NOT A SINGLE SPARK

I didn’t give up my sorting and cleaning after my last post like I had planned on doing. I’d told you the heap blocking the closet door wasn’t a concern but I fibbed. I was just tired of cleaning and thought that since that heap wasn’t in the center of the room I could live with it for a while longer but once I’d acknowledged its existence I found myself becoming obsessed with it. I couldn’t get my mind off of it. That’s what happens to me sometimes. I become obsessed with things. So the mountain went from this

to this.

You’d be amazed by how much lighter it is in here now that the window isn’t being blocked.  

I can actually stand in front of the closet and open the doors which I haven’t been able to do in a very long time. Once I was able to open the doors there was a closet behind them that was begging to be organized and I knew that I wasn’t going to be happy until I did something about bringing order to the ciaos. I even made that trip to drop of all of the junk donations I have been gathering together for the thrift store. I have to admit that I nearly dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back for finally taking care of that mess.  I’m now way ahead on my spring cleaning.

After all of the work I found myself completely lacking any spark of creativity or desire to do anything artistic. Not even the slightest flicker of inspiration. Nothing, Nada, zilch!!   The whole brain had become one big dead zone! The pile of doll parts didn’t cry out for my attention. The stack of canvases wasn’t calling my name. I’d thought about starting a quilt but couldn’t make up my mind on pattern or fabric. I gave up the quilt idea after spending one whole day cutting up fabric and then deciding I wasn’t feeling in a quilting mood after all.

My next thought was I could start making those beaded ornament covers that I want to decorate my tree with next Christmas and give to some of those special friends but since that would mean a trip to the craft store for supplies I nixed that idea for the time being. One of my goals for the new year is to use up some of the supplies I have on hand before buying anything more. Let's see how long I can do that, shall we?  

Then I considered working on some ACEOs hoping that I would start feeling creative. Even a little spark would be welcome right about now and since they are so small  it wouldn't even have to be that big a spark. Once that was decided I got out the boxes with my pens, pencils, paints and papers and actually managed to do two before deciding that I wasn't feeling it so that was the end of that!

The little bear cub looks a lot like I feel lately. Ho hum....

I guess I’m suffering Christmas withdrawals or maybe it’s just the January blues. Whatever it is, I’m in a slump. To try to get myself out of this slump I told myself I had to pick one thing to work on and then keep working on that thing until I felt like I have gained a mastery of whatever I chose to do.  Sounded like a plan to me but that’s as far as it went until yesterday morning when I talked myself into working on making some of these

 

I know that this makes little or no sense since I have no need for any more heads rolling around waiting for bodies and clothes. Could it be I like working on faces more than I like sewing clothes? Probably. I figure that if I make a head a day by this time next month I’ll have had my fill of them and then I can move on to making something else. I find that working with colored pencils on fabric to be quite challenging and I have no idea why it's taken me this long to discover how well the two work together. Who says old bags can't learn new tricks?

Now that I think about it, last year at this time I was sculpting heads using paper mache clay and didn't get tired of making them until I had about 2 dozen of the darn things. (Five of them still waiting for bodies.) Here I am doing the same thing only now I'm sculpting with fabric.

Am I the only one who is going through a dry spell? Are you feeling creative or are you like me and in need of a little spark? When you get in a slump what do you do to get out of it? I've always said that I never get bored because I never can find enough time to do all of the things I like to do. Maybe this is what it feels like to be bored. Maybe I've got to find something to do that I haven't got around to trying yet just as long as it doesn't require supplies I don't already have.

Take care and be creative if you can and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Experimental Santa Numbers 2 & 3

It's been dreary and raining here so there's nothing for me to do in the yard and I haven't felt like going out much so I've had plenty of time for my experiment. As I mentioned in my last post I have been tweaking my paper mache recipe and experimenting with the way I paint my little sculpts. I'm not sure if I'm learning anything from these experiments but who knows, maybe I'll stumble onto something that really works for me. 

Here's Santa control subject #2

When picking a color palette for Santa I usually go with  warm colors but from time to time I like to try something a bit different just to keep things interesting for me. I'm one of those people who has a short attention span and I get bored unless I can stir things up a little.

With this Santa I went about giving him that antiqued look in a different way. Instead of using a gel stain I painted him in a way to present a worn appearence. I also thought it was high time I gave Santa something besides bears and dolls to be part of his delivery so here he is with a sweet little ellie. For those of you who are triditionalists, he also has a teddy and a doll in his bag.

I really do like the blues and grays. They have such a calming feel about them.

I did a close-up in hopes it would show more of the shading and colors and since I've used the same method of painting #3 I'm including him in the photo as well. 



Showing the two side by side you can see that even though I painted the cloak for #3 with red this is also a cool palette.

It's going to be another dreary rainy day again today so I'm planning on doing some more painting. I have one more Santa and then the four test subjects will be completed and I will have more time to concentrate on getting bodies made for some of these heads.

I'm sure many of you have plans for this weekend. Unless there's a change in the weather I plan on staying home and keeping warm and dry. Whatever your plans are, enjoy your weekend and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Maddy

A SNOWBOY NAMED WENDELL

This is the 5th snow person that I've completed and he's a real charmer. He appears to be about 5 or 6 years old and loves nothing better than playing in the snow all day every day.

I think his favorite treat is a blueberry flavored snow cone.

The sleeves of his tunic are too long for his little arms so they've been rolled up and the red polka dot lining is visible.

It would appear Wendell's mother has patched his tunic near the bottom in the back. You know how hard some boys can be on their clothing. I love knit caps with a pompom on top.

He's another cutie with a turned up carrot nose.

Yes. I like the way this little fellow turned out. My son says he's cuddly if a snowman can be cuddly.

I have one more snowman to complete and that will be the end of my snowman binge.

A fellow blogger and a very talented artist Crystal Cook  here has a post up for what I feel is for a very important cause. Please go pay her a visit and see what she is doing to help raise funds for this very worthwhile event.

As always thanks for stopping by.