How We Got Through The Summer Heat-In Images

"Ophelia" Monotype done by my Printmaking Prof and friend Barbara Elam

(it is pretty cool to see how other artists see you)

Lucky days spent exploring the watery caves off of Lindos, Rhodos, Greece.  This surely was a dream I had.

Hanging out down at our creek-Fishback Creek-with my sisters and boy cousins.  We spent endless hours down here swiming, creek hiking, making up games and more.  We were always covered in mud so we wouldn't get bitten by horseflies too!

Dancing with Pixies in the Shady Woods

Having THE BEST time ever living in a little house we made at the lake where our best friend lived.  Ah, that little house was THE BEST! The 3 of us are still sisters.

Having a Mom who grew up fishing and taking creek hikes as a little girl!  My mom is the little girl with braids in the center with the big smile and hat. My grandfather is the man in the way back wearing a hat and with a pipe!

Spending a lot of your freetime in boats!

Doing some art inside

Going someplace COOL if you can

Trying to remember that some(like my 4 little cats here on this super warm sun porch) like it hot!

The Doll With Purple Hair

Another doll that I am making is on her way.  She is getting closer to the fun bits. To me, this means that I am getting to the point where I can work on fixing her hair in a fun style, working on her headpiece, jewelry and other little accessories and details.  The big "doll making" part is over and wow-that sure takes me a long time!  I guess I have been trying to figure out for many years how to make my process much faster, but that is just not the way my dolls work. 

It took me so long to develop my process that now I kind of guard it.  It was such a long and painful process(many dolls have had to be torn apart and started again and again and again-I had to keep asking myself what I was doing and was all this worth it?).  But, finally one day, I made a doll that made so much sense to me and that looked like "me".  It incorporated my style, my history, my travels, my favourites things, all my hard work with building my own style of mannequins for museums and all of my study of ancient Greek and Egyptian sculpture. 

Plus, they had my love of fairy tales and folklore as well as my love of the bold use of colour that I had loved when I studied art in a little old town way down south and right in the middle of Mexico.  

They also looked like my paintings and other art.  I like to draw a black line and "define" all of my art. Some artists are very good at making their art more "airy".  I need enclosed in this black line.  So, this is why my dolls look the way they do.  Finally they are the way "my" dolls are supposed to look.  I always loved the description of "Snow White" with her blood red lips and pale face so I often give my pale dolls this colouring.  I have made dolls of every colour though-Maasai Women, Asian Princesses, Greek Goddess and I also love mixing everyone and every race up-why can't we all just get along?

Do I wish my dolls looked different?  Honestly,  I wish I could make them very realist and very precious, but this is what they are so I will continue on this way until something in them starts to change on its own.  My art is always surprising me.  This can be frustrating, but it is only partly up to me.  I will let the art go where it wants.  Trying to control it too much will just drive me mad!

So, here is the doll in teal with the purple/black hair.  There is another waiting in the wings. "Wings" being the key word here!  

This doll in teal with the purple/black hair is taken, but I am always willing to do commissions so feel free to contact me if you are interested in a special doll of your own. I have made all kinds of dolls-Cats playing the violin, mermaids, many fairy tale characters, fantasy kind of self-portraits of folks, faeries,  mermaids with wings, busts, a horse with a lovely lady riding it, cake toppers and more.  My feeling is that if you can make one thing you can make another.  Also, this is art and I am sculpting and sewing these pieces so anything really is possible.    Hope all is well with all of you!

A Few Little Things

Sonja Cross

Back in Whitby

Dark Pool

Little Sister












 




Thoughts back to my England

I am trying to get going again where I left off with my art before I got really sick at the beginning of December.  A lot of if still is making me tired so I am practicing some digital photography tom-fooler-ly.  Whew!  I don't know what I am doing!  Here are a few examples.  I have also done a few little watercolours, have become work again on dolls that had been set aside and are in various stages and(this is just plain crazy) am still trying to mail out Holiday packages!  I got 2 packages nearly ready to go tonight!  Up next will be birthday packages and trades with other amazing artists who have been too kind and have waited far too long.  I am getting there!  I am very disappointed with my 4 little cats.  I have asked for their help but they just jump in the boxes and take naps.  I shouldn't be so mean.  I am sure this is "help" in their language so bless these little people.  Hope all is well with all you folks in blogland!

