Welcome to the Dollhouse!

Since I've been telling you a fairy tale recently, I think it's time to show you a few glimpses of fairy tales come to life.

Like an undersea grotto where a mermaid uses a bubble for a baby crib...

... or a treehouse with a nest for a bed (Girls are allowed, really. That sign's just for show.)...

... or maybe a fantastical kitchen where the sun literally bursts through the window.

All these and more are in the new book [cue the drumroll....]:

Mixed-Media Dollhouses! Now available for pre-order, don'tcha know.

This baby is the result of nearly four years of dreaming and super-secret hard work. Tally invited me to participate right at a time when I was feeling pretty down about my art. Talk about a pick-me-up... You know how you can feel an idea uncurling in your brain? It was like that in the beginning, as Tally and Julie set up a Yahoo! group for us to discuss how to make the dollhouses. We created seven themed houses in all, each made of altered cigar box "rooms." Each artist chose a room in each house, like the kitchen, attic, bedroom, etc. (On the book's cover, my treehouse "bedroom" is on the left, second from the ground.)

Besides Tally, Julie and me, you'll recognize some names of the other contributors: Kelly Snelling, Deryn Mentock, Gale Blair of Paper Whimsy, Mary Haldeman, Debrina Pratt, Theresa mARTin, Caryl Hoobler of Caryl's Realm, Paula Dion and Lupe Padilla. (Dang, that's like a whole day's worth of links to peruse.)

The book will hit Barnes & Noble shelves on March 1st. More to come in the weeks ahead -- and if you're coming to Artfest this year, Tally and I might even be able to show you the book in person!

The Crab Claw, finale

Dang, but it's been busy around my castle. I haven't forgotten you, though. Here's the finale, after the recap:

 

Once there was a girl who was born with a crab claw where her right hand should have been. At first no one seemed to notice the claw itself, but they did notice what it clung to: words, hair, other people. As she grew, her clutch turned into an iron grip. Then one day, as the girl sat on a riverbank dangling her claw moodily in the water, the claw clamped on a stone and became stuck between two larger stones. The girl screamed and tried to wrench her claw free, but she was trapped. Finally the girl noticed she could free herself if she just opened her claw and wiggled it the right way. It...

As they say in the Grimm's Fairy Tales: My story's done, the tale is won. Or something like that. Tell me a story... what's the fairy tale you've been telling yourself recently?

The Crab Claw, part 5

Okay, just slipping today's bit in at the last minute.
The story thus far:

Once there was a girl who was born with a crab claw where her right hand should have been. At first, no one seemed to notice the claw itself, but they did notice what it clung to: words, hair, other people. As she grew, her clutch turned into an iron grip. Then one day, as the girl sat on a riverbank dangling her clock moodily in the water, the claw clamped on a stone and became stuck between two larger stones. The girl screamed and tried to wrench her claw free, but she...

... It what?! What did it do?!

Tomorrow, chickadees. It's bed time.

No parking on pain of eternal hellfire

Found this on 13th Ave. in Seattle. The homeowner really, really doesn't want anyone parking here.

Speaking of eternal torment, I promise I'll end your suffering and post the new installment of The Crab Claw tonight.

The Crab Claw, part 3 & 4

I have decided to take mercy on your poor readin' souls. Today, you get parts three and four -- that's right, two in one day!

The recap:
Once there was a girl who was born with a crab claw where her right hand should have been. At first, no one seemed to notice the claw itself, but they did notice what it clung to: words, hair, other people. As she grew, her clutch turned..."... on what? What?!"
"... but she what?! Tell us!"

Oh, this is so much fun.
See the glossy swirls in the paper? I'd tried sealing the paper as I usually do, with matte medium and surprise! the medium takes away the gloss. Turns out gloss gel medium is what's needed.The bread bag clips I used for these close-up ATCs were about twice as large as the usual. I think I picked them up two summers ago at the company picnic; they were holding the institutional-size packs of hot dog and hamburger buns. I must've picked up about fifteen of the regular and jumbo clips off the ground before I started feeling like I was scavenging in someone's garbage and stopped.

Tomorrow: we delve further into our heroine's peril, and await her rescue.

