The Expressive Figures Of Janet Bodin

Afternoon Prayer

2012-01-27T15:52:00.000-06:00

I just got the new issue of Art Doll Quarterly in the mail.

I'm pleased to see my "Afternoon Prayer" pictured on p. 113!

Also in this same issue is "David Copperfield" by my friend and fellow TAODA artist Karin Otto-Burfict, and a feature article on my dear friend the fabulous Marlaine Verhelst! Great issue!

Evolution

2012-01-11T11:23:00.000-06:00

One of my newer pieces is not exactly new at all. I have been working on the fabric for this piece for a long time. I began with cotton velvet which I dyed, discharged and overdyed. I machine embroidered the pieces and then hand embroidered them heavily in areas with raised chain band, french knots and seeding stitches in various fibers. I didn't yet know what I would do with the fabric so it sat for a while in my studio. Later on I added a layer of hand dyed spunbonded fiber, which I needlefelted into the velvet, then heat distressed in areas to expose the embroidery. Lastly I heat embossed other areas of the fabric.

I originally wanted to make a pair of sisters.

I wasn't happy with the blue sister's face. I gave her a new face and she looked older, more like a mother than a sister to the girl in red.

Mother and daughter would have been fine, but somehow I felt that a third generation was needed. I had thought of making a "maiden mother crone" piece for a long time. I don't really like the word "crone" to describe an older woman so I'm calling her a matriarch instead.

And it has a nice sound to it: Maiden Mother Matriarch

I added the cape, made of hand dyed silk matelasse, to tie the piece together.

Some of the embroidery detail:

Another piece of the fabric went into making "Heart of My Heart", which is at Copper Shade Tree Gallery

This photo shows the details of the machine and hand embroidery, the heat distressed spunbonded fiber and the embossed portions.

I have one more piece of this fabric left. I wonder what I should make....

End of the Holidays

2012-01-06T14:05:00.000-06:00

Today I stopped by Lucia's Garden to pick up any of my holiday dolls that were not sold. I left only one doll there: Anonna

Lucia is having a great sale: 50% off all Christmas merchandise, and of course I found a Santa I had to have!

He looks right at home with the other Santas in my collection:

Here is my little Santa collection before the latest addition.

Of course now they will have to be put away. The tree is already out and the snowmen are put away. Tomorrow I'll put away the Santas and the rest of the holiday decorations. The house always seems so bare after the Christmas decorations are put away. It will be time to start thinking about Valentine decorations soon!

Holiday Baking

2011-12-21T11:34:00.000-06:00

I’m taking a small break from doll making and getting ready for Christmas. One tradition our family has is to bake gingerbread and deliver it to our neighbors the week before Christmas. Yesterday was gingerbread baking day!

the dry ingredients: lots of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg

the wet ingredients: buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and.....

the absolutely essential ingredient: Steen's cane syrup

eight eggs per batch

ready for baking

gingerbread out of the oven

decorated and ready for delivery!

Miniature Top Hat

2011-11-15T14:49:00.000-06:00

I took a class at Quilt Festival this year with Gilbert Muniz: Make a Mini Mad-Hatter Topper. This was a fun class & Gilbert is a great teacher. I've made hats for dolls, but this one was not doll sized. More like half scale human size. It was great because I learned millinery techniques and used supplies I've never used before.

Clockwise from back: buckram, french elastic, petersham, millinery wire.

The only one of these I've used before is buckram.

I wanted to do a "Christmas fantasy" hat, and here it is:

If you ever get a chance to take a class from Gilbert, I highly recommend it!

Houston International Quilt Festival 2011

2011-11-07T16:04:00.001-06:00

Another Quilt Festival has come and gone. The doll exhibits looked wonderful this year with new signs indicating the different exhibit categories, and a third tier for display area.

I was fortunate to have a doll in each of the four parts of the exhibit.

This was my piece for the invitational portion:

Maiden Mother Matriarch

My Material Girls entry:

Marina and Starla

TAODA Storybook Doll:

A is for Apples

Gypsy Challenge:

Henry's Masque

My purchases this year were lots of greens and autumn colors.

Silks and wools, trims and beads

I'm thinking of the Green Man and Forest Dwellers......

Autumn Elves

2011-10-24T10:43:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of Autumn Elves I made recently. I chose some fabrics and trims from Pamela Armas' Treasures of the Gypsy.

Dressing Elf #1

Painting his face

The second elf gets painted shoes.....

Sewing on the ears

Autumn Elves

Copper Shade Tree Gallery

2011-10-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

I recently delivered art to Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, TX. It was a beautiful day and a nice drive from Houston. The gallery just moved into a new location across the street from where they were before. It's a wonderful light-filled space.

a few of my dolls....

Round Top is also home to the Round Top Festival Institute, famous for it's summer music festival and year round concerts. It has a gorgeous concert hall and beautiful gardens.

Round Top is booming! There is a new group of shops moving in. They were creating paths and beginning the landscaping when I was there. It's going to be really nice!

Debbie and Gerald Tobola are the owners of Copper Shade Tree Gallery, and the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Gerald is an artist himself. He creates gorgeous pieces in copper. You can see a little bit of one of his pieces on the wall behind them.

The next show at Copper Shade Tree Gallery will be "Quilts by Men", October 26 - November 20, featuring Quilts by 16 men from across the country. It should be a really fabulous show!

New Art Doll Book

2011-10-07T11:11:00.000-05:00

A new art doll book has just come out titled Lark Studio Series: Handmade Dolls.

I just got my copy and was excited to see that one of my pieces, "By the Waters of Babylon" is in this new book.

The book is available now at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. The doll is at Copper Shade Tree Gallery.