Pascal is in the center soaking up the sun!  It is the perfect spot for a nap. 

Sisters

I have been trying to get back to my projects.  I have been finding it very disappointing though.  It seems that everything is taking me at least twice as long if not longer and I am constantly interrupted.  So, I am trying to figure it all out.  It is almost like everything I do gets undone while I am not looking.  My nephews have been sick and need a 2nd mom to come and take care of them so I will be off to their place for a bit.  I have tried to taking my art with me before, but that turns out to be so silly.

I have been photographing books for the book shop where I do different kinds of work(right now we are working on a  new website).  I wanted to photograph this 2009 published version of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte with a cover done by fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo next to the version of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte that my mom gave me to read when I was a teenager.  It had belonged to her mother.  I thought nothing of reading this book over and over.  I took it from place to place as I moved around the country and dog-eared pages, threw it in back packs and on whatever shelf or desk I had at the moment.  I was looking inside it to see when it was published so I could put that date with the photograph thinking it was probably published around 1930 at the latest but probably the 1950s or even 1960s.

 

(ooh, too cute!)                               

Well, I had a big shock.  This book was published in 1848!  That is one year after Charlotte Bronte died!  Yikers!  I have been so bad to this book!  The Big Hat Books owner freaked when I told her.  I am putting this book away for some archival healing.  Who knew?  My grandparents were older parents and had been through WWI, the Great Depression and WWII.  If they had a book they were holding on to it!  It is a beautiful book.  I am so sorry beautiful book!  I will take better care of you!  

 

So for now, I will continue to take one step forward and 2 steps back.  We are getting another big dump of snow too.  I hope everyone stays calm.  Wishing you all well.  I made Valentines last year but I don't know if I will get them done for this year.  I am still trying to mail out some Holiday gifts-so bad!  Here is a Valentine for everyone in case I don't get around to them! 

And, my little cats are staying warm.  All 4 are traveling in a pack and sleeping in a big heap of black fur which is really cute-it is a circle where one cat's butt is the others pillow.  They are hibernating big time.  I want to be one of them!

This photo really cracks me up because the belly and feet belong to my oldest cat Pascal and he is resting them on his little sis Sister Blackberry Bijou.  I love how they just push and smush each other-no big whoo!  They drive me crazy!  Pascal-Your Belly!  Sis is not amused!

pascal...

Desperate Measures

The Front Window all fancy and such~


Big Hat Books all Sepia-Like


A little table with Saint Valentine's Days offerings of books and decorated boxes by me.


Our dear old house pillar. It came from an Art Gallery I worked at nearly 10 years ago. Many a wonderful thing has been displayed on it and I am very attached to it. I am glad to see it safe and sound at Big Hat. Right now it is displaying a wonderful book about taking the "Hell" out of "Healthy"-love that! and is decorated with sugared fruits and more cut out hearts. Please bury me with this pillar-thanks.


I love this "wee" window. I made the little sign beneath it. It says, "Unattended children will be given an expresso and a puppy. Thank You, The Management." No, it doesn't say that! It says, "Adults who don't attend to their children will leave this store with their children and 2 puppies. Thank You, The Management". That's better right?

Since I have been so out of it, I decided to go ahead and do the window displays for Big Hat Books and Arts here in Broad Ripple Village. I call this my "practice art". I got some pretty papers and ribbon and made foot after foot of hearts garlands which I hung all over the store to make it pretty for Saint Valentine's Day and to display with all our new books. To me, it looks just like my 2nd grade class room on Saint Valentine's Day-hehe.


