"Manifesto" , Inktober, and What I've Been Working On

 I took some art school classes back in 2009, and one of the classes was writing. They wanted me to write a "manifesto". Mine was short: 

 

 I hate ugly, depressing, or perverted art.  I believe God gave us the ability to create art to uplift and encourage others. It’s wrong to twist that purpose and make it disgusting and perverse. 

I hope the things I make and draw make others happy, but my art is really only important to me. If I can’t create pretty and funny things, what’s the point in living? 

One day, after I’m gone, people that see my art will scratch their heads and wonder what the heck I was doing. Perhaps they’ll wonder why I never did any “serious” art. I hope they’ll laugh, too.

 

I just found this in a file on my second hard drive. I had forgot about it. They wanted me to write my autobiography too, but I was not in a good state of mind at that time to write. I was working full time in a job I hated, and my attitude was horrible.  I did a lot of drawings then, though. Some of my best art is from that time. Weird!

I used to write quite a bit when my kids were little. I would write funny stories with goofy characters, then read them to them. I wrote funny poems and illustrated them. Now, it seems to take more mental energy than I have to write. I'm so old! :D 

 

This year, I'm planning on participating in Inktober. I keep telling myself I'm going to draw more, but keeping up with making crafts for my Etsy shop takes up most of my free time. 

I also keep telling myself I need to read more, and I've managed to read two whole books in the past couple months! :) I'm working on a third now. This is shameful, because when I was younger I could read a novel in a couple hours. I used to read all the time. Now it's rarely and I only read nonfiction books. 

Like I said, I spend most of my free time making things for my Etsy shop. I'm in the process of setting up a shop page here on my blog. It would be nice one day to totally get away from Etsy altogether. That's the plan, anyway.

Some of my recent work: 

Snowbaby and Santa ornaments 

 

Some fall themed ornaments and plushies

 

Tuxedo cats! 

 

Candy corn bears

 

Red Kittehs

 

Candy corn ornaments

 

Bear and cat face plushie ornaments

 

Mini felt dolls

 

"Princess Dolly" Acrylic on canvas board with a vintage doll face.

 

A felt teacup! I found a few coffee and teacup patterns on Etsy. So far I've only had time to make this cup.

 

"Retro Cat" Acrylic on canvas board. I actually finished three small paintings recently.

 

"Fafike" acrylic on canvas board.

 

I made a few cute applique felt pumpkins.

 

More doll face wall art.

 

And bunny wall art!

 

These are chalkware bunny plaques from the 40's. They were rough looking, so I repainted them. They're hanging in my kitchen. :)

 

Another felt applique folk art plaque.

 

Some doll furniture.

 

More felt items. All the cat plushies in the photo below have already been sold.

 

 

A black and white drawing.

 

A pink retro cat plaque. This has also been sold.

Trying To Use Up My Fabric Stash

                        A batch of six Bunka style dolls finished. :)

 

Rescuing A Very Damaged Vintage Doll

I recently used Posca paint markers to decorate some doll clothes.

I tried my hand at making simple doll shoes again. I find it very annoying and frustrating, but I managed a few pairs of simple sandals for a couple dolls.

 

 

 

 

I gave an Alta Moda Susanna doll some new eyes and eyelashes.

                                                                                                                           

 

 

 I found an Italo Cremona Corinne doll on Ebay that looked like she had been used as a dog chew toy. She had pin dot mold on her face, paint or ink stains on one arm, her eyes were rusty, and her legs and feet are chewed badly.

                 I did a lot of scrubbing with a magic eraser, several bleach treatments, and I used Twin Pines Removezit to lighten the ink stains.

 

 I also removed her grungy hair.

She has a new wig, faceup, eyes, eyelashes, and outfit now. I sanded the rough parts on her feet and legs and she wears a pair of nude colored stockings to hide the chew marks. She almost looks like a new doll now. :)

I'll probably never sell her.

 

 

 

 

I'm Still Crafting, But I'm Done With The Christmas Stuff For Now

I busted out the vintage doll faces and I'm now working on more assemblage wall pieces.

 

I had a request for another Noel pixie plaque. I like this one better than the first ones I made.

                                              Two cone angels I made for myself.

                                        I had a custom order for 25 of the candy cane horses. :)

I actually made this wreath a few years ago. I just replaced the center piece with these cute candy picks I found at Hobby Lobby.

Some pipe cleaner bead people ornaments.

A vintage-inspired snowman ornament.