Yesterday's Open House

2011-10-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the open house at Lucia's Garden. It was a wonderful day! We had a steady stream of friends and visitors. Lucia made her wonderful pumpkin bread and other goodies. Path of Tea brought declicious organic beverages. The shop was filled with fall and Halloween decorations and ornaments, and of course I brought my dolls. Here are a few:

Leaf Elves

Little Witches, Autumn Elves, and other Fall Dolls

Pumpkin Men

I'm happy to say that some of these found new homes. Some will stay at Lucia's Garden through the end of October.

Many thanks to everyone who came to the open house and many many thanks to Lucia and Joel for everything they did to make me so welcome at Lucia's Garden!

Leaf Elves

2011-09-28T07:51:00.000-05:00

I've been working on some leaf elves for the Fall Open House at Lucia's Garden.

Dyeing Silk Habotai for the leaf bodies

After dyeing the fabric with some fall golds and reds, I took the damp fabric outside and sprinkled on dry rit dye right out of the box. This will give it some grainy spots - a trick I learned years ago from doll artist Dawn Kinsey.

Here are their little faces, which have been needle sculpted. The darling little bunny pin cushion in the background was made by doll artist Leslie Molen.

Faces are painted

Here is "Autumn's Last Dance"

and "Maple Leaf Shim Sham"

Shim Sham is a kind of shuffling soft shoe tap dance. I think that looks just like what he is doing.

Lucia's Garden Fall Open House

2011-09-15T08:34:00.000-05:00

Lucia's Garden is hosting a Fall Open House on Sunday, October 2, from 1-5 p.m. I will be bringing Pumpkin Folk, Leaf Elves, friendly Witches, Harvest Angels, Autumn Elves and more!

Lucia's Garden is located at

2360 W. Alabama

Houston, Texas 77098

713-523-6494
http://www.luciasgarden.com/

Lucia gave me my start in selling little Halloween witches at Lucia’s Garden many years ago. Now I’ve come full circle and I will be bringing Halloween and Fall dolls to Lucia’s Garden for sale this October. I’m honored to be back!

2011-09-10T07:42:00.000-05:00

The Houston Area Fiber Artists will have our annual gallery show next month. I'm excited to be one of the artists on the postcard !

There will be a silent auction at the gallery show as well. This is "Elodie", which I have donated to the silent auction:

Pumpkin Men

2011-08-29T20:01:00.000-05:00

My website has been updated and I would love it if you would take a look when you have a moment. New work includes some framed hanging pieces, a couple of vintage bathing beauties, and my love affair with silk fusion continues…. www.janetbodin.com

I am holed up in the studio these days working on some fall projects, which is a good place to be in this 100 degree weather we are having here in Texas. I’d like to think working on pumpkin men and leaf elves will hasten the arrival of fall! I’m preparing for a Fall Open House October 2 at Lucia’s Garden in Houston. I was thrilled to be invited to show my art dolls at this beautiful little shop on West Alabama. http://www.luciasgarden.com/about.htm

Work in progress:

Dyeing Fabric for Pumpkin Men

Beginning to Sculpt Pumpkin Head

Sculpted Head Covered with Orange Cotton Lycra

Painted Features

Stitching the Head on the Body

Stitching the Stem on the Head

Textile Center

2011-08-10T16:13:00.000-05:00

I got a nice surprise in the mail today. The Textile Center in Minneapolis used a photo of my doll Forest Canticle on the cover of their annual report. This piece was in the Figuratively Fiber exhibit there earlier this year.

ADAA Conference

2011-08-02T09:05:00.001-05:00

I just got back from the All Dolls Are Art Conference in Austin, TX. TAODA had several tables in the vendor area with lots of wonderful dolls for sale by Neva Waldt, Marlene Slobin, Tina Forester, Adriana Esqueda, Annette Money, Theresa May, Karin Otto-Burfict, and others. I had to get one of Neva's little flower peeps - he's adorable!

His little head pops up out of the flower - too cute!

I also purchased some great fabrics, trims and doodads from everybody's favorite gypsy, Pamela Armas. Of course Pamela and her Treasures of the Gypsy booth will be here in Houston in November for the Houston International Quilt Festival. I always make a bee-line straight to her booth on preview night!

I got some neat things from Jeweled Treasures (also coming to Houston for IQF in November!): some little blown glass baubles (don't know what I will do with those yet), some wire mesh ribbon, and other little treasures.....

Goodies from Jeweled Treasures

Lauren Vlcek had a great booth with patterns, supplies, and some wonderful cloth nesting dolls. Of course they don't really nest, but are varying sizes and shaped like the Russian nesting dolls. I couldn't resist.....

Lauren does wonderful faces as you can see. Lauren taught a class at the conference and I peeked in to see some fantastic butterfly fairies in progress. I also got to peek in another class being taught by Lisa Renner, who does really interesting work.

Last, but not least, I picked up some black and white striped fabric from Barb's Quilt Nook which will be perfect for some Halloween dolls I'm working on.

I'm so glad I attended. It was a fun day. I saw lots of friends, old and new, and even one I hadn't seen in many years - the wonderful and talented Annie Hess! Amy Nelson did a wonderful job organizing the conference and says that she already has plans in place for next year's conference at the same location.

Go Figure Two!

2011-07-17T15:11:00.000-05:00

Last night was the opening for Go Figure Two! at Las Manos Magicas in Houston. TAODA has been blessed with so many gallery shows lately. This one is in a folk art gallery, which is a different and interesting venue for us.

a view of one of the gallery walls

the reception getting under way

my contribution: fruit kabobs

I have three pieces in this exhibit:

The Tempter

Vespers

Wisdom

"Wisdom" is a cloth figure over a wire armature. The under tunic is made of hand dyed silk habotai, stamped with circles and swirls. A scattering of sequins are sewn on. The over tunic is made of many pieces of hand dyed silk gauze. These pieces were computer printed with the same Bible verse (“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.” James 1:5), then the edges were burned and foiled, and lastly sewn together.