The super crazy thing? This took me FOREVER! I am moving really slow these days. I had to take Desperate Measures to get all of this done which also included dressing for the part. That meant I forced myself to fix my hair(kind of), wear my nicest old levis and vintage cardigans, and I even pulled out lip gloss! I know! How crazy have I become? Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures indeed.


A little area of Saint Valentine Cards-more to come!

I've Been Sick, Let's All Slow Down!

Hi All,
I have been gone and very much out of it. Things have shut down in my studio because I am very sick and will be for a few more months healing if I am lucky. I have had to slow way down and am staying with my twin and her family. My dear little cats "The Littles" are staying with my younger sister and having a ball. I miss them so very much. Soon, I hope I can see them more(I was able to see them once since my hospital stay and it was wonderful).

This is where I talk about my illness so look away if you must! I have colitis and was rushed to the hospital in extreme pain. I won't go into all that, but it has been the result of me pushing through projects when I should have taken a break or stopped, skipping meals, and generally treating myself more like a robot then a human. When I got to the hospital I was suffering from extreme dehydration, malnourishment and exhaustion in addition to having a really messed up lower digestive tract-it just hadn't been used in about 2 to 3 years.

Slowly, we all hope I will get better so I can do my thing down here, but the big message is PUT YOURSELF FIRST! I always hated that saying because I never knew what it meant. It sounded selfish and vague. Now, I can tell you what it means in specific examples. So, stop at least 3 times a day and eat something healthy, keep a big bottle of water with you at all times(I did this part but it is not enough alone), keep healthy snacks around you so you don't have to think about what to eat. If you are working on a big project and getting tired STOP! Take a break, take a walk, look through a favourite book or magazine, do some yoga, talk to a friend, goof off, LAUGH SO HARD SOMETHING SPEWS OUT YOUR NOSE!, go back to it later-don't push through your fatigue or hunger-that will lead to illness and pain. If you kids are screaming, still make sure you eat something, get dressed and all of that first and then help them. It all sounds so simple but it is also so simple to not do these things and just say, "I'll wait just 30 minutes late" which turns into an hour. We have all done it.

So, for the New Year, I so hope everyone just slows down-even a little bit. Slows down in their personal lives, slows down when they are driving, slows down when they are shopping, and just stops and thinks, "I will slow down and just be kind, say Hi to this person while I am waiting in line at the post office" instead of huffing and puffing and racing around. Life would be so much better for all of us. My wish is that everyone stops running around like there is a fire somewhere to put out(unless of course there actually is a fire).

Be Well and Take care! Take a Break! And yes Red-Handed, this is "Long-ish" 'cause I like it that way! Hehe!

The Ashland Gallery Show

At the Ashland Gallery~ one of Gretchen's wall of her gorgeous oil paintings of landscapes of real places made magical due to her amazing use of colour and imagination. On the next wall is a few of my framed photographs.


One wall of my framed photographs-the director saw how I hung my art in my house in one of my self portraits and wanted one wall of my art to be hung that way-all "mish-mashed" together-very "Merle". These are all self-portraits and a series inspired by my ancestor Lydia from Salem,MA.


Here I am in black next to gorgeous Gretchen in white. I am standing in front a few of her magical landscapes and she is standing in front of a few of my framed photographs. The lovely and talented Ivy of Edera Jewerly was kind enough to send me a bag of her odds and ends of left over jewelry projects, beads and threads. I was so excited to find this piece in the bag because I made it into a little brooch that I wore on my dress for the night! It is like a gold and green snowflake with a pretty cord of gold dripping with beads and pearls and I think it looks like a little badge of some kind. You can check out her blog and then go to her Etsy shop HERE.
























And here are Gretchen and me again-we love dressing up and found our outfits way on sale all the way down to our shoes! Hey- take a photo of that would you!

