their cards and see what came back in the mail. I am a member of Swap-bot, so I logged on to my account and have set up a swap for the kids. Please feel free to join our Kids ATC swap. The account is free and they have many fun activities to participate in.

Dotee Dolls

I belong to an online doll making club know as Dollstreet Dreamers. The Street hosts a friendly and helpful list serve, doll competitions and sometimes swaps. The Dottee Dolls above are made for a swap coming up on Dollstreet. They basic idea for the doll was started by Dorothy Christian (Dot) and the dolls have really taken a life of thier own. A pattern to make the dolls can be found on eHow. Or you can watch a video on Youtube. If you want to take part in a swap check out swap-bot, last I looked, there were 16 Dotee Doll swaps.
I really enjoyed making my Dotee Dolls freehand. I took some fabric scraps and just began sewing a little shape. These quicky projects really make one feel good and are nice in betweens. I took mine to the doctors office and handsewed the bodies of three of them right there! I did the stuffing and beading at home. I predict more of these dolls in my future.
Congratulations to Donna, she won the blogiversary giveaway. My son drew her name randomly from the list of commenters from his lucky leprechaun hat.

Ugly Fabric Swap Doll

I have finished one of the three dolls I am working on. She is a doll for a ugly fabric swap hosted on the MSN group ClothDollsForFun. Today is the mail date, but my van broke down so she will have to wait until tomorrow when the van is fixed (hopefully). She is made from Arley Berryhill's Mermaid pattern that I adapted. I really love the head and hand of this pattern. Her body is made of the 'ugly' fabric sent by my partner Jerlyn and craft velour. I used markers and colored pencils on her face. Her hair is made from an idea I got from Barbara Graff's Kith and Kin pattern. I hope my partner likes her!