The wings are made from artificial flower petals, cut apart and hand painted, then reassembled into wings.

2011-07-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

While in Washington DC one of our stops was the Library of Congress. This is a stunningly beautiful building!

I recently discovered that my ancestor South G. Preston, who was a lawyer and a Methodist minister, authored several books, three of which are in the Library of Congress! One (The Shadow of the King) was off site and I was unable to see it, but two others, Key-Words and Phrases of the New Testament, and The Secret of Hamlet, were there and I was able to photocopy his picture and bio from the books - a very exciting find for this budding genealogist!

South G. Preston
b. 1857, d. 1908

American Heritage Awards

2011-07-06T16:00:00.006-05:00

Last week Bob and I traveled to Washington DC. I was honored by the DAR at the 2011 Continental Congress with two awards. I had entered "Thy Word" in the American Heritage exhibit a few months ago and was stunned to find out that I won first place in the doll category!

I received this award on Wednesday morning, then on Wednesday evening we watched the opening ceremony at Constitution Hall. It was filled with pageantry: every state flag, the Marine Corps band, a stage full of dignitaries.....

On Friday morning I received the Evelyn Cole Peters award, "Best in Show" for the craft category. It was an amazing honor!

Before and after and in between we saw the sights and visited friends.

We had a great time. I found out that the Original Doll Artist Council of America conference will be held in DC in 2013 - I can't wait to come back!

Napa

2011-07-01T08:00:00.005-05:00

Our trip to Napa Valley was amazing. The weather was perfect, the scenery gorgeous, the food was wonderful, of of course the wineries were a highlight of the trip.

The first winery we visited was Robert Mondavi, which was perfect because they give a great tour which includes learning about wine and winemaking.

Our next stop was Rutherford Hill, for a picnic on their beautiful grounds.

We purchased a lovely Malbec for our picnic and enjoyed the view from the hill.

Then we had a tour of their caves which are built into the side of the hill. Here is the entrance to the caves:

Enjoying more wine in the caves.

The next day we toured the Culinary Institute of America Greystone campus.

When she finishes college, the family chef may want to attend the school here.

We had a wonderful lunch at the Wine Spectator Restaurant here prepared by CIA chefs.

Dessert!

We also went to Sterling Vineyards

where we took an aerial tramway up to the vineyard on the hill

another lovely view

And inspiration for a doll!

Some of our favorite visits were to the Champagne Houses

Champagne and Caviar tasting at Domaine Chandon

Cheers!

tastings at Domaine Carneros

We said farewell to the good life and made the trip back to San Francisco for the flight home. But we had one more stop to make:

The Trumer Brewery in Berkley, CA.

Bob got a tour and a tasting of his favorite beer.

Simply Live!

We did a lot of that - it was a great trip!

California Trip

2011-06-27T18:24:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month we attended the wedding of my step-nephew, Cuyler Smith, in California. Cuyler is a wonderful artist who paints and does illustrations. Here he is with his beautiful bride Sharron.

Bodin girls with a pre-wedding champagne toast.

The wedding took place in Costa Mesa. By an interesting coincidence, my great grandfather David Reid, who was a Methodist minister, served as pastor to the Methodist church in Costa Mesa in the 1920s.

So the next day we attended church at the First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa, where he was the pastor. It was Pentecost Sunday, and the church was decorated with red swags. Reverend Julie Elkins, senior pastor, was very welcoming.

This picture of my great grandfather is in the church history room. I didn’t intend for the stain glass window reflection to be on the photo, but it’s kind of nice.

The best part of the visit was meeting my father’s cousin, also named David Reid. We had never met before, and really didn’t even know each other existed. Now we are in touch and sharing family history.

Later that day we went to the cemetery where my great grandparents are buried.

It was an amazing day. I never thought to have the opportunity of seeing my great grandfather’s church or the place he and my great grandmother are buried, or to meet David. It’s funny and mysterious and wonderful how life works in these ways.

Then, it was on to San Francisco.....

The next day we had a wonderful lunch at Swan Oyster Depot.

It is a tiny narrow oyster bar downtown that has been there since the early 1900s. We had to stand in line to wait for a place at the counter. It didn’t look like much, but the seafood was fantastic and a favorite with the locals.

After a day in San Francisco we drove on to Napa Valley for four wonderful days in wine country....

Bathing Beauties

2011-06-08T08:00:00.007-05:00

There is a new gallery show this month by the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists: Bathing Beauties. I am one of the artists in this show and I am really honored to have my work on the postcard invitation!

The theme was inspired by Galveston Island's historic bathing beauties contest and the show features vintage bathing beauties, like my "All-American Bathing Beauties" pictured below, as well as modern bathing beauties. It's a fun show!

Exhibition Dates: June 8 - July 13, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 11, 2011, 6-9 p.m.

J. Bangle's Silk Stocking Gallery
1124 25th Street @ Avenue L
Galveston, Texas 77550
(409) 763-6161

Located in Galveston's historic Silk Stocking district, J. Bangle's Silk Stocking Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Sunday, 12 - 5 p.m. For a map and directions, please visit http://www.galveston.com/banglesilkstocking or call 409-763-8253.

A Month of Celebrations

2011-06-05T17:10:00.001-05:00

May was a month of celebrations in the Bodin household. First, we had a milestone birthday.....

...which we actually celebrated mid-month because the birthday girl was away at school.

Mother's Day was spent in Galveston, with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants there: Rudy & Paco's

Mid month we celebrated our oldest getting her Master's Degree

After the ceremony, we had a family lunch to celebrate at La Griglia.

The celebration continued on Sunday with a crawfish boil in the backyard.

The Party is Here!