I have been running around with these recent gallery shows. I am always behind and I always think I can get things done faster than I actually can. I would think that I would learn by now, but I guess not. The show openings were stressful up until the doors actually opened(ack, I kept leaving things in my studio!) but, they were also fun. It was fun to meet new artists and the folks who came to see the art as well. I took a few photos but must go back and take more of everything. At least I finally got a photo with my sweet friend Gretchen Powers Katner who is an amazing artist. She really can do it all-woodworking, jewerly(beadwork, silversmith, PMC, and more), oil painting(really large and awe-inspiring ones), she makes quilts, amazing bags of all kinds from old fabrics she finds and others that she hand dyes and she does more and says that it all is "no big deal". I love her and I want to shake her at the sametime! Ooh, I forgot to mention the amazing birthday cakes she has made for kids-don't get me started.

Now, I am jumping into making boutique windows look like "Happy Holidays" and getting caught up on commissions which includes several painting commissions and the dolls are getting their gowns finished and their wigs! Yay! So, that is all for now, but there will more later! Hope all is well with everyone here in blogland. I have been checking out your blogs late at night when I get a chance and love what everyone is up to and what you have found to share. Wishing you the best!

Under All This Rubble...

Postcard for the "Images Through the Looking Glass" show at the Ashland Gallery. This is a self portrait that I was surprised they used for the postcard-I think the stripes did it. And yes, my legs are freaky as well as stripey.

The 2 shows that I am a part of will both be opening this 13, November Friday night and I am still not ready. Somehow, I ended up making paintings and new small dolls for one and photographs, and jewelry for another. None of that sounds very hard to do, but everything I do takes forever-as in 300 steps or more and I have to have tons of supplies. I am buried under all the rubble for now and I just can't care(though I would love a clean house-just the studio just moved to include the whole house). I am almost ready but so slow! I am also starting to feel really sick so I need to just keep on going and get everything done. My nights are spent setting up the shows and getting more bits and bobs made. What am I doing? I have no idea.

I also thought it would be great to have really bright red hair instead of my regular blah red hair so I got some fire-something manic panic and just kind of poured it on my head in the shower because I will never find the time to actually dye my hair-ever. Well, I didn't see any difference, but at one of the galleries today, the director who is a nice and really funny guy asked me, "Hey, what did you do to your hair? It looks really cool!". So, I told him about the manic panic and he said, "Wow, I just don't understand how you got your hair to be one colour on the left and a completely different colour on the right. That's really cool!". Um, wow, I don't know how I did that either-hehe! My best friend happened to be in the gallery with me and she burst out laughing so hard-she is NEVER going to let that one go and I don't blame her. Hopefully I will get some photos and hopefully I will try to look in a mirror and learn to schedule hair appointments but don't hold your breath.

So, wow, I have missed a ton of stuff in blogland! I will be back. I have things to do after these shows are finally up! Hope all is well with everyone!

Making Holiday Art Hurry, Hurry!

The Queens of Winter Holidays


Gold and Holy Clay Feet


Joy in What is You


Ancient Angel Dust


Hands and Faith


Pixie and Sugar Plums


Saint Lucia


Sweet Queen of Ice and Snow


Red Haired Russian Skater


Madonna and Child


The South American Chocolate Fairy


The Lady with the Amethyst Cross

I've been away too long! Sorry for that. We celebrated El Dia de Los Muertos at the the Indianapolis Art Center with my family and friends and the Altar Installation I made for my ancestor Lydia last weekend. It was a great turnout and good to see everyone. But, I could only stay for a bit because I had to hurry and change gears to make all my Winter Holiday art now. I will be having 2 shows up that both open on 13 November. One will be at the Ashland Gallery here in Broad Ripple and the other will be at the Big Hat Books and Arts Gallery also in Broad Ripple. I am going to be showing photographs, paintings, mixed media collages and many of my "doo-dahs" which is what I call my Holiday ornament things-must take photos! So, for now, here are some photos of what I have been up too. Some pieces I have had for a bit and am framing and others are new. Whatever the case, It is time for sparkles and snow! I am still working on commissions and dolls as well. Yeah, um, no one can come in my studio or house until spring...
Hope all is well with all of you!