I'm a Finalist! ~ The Reginald Portrait Prize for Softies

I've been keeping a secret, and now I can finally share it with you! 

You may or may not know that I love Dolly Parton, and that I also share a birthday with her. This is my tribute to her, which I very quietly entered into the Centre for Adult Education (CAE) Reginald Softie Portrait Prize, and, which I found out last week, earned me a place in the finals! Hardest week of my life, keeping this incredible honour a secret! 

You can make a huge difference to one of the amazing finalist entries, by voting for your very favourite in the People's Choice Award right here: http://reginald.com.au/vote-for-peoples-prize/ 
 

Scroll right down til you see a grey button marked 'Start Survey'. You will be asked for your name, email address and your favourite softie portrait. It takes less than a minute to enter.

Thank-you in advance for supporting the fine art of softie-making! ♥

 

 

little dollies sweet as lollies ♥

Well hullo there, and a very happy start-of-the-weekend to you!

So, I've been spruiking off for nigh on a year now about dolls and my textiles background. And, after three months of prototyping and experimenting, these little poupées are ready for anything! Each and every one of them is one-of-a-kind (OOAK), developed from my very own pattern and design, and unique in all the world.

Meet Beatrice, wearing her happy jumper and frilly skirt- the perfect outfit for frolicking in the sunshine on a Dry season day.

. . . And Harriet, whose love for all things polka-dots is rivalled only by a weakness for cute shirts and liberty prints!

. . . Katy, inspired of course by rockabilly retro and the lovely Miss Perry.

. . . Daniella, who loves peaches, bunny rabbits and her twin sister Sophie.

 . . . And Sophie, an auburn little rose of a mermy girl, just a few minutes younger than her sister Daniella, her bestest friend in the whole world. 

You can catch these beauties at 'Outside the Square', opening 5.30pm, Friday 6th July, Territory Craft, Darwin.  

If you can't make it, I'll be sewing my little fingers raw making more to share with you here really soon. And, in the meanwhile, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Have a beautiful weekend,

Mel  ♥

♥ sweetheart sale! ♥

Good morning petal cakes!

I hope you're having a beautiful Easter holiday wherever your hearts might roam, and hope that they are warm and full of love and chocolate.

Speaking of hearts, I thought I'd celebrate the last day of Easter by popping my Sewn-Up Sweethearts on sale. These little beauties were $70, now down to a bargain price of $50 each!

Each art doll features a completely hand-drawn face, patchworked head (very neatly machine-embroidered by me), and a wild assortment of found trinkets and charms and handmade beads. They look gorgeous hanging on a bedroom wall or door, and there's a secure hook sewn onto the back of each for just this purpose.

They are very much original works of art in doll form, and I had a lot of fun making these three (their sister, Pomegranita, in a pink colour scheme was the first to go some time ago, so there's only four presently in the world).

I am, I confess, prototyping other wonderful dolls as we speak, and with only so many hours in my days, I'm not sure I'll be making any more of these. Don't wait until it's too late to decide you have to have one! 

All nice things my friends,

Mel x

daisy and dolls

Hullo possums!

Another week is slipping away and I am hard at it on the productivity machine. Thank-you to everyone for your comments on the painting featured in my last post; for the time being I shall distract you with other things and make you wait just a few days longer to see the finished piece!

After many years of attempting to push my sculptural work onto the backburner, I have finally started making dolls again in earnest. I have spent the past 3 years concentrating solidly on developing my drawing and painting skills, but I can no longer ignore just how much I feel inspired and refreshed by the process of bringing my characters to life in 3D form. It almost opens up a whole new compartment in my brain, this conceptualising of a character that can be observed from all angles, and I am very much at the point now where photography is informing the way I see the characters in my drawn and painted work.

As I so often say, experimentation with new ideas might be a time-suck until you manage to hit on what works- and then you run with it! There is no better cure for artistic stagnation than liberating yourself from the sorts of thoughts that restrict your creativity.

Of course, no artist is an island, and we all need a little help and inspiration now and then. Here is a little snippet of what makes me happy right now:

Now that she is getting back to her gorgeous self after 2 weeks of kitty flu and sleepovers at the vets (on fluids- very scary not seeing her eat for four days!), little Daisy is picking fights with my stuffing, trying to eat my buttons, and taking well-deserved naps in my mountains of fabric. Willow is disgusted with us and still thinks Daisy is something to eat, so for the time being there's quite a few restless nights involved in keeping the little one safe from harm and separated from the grumpy bobtail. Daisy rewards us by sleeping on our faces and jumping on any part of our worn-out, cramped old bodies should we decide to move during the night. I wouldn't part with her for the world ♥

Hope there's something warm and snuggly to give a cuddle to where you are,

Mel x