The Crawfish Cooks: Uncle Larry & Dad

Here's Bob demonstrating how to peel crawfish for the uninitiated :)

The Experts

Friends

The best part: Cupcakes from Crave - yum!

The end of the month marked our 29th wedding anniversary!

Reception in Keller

2011-04-16T10:13:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday we had our reception at the Keller Town Hall Gallery for our "A World of Enchantment" show. Adriana Esqueda and I were there representing TAODA.

Adriana, Brenda Wyatt-Keller Public Arts Board Chairman, me

It was very nice! A local catering company provided food, as did Adriana and I. Her son and his friend bartended. At the end of the reception Adriana’s son told me that he had been talking to a gentleman who said that he had never thought dolls could be “art” but after seeing our exhibit he changed his mind. That is so gratifying!

Reception

Avalon

2011-04-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

On my way to Keller last week I stopped in Avalon, Texas. Avalon is the little town where my grandmother grew up. Her parents and grandparents lived there as well.

My great grandfather was a somewhat prominent citizen and got a street named after himself. :)

I wanted to visit the cemetery and find my ancestor's graves. It was a bit of an adventure driving down some unpaved roads, but I found the cemetery

and the graves of my great great grandparents, my great grandmother, and some other relatives as well.

It was a very satisfying. A very peaceful place.

A World of Enchantment

2011-04-04T17:35:00.000-05:00

Last Friday we set up TAODA's newest show "A World of Enchantment" at the Keller Town Hall Gallery. Keller is a beautiful community just outside Ft. Worth, TX. The show will run April 1 - 29.

The doll on the postcard is by Adriana Esqueda, who does wonderful beaded faces on her dolls, but she also does the most beautiful painted faces. Here is the postcard doll in the gallery:

I have several dolls in this show. Here are some of them:

Gaia's Slumber

Lorelei, Siren of the Rhine

Daphne

It is a beautiful gallery, filled with light. Here is a shot of the gallery as we are setting up:

Some of the artists in the show, top row: Theresa May, Mindy Bush, Yoanna Baumgartner.
Bottom row: Joyce Patterson, Beth Akin, Karin Otto-Burfict

The reception will be April 14, 7-9 p.m.

Fly Away Home

2011-03-18T12:31:00.004-05:00

After Mom passed away I just didn’t feel able to create anything new. After a couple of months I knew it was important to get back into the studio but my heart just wasn’t in it. I decided to focus on something that might in some small way be a memorial. I had some fabric from Mom’s stash (she taught me to sew so many years ago), so I wanted to use some of it to create the doll. I decided on some soft blue impressionistic floral fabric that I remembered from my childhood. This would be the base for the doll’s body. The hand dyed yellow silk would be used for accent.

doll in progress

My mother was a painter and some of her favorite subjects were birds. I wanted to find a way to incorporate birds into the piece. So I added tree branches to the doll’s body, and placed birds on the branches. I used the yellow silk for the birds, deepening the colors with color hue dyes.

The branches are made of silk fusion

Here she is finished. I’ve titled the piece “Fly Away Home”, a reference to the birds in the branches, but also to my mother, who is home now in Heaven.

Figuratively Fiber

2011-03-09T12:55:00.000-06:00

I am very excited to be in a show at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, MN. The opening recepton is this Friday, March 11. I wish I could go! I am one of sixteen artists in this show, which was juried by world famous doll artists Jodi and Richard Creager. I'm so honored to have had my entry "Forest Canticle" accepted! The show will run through April 16.

Fiber Show Reception

2011-03-06T09:05:00.000-06:00

Last night was the opening reception for the Fiber Art Show at the Linda Watson Gallery in Conroe. My sweet husband and daughter came with me.

Some of my pieces in this show......

Fiber Art Show

2011-02-28T10:47:00.001-06:00

I will be one of eight artists featured in a mini Fiber Art Show this week, March 3-7, at the Linda Watson Art Gallery in Conroe. I will have pedestal pieces as well as pieces which hang on the wall, including two Mardi Gras dolls. There will be a reception on Saturday, March 5, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The Linda Watson Gallery
204 N. Main
Conroe, TX

Sold!

2011-02-25T14:56:00.000-06:00

No sooner did I post about the Copper Shade Tree Gallery, but I got a call from Gerald Tobola (the owner) that Ripe Plums Are Falling just sold! I'm so pleased! Happy Friday!

Ripe Plums Are Falling

Copper Shade Tree Gallery

2011-02-25T14:37:00.000-06:00

Recently I visited the Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, Texas. They have a fiber show through March 13 that I just had to see. I'm so glad I went. The show is wonderful and I really enjoyed visiting with the owners, Debbie and Gerald Tobola - such nice people! We talked about fiber art, one thing led to another, and now I am part of the Copper Shade Tree family of artists! It is truly an honor to have my work in this gallery. I am just thrilled to be there! Here is my page on the gallery website:

http://www.coppershadetree.com/wsm_store_selector_detail.php?selector=supplier&selector_id=jbd

In Memoriam

2011-01-21T12:02:00.000-06:00

My Dear Mother

Muriel Reid Smith

June 28, 1922 - December 29, 2010

All is well

Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped away into the next room

I am I and you are you

Whatever we were to each other

That we are still

Call me by my old familiar name

Speak to me in the easy way you always used

Put no difference into your tone

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed

At the little jokes we always enjoyed together

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was

Let it be spoken without effort

Without the ghost of a shadow in it

Life means all that it ever meant

It is the same as it ever was

There is absolute unbroken continuity

What is death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind

Because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you for an interval

Somewhere very near

Just around the corner

All is well.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost

One brief moment and all will be as it was before

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral

ABC News Interview

2010-12-13T18:29:00.010-06:00

I was interviewed for our local news station today in conjunction with the TAODA show "Imagine" at the Jung Center. Fellow artist Mary Wiggins was also interviewed. Here is the segment:

Imagine Reception

2010-12-05T18:29:00.000-06:00

Our show is up at the Jung Gallery! The gallery is beautiful. We have a wonderful mix of hanging and pedestal pieces. Here is a shot of the gallery taken right after set up.