The Crab Claw, part 2

You were so patient! Glad to have you back. And hi, new followers: Janine, JBird and Lisa! Check out their respective blogs after today's installment of "The Crab Claw."

The story thus far:
Once there was a girl who was born with a crab claw where her right hand should have been. At first, no one seemed to notice the claw itself, but they did notice what it clung to: words, hair, other people. As she grew, her clutch turned...

Bwahahaha! Tomorrow, darlings, tomorrow.

I finally figured out the skin colors on the last try, and kept reworking the color. Hopefully stapling this page into my notebook will keep me from reinventing the (color) wheel. Again.
I started painting the highlights first with Medium Flesh (Apple Barrel). The lips are Flesh, which seems to be darker.I mixed Medium Flesh and Burnt Sienna (Golden) for the shadows at the eyes, around the mouth and hairline. Indian Yellow Hue came next. It's translucent, more like a smear unless you load it on, but I thinned it with a little water anyway.
Finally, I did a few coats of slightly watered-down Burnt Sienna (Golden), which I mopped up with a tissue (and dried with a heat gun between coats). I think I scumbled the brush a bit to help blend the edges. The hair is Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue, which produces a soft black.
I also sanded and painted the crab pincers all at the same time, so the shapes and colors would be uniform. Which was especially important for the next four cards... that you'll see in the coming days.

The Crab Claw, part 1

Siddown, kids. It's fairy tale time.

Remember how we were talking about telling yourself a fairy tale in which you decide what the ending should be? I wrote one for the Artfest book of ATCs I'm working on. I decided to spread the love over seven ATCs, so if you stick around you'll be able to read the whole story. It starts like this:

"... seemed to what?! Finish the sentence!"

No. Not gonna. Not 'til tomorrow, anyhow.

Because the claw had to be baby-sized for this ATC, I sanded down a bread bag clip to the bare essentials, painted an undercoat of black, then painted two or three colors over that. Tricky, but not impossible.

The paintover method I learned from Lisa Bebi is both fun and challenging, especially when painting skin tones on a person of color. If this were a white baby, I could probably get away with either or both of these:But, um, the paint companies don't make "African American flesh"-- good God, what a horrible thought. Makes me think of Strange Fruit -- so I use these colors:
From one or two colors, to eight to ten, depending. Can't just add soft white to burnt umber to get the color I want. Otherwise the skin looks flat, like I used wall paint or something. Remember my first attempts?
And if you're trying to paint a chocolate-skinned person, for example, the person comes out looking like they're wearing blackface. Whoops.
So this little pumpkin's skin is the result of experimenting on another, larger photo I used on the next ATC. Bwahahaha... now you have to come back to find out more.

Once, there was...

"Fairy tales" are the theme for this year's Artfest, and I'm continually surprised at how flexible this idea is. It's dovetailing nicely into archetypes and ideas I'm trying to realize.
I'm making ATCs for the swap Bee Shay is putting together, after having a great time doing the swap for AF 2008. Some of the ATCs will be snippets of a fairy tale I wrote for the occasion. I got the idea from a speaker I heard this past summer, who made a marvelous suggestion about letting go of old ideas about yourself.

You know how fairy tales begin, "Once upon a time..." or "Once there was a boy/girl/donkey/bear/bird..."? Tell yourself a story about yourself, beginning with the phrase "Once there was a..."The speaker pointed out that a sentence beginning that way could imply "once this was true, but it isn't anymore." Which is pretty hopeful: Just because you've struggled with a particular failing does not mean you'll always have to drag it around.

The Light of Winter, day 19

I'm sorry to let you down by not having posted a photo every day for these Light of Winter prompts, but today begins a new year. So let's move forward... by moving a little backward.

LK suggested this for the first day of the new year:

What are the truths you want to carry forward into this new year? Skip the resolutions unless they speak to more of the same and the true. Affirm what was right, what was good, what was real, what you enjoyed- dig up those images from this past year.
This is my signpost for the moment: the tarot card that symbolizes times when I've felt like I was doing everything right, at the time it needed to be done. More of that belief in myself, please: more certainty in these uncertain times.