Paper dolls continued...

I'm almost done with my block-printed "paper dolls" project.


Before I went to Julie Arkell's workshop in France, I drew an illustration of two toddlers making snow angels. From that illustration, I made some "block-printed paper dolls" of the children. My goal was to experiment...to make stitches into the paper and add more media to them.

This is what I brought with me to the workshop. At this point, I had only carved a block print (outlines of children) and then printed them on top of collaged paper and acrylic paint.


At the workshop I added fabric to some of the girls' hats and made suffolk puffs (little fabric flowers) for the hats, stitched yarn into the girls' coat collars, made pom-poms for the top of the baby's snowsuit, and glued ribbon onto some of the coats.


Here's the lot of paper dolls as of today. They are cut out and are fulyl clothed. Now all they need is a background. I knit mittens for most of the baby dolls, stitched seed beads into the girls's jackets, added more of the same things I added during the workshop, and lastly, painted their faces with watercolors.

Handmade gifts

There's nothing quite as special as receiving a gift that was made from a friend. I met Diane Foster at the Julie Arkell workshop in France. She lives in Manchester, England. Diane knows how to make just about everything. She takes workshops of all kinds whenever she gets a chance.

She calls the little glass and silver bobbles "dobbers". She even made one for Mabel but I've decided to keep if for myself. The pictures behind the glass are hard to see in my photograph but they are really crystal clear. There's one of Mabel and a suffolk puff I made in the workshop. There are even surprises on the backsides. I asked her how she made it and she said she soldered two flower arrangement glass drops together with lead free solder (with silver content).

The necklace has a great weight to it. I think I might never take it off...

A fairy in my studio

I noticed Samantha Bryan's mixed media sculpture when I was looking at an exhibit that included Julie's Arkell paper mache figures. Samantha also lives in West Yorkshire, England. I immediately fell in love with her fairies. My family got this fairy for me for my birthday. This piece is titled, "Brain's Pre-flight stretch fairy" and on the base it reads "Participating in pre-flight stretching procedures."

Mabel's birthday

Mabel celebrated her first birthday in style on Monday. She had her very own cake which she ate too quickly...

Advance copy

One of the most exciting times in the process of making a book is when the advance copy arrives in the mail. It's always a big surprise for me because I'm not expecting it and I'm usually immersed in another project. Today Miles To Go was in my mailbox. The illustrations were done in a completely new style with block prints and lots of different media. So I was eager to see how the illustrations came out in print. Miles will be in stores in mid October.

Julie Arkell

I just got back from a fabulous workshop led by Julie Arkell, a contemporary folk artist who works in papier mache and mixed media.




Julie Arkell lives in London, but she taught this class at Les Soeurs Anglaises (LSA) in South West France. LSA runs an eclectic mix of short courses in textiles, creative writing, and dance. I wanted to learn more about stitching into my illustrations so when I found this workshop I jumped at the opportunity. I got my sister to go with me, which wasn't really hard to do. I love Julie's art and so appreciate her aesthetic sensibility.

While I was at LSA, I was only able to work on a few of my illustrations, but Julie offered suggested some great ideas.


Julie introduced a few sewing projects during the workshop: charm bracelets, suffolk puffs, and fabric flowers. Everyone in the workshop (13) applied their own creativity to each one. Here is some of their work.








I didn't get that much done on the projects...I'm not a very good sewer. But I did love doing it and plan on doing more. I started three necklaces for my girls by crocheting necklaces and then finished them soon after I got home.



I took tons of photos while I was there. It was so hard deciding which to upload...but here's a sampling. Enjoy.

The setting was stunning.







LSA had just completed "the Barn" where our workshop was held. My bedroom was inside there too.


This is the view from my room...


And this is a view from the outside of my bedroom door. We sewed, stitched, and created at these tables for four days.



Every meal was delicious. We ate surrounded by beautiful gardens.




On the 4th of July, Julie Arkell dressed up and we all went out for a terrific dinner at Mimosa Cuisine.




Best of all, I made some great new friends.

Away from the Studio

Too many distractions have kept me from getting a lot of work done. At the end of the year, my girls have a lot going on: exams, special projects, concerts, plays, softball playoffs (I even got to play in one). I've spent more time in the kitchen baking for school events than I have at my drawing table. I've easily made over 100 chocolate chip cookies.

Plus, my beloved bulldog, Mabel, who was diagnosed with Epilepsy in early Spring doesn't suffer from seizures it turns out, but from an abnormal, "inverted" corkscrew tail. Now she needs to have surgery on the 21st. We felt very sorry for Mabel, so we thought she deserved a special treat.




But no more excuses. And I have done some work. Here are preliminary sketch for the second EllRay chapter book, No Way EllRay. I like the one with the robber mask better, but I'm Viking's not convinced.







I just got comments back from Amy, the book designer from Candlewick, on my thumbnail sketches and text layout for Miss Mingo 3. Amy has worked on all of my books to date. She is amazingly talented and comes up with such great ideas. I've got to start sketching and I need to work on the text some more. But at least now I've got a starting point.

I've also created some images for a workshop I am taking later this month with a fabulous British folk artist named Julie Arkell. The workshop is on "Mixed textiles: Knitting, Crocheting, and Collecting". It's being held at Les Soeurs Anglaises in France. I'd like to stitch into my paper illustrations and add different media.