The opening reception was last night. We had a wonderful crowd and great food!

Bob made this wonderful tomato mozzarella appetizer:

Here I am with two of my newest pieces, "Moon Dance" and "The Mermaid's Grotto".

I was pleased to find out that "The Mermaid's Grotto" sold to a very nice couple who have another one of my pieces. They bought two other pieces at the show as well!

Here is a group shot of some of the artists in the show.

The inscription reads "Invoked or not invoked, God is present."

Imagine

2010-11-18T10:42:00.000-06:00

I'm really excited about a new gallery show I'm in! The opening reception will be on Saturday, December 4, 5-7 p.m. What a great way to begin the holiday season! The show is "Imagine" at the Jung Center Gallery in Houston.

Here is the invitation:

And a map to the gallery:

Everyone's invited - hope to see you there!

Quilt Festival

2010-11-09T11:20:00.001-06:00

Last week was the International Quilt Festival here in Houston. I was one of the lucky volunteers who got to set up the "Celebration of the Doll" exhibit. I had some dolls in the exhibit as well. My newest piece, "Moon Dance" was in the invitational portion of the exhibit:

Moon Dance

Here is my doll for the Material Girls part of the exhibit:

Heart of My Heart

This piece is cotton velvet, dyed, discharged, and over-dyed. Then machine and hand embroidered, needle felted, heat distressed and heat embossed.

I also took some classes during the week. First, "Embossed Quilt Batting" with Rebekah Meier. We covered books with our embossed batting. Really fun and different.

The next day was "Color Theory" with Judy Coates Perez.

This was very helpful to me as I've never had a color theory class before. I highly recommend it & Judy is a great teacher!

The next class was "Fabric Patinas" with Tracie Huskamp. This was a lot of fun. We used lots of cool products. Here are just some of my class samples:

Some of my favorite techniques:

Aging Fabric

Rust and Verdigris

Metallics

Last but not least was "TAP Tricks and Tips" with the wonderful Lesley Riley. TAP stands for Transfer Artist Paper and works on all kinds of surfaces. We learned techniques for using it on different kinds of fabric, papers, wood, metal and other things. Great stuff!

some of my TAP samples

And if that wasn't enough, there was shopping galore! More on that later.....

“Moon Dance” was inspired by a song of the same name. The lyrics “It’s a marvelous night for a moon dance” just conjured an image of a dancing moon in my head. The Moon is dressed in his finery: velvet tail coat, silk vest, lace jabot and cuffs. The base is painted to mimic a starry constellation in the night sky.

Wisconsin

2010-10-29T14:04:00.000-05:00

I recently got back from Wisconsin, where TAODA has a show at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg.

The museum is located in a historic 1850s stone farmhouse. Our exhibit "Dolls for All Seasons" runs through January 9, 2011. The opening reception was wonderful. Museum president Terri Kirchner was there to welcome us, along with many of the board members and volunteers.

TAODA artist Adriana Esqueda, Terri Kirchner-museum president, TAODA artist Neva Waldt, and me.

The exhibit is displayed very imaginatively thanks to museum curator Luella Doss.

Here is Adriana with a Day of the Dead grouping of some of her amazing dolls. Check out Adriana's wonderful blog: www.lalloronastudio.blogspot.com

A Halloween group

The lovely and talented Neva Waldt with her "Thief of Hearts"

Dolls by Joyce Patterson

Karin Otto-Burfict's "Santa Claus"

Pepper Hume's "Long John Silver"

Dolls by Tina Forster

In all there are seventy three dolls by fifteen artists. It's a wonderful exhibit!

Wisconsin is beautiful country. Here is a view from the museum.

Cedarburg is a charming town.

Cedarburg Mill

Cedarburg Creek

Lots of beautiful old churches.

Holy Hill Basilica

Here is the altar at Holy Hill Basilica and some faces carved on the columns in the church.

Some Cedarburg shops.....

.....and the last covered bridge in Wisconsin.

Weekend pt. 2

2010-10-12T09:31:00.000-05:00

Saturday we feasted.

Christina the chef made an amazing Halloween themed dinner

Jack-o-Lantern Quesadillas

Cheers!

Sunday we carved pumpkins - haven't done that in years!

Rosie carving her pumpkim

Bob's pumpkin

Christina's pumpkin

Janet's pumpkin

Carved Pumpkins

Rosie, Christina, Bob, Janet

Oooh - scary!

Greek Festival

2010-10-11T11:45:00.001-05:00

The Bodins had a great weekend! Christina came into town for the Greek Festival and she surprised us by coming in a day early. We went to the Greek Festival Friday night. It is always so much fun. Bob and I have been to 30 Greek Festivals together! And the girls have been every year since they were born.

Christina and her boyfriend Chris

The food is delicious, and the wine plentiful!

The Greek Festival Dancers

Opa!

Beautiful icon outside Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral

Reception at 18 Hands Gallery

2010-10-05T13:48:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday night was the opening reception for Interwoven II at 18 Hands Gallery. I have three dolls in the current show. They are "prayer dolls". "Afternoon Prayer" won an honorable mention.

"Afternoon Prayer: The Wind of Your Spirit Blows Through Me"

The other two are "Matins: Morning Praise" and "Vespers: Evening Blessing"

"Vespers" at top, "Matins" below

The clothing for all three is silk fusion, made from hand dyed silk bombyx roving and sari ribbon. The faces are needle sculpted and colored with prisma pencils and pastels. Hand dyed mohair is used for hair. They stand on bases of Celtic knotwork.

"Vespers" holds a hand made rosary. Not being Catholic, I was not familiar with the way rosaries are constructed. Luckily, I found great instructions on the internet. But I had the hardest time making the knots, until I realized I could use a bullion knot. All those years of needlpoint paid off!

Adding beads, making knots

Finished rosary

Doll Holding Rosary

Interwoven II

2010-09-28T19:59:00.000-05:00

Another invitation.....

I have three pieces in this show. One of them is pictured - the tiny figure, lower right.

End of Summer

2010-09-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

I recently made a mermaid to mark the end of summer.

Marina and Starla

Marina is made of various cotton fabrics which are pieced together crazy quilt fashion.

She has a mother of pearl fringe belt, gold and red beads sewn on the fabric below.

Her tail is sewn with sequins and pearls

The baby starfish is made of hand dyed silk habotai with clusters of micro beads

Marina and Starla's faces are colored with prisma pencils and pastels.

Focus on Fiber

2010-09-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday night was the opening reception for "Focus on Fiber", the Houston Area Fiber Artists annual juried gallery show.

Best of show is a gorgeous quilt by Ginny Eckley titled "Gated Community". Honorable mentions went to Peggy Sexton and Connie Fahrion. You can see the winning pieces here:
http://18handsgallery.blogspot.com/2010/09/focus-on-fiber.html

My darling daughter is always so sweet to come with her mom to these openings. :)

The show will run through September 26, and after that another fiber show, "Interwoven II", will open at this same gallery. I will have work in that show also. :)

Great News!

2010-08-24T09:42:00.000-05:00

I just found out my pieces were accepted to two shows I entered. "Forest Canticle" will be at the Houston Area Fiber Artists "Focus on Fiber" show at 18 Hands Gallery, Opening Reception September 18, 2010 6-9 PM

Forest Canticle

And "Ripe Plums Are Falling" will be at the "Material Matrix" show at M2 Gallery, Opening Reception October 23, 7-9 PM

Ripe Plums Are Fallling

A Fond Farewell

2010-08-14T17:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we moved Christina into her new apartment at college. Before she left we had a farewell dinner with some of her favorite foods.

Smoked salmon rosettes, tomatoes with mozzarella and basil, salami and prosciutto, parmesan and provolone,various olives, salmon pate, crackers and bread, figs, melon, grapes, raspberries, and some purchased individual desserts. We Bodins love finger food!

The Cooks

Here's Christina in her new apartment. Being the gourmet cook that she is, she is going to love her new kitchen.

Dolls Now reception

2010-08-06T16:03:00.001-05:00

Last night was the reception for TAODA's Dolls Now! at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

There were over 100 guests present, including my wonderful family. :)

Me and Bob

My beautiful daughters, Rosie and Christina

One of our artists Gwynne Ross brought these cookies to the reception with the TAODA logo on them. Aren't they great? :)

You're Invited.....

2010-07-30T06:00:00.001-05:00

....to the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists show at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

Art Dolls

2010-07-27T18:14:00.001-05:00

While in Chicago I was able to stop by the NIADA show and sale and visit with some of the artists.

Here is the wonderfully talented Leslie Molen with some of her beautiful dolls. These are Story Dolls, the one in front is Seahorse. Their vests open, and inside is printed their story in English and Chinese!

Deb Pope and her wonderful felted creations....

Lesley Keeble with one of her brilliantly detailed dolls

Nancy Wiley has a new book out: Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which is illustrated with photos of Nancy's dolls. Here is Nancy with some of these dolls.

Several Dutch artists were there, including Hennie Koffrie

My good friend and very prolific artist Ankie Daanen.

Here she is with just two of the many wonderful dolls she brought this year.

and my very dear friend Marlaine Verhelst with some spectacular dolls. Here she is with my favorite "Taking Care of Rabbits"

Chicago!

2010-07-26T11:37:00.001-05:00

Last week I was in Chicago for the art doll conventions. We stayed at the Hyatt, and right outside our hotel room window, they were filming the movie Transformers 3. Every now and then we'd hear explosions and so forth.

Wrecked cars and general mayhem!

fires.....

Cars hanging off the bridge

Chicago is a wonderful city. It was our first time there, so Bob and I did some sightseeing. We took a wonderful river boat architecture tour.

Chicago skyline from the river

We went to Millenium Park and the Art Institute on Saturday. This is the Crown Fountain, where they project different faces onto the fountain. This was really cool!

Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean"

We saw several brides on Saturday. :)

The Art Institute was AMAZING!! I can't say enough about it. We couldn't see everything in one afternoon, but we did see the European and Impressionist art. Lots of Renoirs. Here is one of my favorites....

Two Sisters On the Terrace

I even got to do a little genealogical research while we were there. The Newberry Library has one of the few copies of a particular book I was looking for so that was exciting.

The Newberry

Sunday was ODACA Day. That is the annual luncheon and sale for the Original Doll Artists Council of America. I did not have a sales table this year, but I enjoyed visiting with my fellow artists, especially those I only see once a year. There were four new aritsts inducted this year, including TAODA member Theresa May. Congratulations Theresa! That makes eight artist members of TAODA who are also ODACA artists. The presentation at lunch was outstanding. Sarah Russell had a wonderful program on Native American dolls. Unfortunately my camera batteries chose this time to die and I did not get any photos of the luncheon or sale! :( I'm hoping someone can send me some photos.....

A Nice Surprise

2010-07-03T18:03:00.000-05:00

I just got my new issue of Soft Dolls and Animals (Sept. 2010) and have been reading through it the last couple of days. I turned to the last page today and SURPRISE! there was my doll "New Tricks"!

That was a very nice surprise indeed. :) Thank you SDA!

Celebrations!

2010-06-24T18:26:00.000-05:00

We had three days of celebrating at the Bodin house. Sunday was Father's Day so we all went out for brunch - our favorite meal!

Here's Bob next to a huge pan of paella.

The next day was Rosie's birthday.

Presents for the birthday girl.

Three kinds of homemade pizza for the birthday dinner:

artichoke, sundried tomatos and feta;

margherita; smoked salmon and caviar.

Our princess blowing out the candles on her cupcakes.

Tuesday was Sabrina's birthday.

Yes, she is wearing a tiara.

Late Bloomers

2010-05-18T17:12:00.008-05:00

My Easter lilies finally decided to bloom!

Better late than never!

I haven't posted for a month......... but I have several excellent excuses! First of all, I tore a tendon in my pinky finger and aggravated an old shoulder injury.

Also, I've had workmen in my house for the last month. First we had a leak, then two, then three. This meant tearing up the kitchen floor & walls. Once the leaks were fixed we needed carpentry & sheetrock work, painters & flooring people. So I was stuck in the house & couldn't get to the studio.

Horrible old vinyl floor

New linoleum floor made from 100% natural materials - yay!

Feeling terribly unproductive, one day I cleaned the screened porch & repainted the wicker furniture.

I did manage to get a little gardening done as well. We have a fairy garden, which we have kept since the girls were small. We like to keep it planted with flowers and herbs that the fairies (& butterflies) like. Here it is looking kind of bare...

And now, with a few plants added....

It needs some time for things to grow, but we're our way.

Bleeding hearts....

and climbing blue flowers on the trellis behind the bench.

Heliotrope

Bat's faces

Pink Pentas

Lemon zest petunias

Chrysogonum?

Lace flower

With all of this time away I am itching to get back into the studio and work on dolls - I am brimming with ideas!

Pixie Play

2010-04-16T13:53:00.001-05:00

I have been working on a commission piece the last few months. The client wanted a piece similar to "Pixie Capers" .

We talked about the elements she wanted in the piece, which were: 3 pixies wearing acorn cap hats and a tree. "Pixie Capers" has a knothole in the tree. I need to make a similar piece but not a copy, so I decided to make a hollow in this tree, for a hiding place.

The tree form is created from cardboard and wire, covered in felt. Here are the three pixie bodies with the tree.

I thought of making a silk fusion tree. Silk fusion works very well for bark, as in "Every Acorn Has to Fall". But I know she wants a piece very similar to "Pixie Capers", so I went with the needlefelted bark. Here I am beginning to needlefelt. I start with a layer of chiffon, cover it with felt, then add bits of hand dyed scrim and dryer sheets. This process takes several days.......

Adding more layers.......

Adding even more layers.....

Needlefelting from the back "pushes" the chiffon through to the other side, creating an even more textured surface.

I cut the pieces apart, needlefelt them even more to blend, and burn the edges. It's important to do the burning in a well ventilated place.

Now it's time to sew the bark onto the tree form.

This is starting to look like a tree now.

Below are some of the fabrics used on the background of the piece and the pixies' clothing. I mixed up a nice mossy green and dyed these three different fibers in the same dye bath. Now they are drying outside in the sunshine.

It's always fun to see how the different fibers take the dye.

Cotton yarn on the left, silk habotai in the middle, nylon on the right. Isn't it interesting how the cotton is so much greener, and the nylon has more brown in it!

Now it's time to work on the acorn caps. I had a little trouble finding what I needed. The first ones used in "Pixie Capers" were a gift. They were found locally, but not this time. I tried several local sources with no luck. Then I found a place to order some online, which were supposed to be really big but when I received them I was disappointed in their size. I ordered from another source, and this time they were big enough to work.

I need to cut them and remove the acorn inside. I use a dremel tool for this part.

Here is the acorn cap that I just cut. Now I need to scrape the inside so that it will fit my pixie's head......

And here is the cap scraped and ready to become a hat.

Tiny fingers need tiny fingernails.......

The tree is sewn to the embellished background fabric, so that it will be secure.

I use a circular needle. This helps me maneuver around the curve of the tree.

At last, the piece comes together! My task was to create a piece similar to "Pixie Capers" without being a copy. The hollow in the tree is a perfect hiding place for a pixie. If there is a hiding pixie, then they must be playing hide-and-go-seek. To convey the idea of hide-and-go-seek in a small space I came up with the idea of "blind man's bluff". The pixies all wear scarves sewn with silk habotai leaves. The one who is "it" wears his as a blindfold. Here is the finished piece.

I noticed that the colors aren't true in this photo. They seem washed out and over exposed so I took the piece outside to see if I could get truer colors with daylight.

The colors look a little better now.

Below are some detail shots.

Pixie hanging from the tree.

Hiding Pixie

Blindfolded Pixie

Texas City Art Festival

2010-04-12T11:39:00.001-05:00

Saturday night was the opening reception for the Texas City Art Festival. I entered three pieces and one received an honorable mention.

This is "Forest Canticle" which had also won an award in Galveston earlier this year. I'm so glad because she's one of my favorites. :)

Here we are, the 3D category winners. Wouldn't you know I would drop my award at the critical picture taking moment! LOL!

That's my friend and fellow TAODA artist Donna Sims to my left, who won third place. Yay Donna!

My darling daughter Rosie took these pictures. She gave up the chance to go to a Dynamo's soccer game to come with me to the reception. Isn't she sweet? :)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter from our house to yours......

Yes, the Easter Bunny still visits our house!

Spring!

2010-03-27T19:58:00.003-05:00

Last week was Spring Break! My girls and I went to Galveston for a few days - we picked the best ones! You never know what you are going to get with the weather mid March. We had gorgeous weather for the beach. :)

Christina and Sabrina

Christina in the kitchen

Christina's back at UT now. But she'll be home again for Easter - I hope!

Rosie and I went to the Bayou City Art Festival yesterday. Also perfect weather!

There were some interesting performers......

Tree Man

Stilt Walker and Dancer

There was a figurative artist named Joan Rasmussen from Atlanta who allowed me to take a photo of her booth.

This photo doesn't do justice to her work - it's wonderful! See it here:

http://www.joanrasmussen.com

We also found a wonderful fiber artist from New Orleans named Kate Beck. She has the most beautiful shawls and scarves! I had to have one of her scarves......

Here I am wearing my beautiful new hand dyed scarf with flowers

Rosie bought one of her flower hair clips and here it is in her gorgeous curls:

Kate Beck also sells her work through Dutch Alley Artist's Co-op in the French Quarter, New Orleans.

Challenge Piece

2010-03-16T18:05:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday we had the unveiling of the challenge pieces at our TAODA meeting. Here's mine:

The challenge was to create a hanging work, based on or inspired by music. The original inspiration for my piece was "Helplessly Hoping" by Crosby Stills Nash. You'd never guess it by looking at it! It sort of took on a life of its own and went in its own direction. The only thing resembling the song is the harlequin costume. The figure was going to be a man but when I added hair he became a little boy. So my initial title of "Hoping" was not going to work. A couple of artists at the meeting suggested "First Love" and I like that so I've decided to combine the two titles and call it "Hoping: First Love".

The large tree in the foreground, and the trees in the background are made from the gray silk I dyed last week. The face on the tree and the heart faces are paperclay. The boy is cloth with needlesculpted features.

The background was created in a process called confetti landscape quilting.

"Hoping: First Love"

Dyeing Silk

2010-03-04T18:04:00.002-06:00

I dyed silk yesterday for a new project I'm working on. We are doing a "challenge" in TAODA of dolls based on a piece of music. I won't say what mine is until it's completed, but it involves a tree. I've been doing trees lately. I'm actually working on another piece with a tree - a commission - similar to "Pixie Capers", which also has a tree in it. More on that later....

Anyway, the tree for the challenge piece will have bark made of silk tussah. I wanted gray tones for the bark. And I also wanted to dye some silk gauze and habotai at the same time.

Silk gauze is on the upper left, habotai on the right, and tussah roving is in the center at the bottom.

I wanted the silk gauze to be darker, so I put it in the dye bath first.

Then I poured the dye into a plastic tub and added the habotai.

After removing the habotai I added the tussah roving. I poured more dye over some areas so that there would be lighter and darker shades of gray within the roving.

It was a sunny day so I took everything outside to dry. There is my dog Sabrina in the background.

Here is Sabrina in "her" chair, keeping an eye on things. You can see from the picture of the drying silk that practically everything in my yard is dead. Everything except the pansies. Thank goodness for pansies. :)

And now, the lovely gray silk:

Next step, silk fusion.

Happy Belated.........

2010-02-22T13:20:00.002-06:00

I had been without a computer for about a week so I didn't get to post last week about Valentine's Day or Mardi Gras.
So I'm doing it now anyway - better late than never! Here is our Valentine breakfast:

Lox and bagels and yummy cupcakes get a thumbs up from hubby!

Two days later was Fat Tuesday, so of course we had a King's Cake.

Here it is before the baby was hidden inside.

Tradition says that finding the baby is good luck. Bob got the baby with the very first slice. Laissez les bons temps rouler - Let the good times roll!

Our youngest came home from college last weekend, so of course that was also a celebration!

Bob and our darling daughters

Vintage Valentine

2010-02-08T17:12:00.005-06:00

I've been going through old photos lately and came across this one of me as a little girl. I've hardly changed a bit - lol!

I found one of my mother that I especially love. This is her high school graduation picture. When I was a little girl my grandmother had this photo in her bedroom and I thought my mother looked so glamorous!

I have Mom's old charm bracelet, which is a collection of hearts. When she was a girl all the girls had them and they would give each other heart charms with their names or initials engraved on the back, as a token of friendship. I thought it would be fun to wear it as a necklace this Valentine's Day, so I added some ribbon to the clasps so lengthen it.

I also decorated the house this weekend for Valentine's Day. I put a couple of paper dolls on the bookshelf.

"Love Mermaid"

"Secret Sky Angel"

"Heart of My Heart" on the side table

"Love Unmasked" on the mantle

"Valentina" and the Valentine tree

Photos of my Darling Daughters

.....and the front door.

Galveston

2010-02-01T15:02:00.001-06:00

I just got back from another weekend in Galveston. I entered another show there at the Galveston Art League and had two pieces accepted..... and won second place in the 3-d category!

Here I am at the reception. :)

The piece that won second place is "Forest Canticle". My other piece in the show is "Living Waters", the reclining figure next to it.

2010-01-27T10:48:00.002-06:00

"Masquerade"

I just got back from a few days in Galveston, Texas where the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists (TAODA) is having a show titled “Masquerade”. In keeping with the “Masquerade” theme, and since the show will continue through February & the Mardi Gras festivities in Galveston, I brought “The Belle of Mardi Gras” (which is on my website)

and .......

"Mardi Gras Minx", which hangs on the wall.

Our show is at J. Bangle’s Silk Stocking Gallery, on 25th Street at Avenue L. This is an interesting gallery. It was originally built c. 1912 as a grocery store. It’s in the Silk Stocking Historical District, so named because it was home to Galveston’s prominent families at the turn of the last century. The homes are grand old Victorians, with gingerbread trim.

Here are a few shots of the opening reception.....

As you can see from these two photos, many of the pieces are hanging. Art dolls are usually meant to stand on pedestals, but we've found that pedestals are sometimes in short supply at galleries so we have begun creating work designed to hang on the wall, in addition to our pedestal pieces.

This one is looking from the outside through one of the front windows.

to be continued......

Janet