Filling In the Blanks

It all started with a thrift store find.  I am not sure why I drifted into one of our local shops, but I remember being intrigued by what I could do with this tricycle.  The tag said $8.99.  I know that is not expensive but when it may sit on the shelf for an undetermined amount of time I have to decide which

purchases are worth the price.  If I didn't my house would be full of wonderful, sometimes useless, fascinating only to me, items for my craft. I walked away. I can't remember if anything else caught my eye that afternoon but I came home with the trike.

And there it sat, occasionally being pushed around, captivating me with the movement of the peddles.  Knowing this motion was going to be part of the art, I just had to be patient for the rest of the story to fall into place.

Now enters the bedraggled bride doll mentioned in the last post.  There was nothing pretty about her, dirty dress, hair askew, a little too tall, but she was rescued all the same.  As with the clown who came home with her, she was immediately stripped down to her porcelain.  While her proportions were off when dressed, she could now transform into her own.  After the agreeable meeting between Mrs. Bride and the tricycle, all fell into place.  My first objective was to get her shoes to move in a way that had her peddling.  As per my method, a lot of repetitive moving of the respective parts trying to come up with a solution.  In other words I pushed the trike around a lot, watching and figuring.  Springs were the answer, connecting them from the wheel upright to her shoe.  They work perfectly.

  

I'm not sure if there was ever a thought of her having a body but as the piece progressed I loved the openness, leaving the eye to fill the missing parts. Her head and balloons sway a bit when pushed, and with the addition of the peddling, this creates a small movement that flows throughout the piece. My heart sings when I play with it.

My 4yr old niece was inspecting, and moving Mrs. Trike around and in this little sweet voice...

Niece:  She doesn't have any arms

Me:      No

Niece:  She doesn't have any legs

Me:      No, I made her that way.  I like the way she moves without them

She gave it another good look over, smiled and said OK. 

I hope on some small level it will resonate with her that art can be whatever you want. 

Time has progressed since the start of this blog post, with a few firsts.  We walked the streets of New Orleans, purchased a wonderful painting from a street vendor; kayaked Nickajack lake and watched 50,000 bats fly from their cave to evening feed (it was nothing like the movie The Birds); moved our son's family into their first home.  We also had our granddaughter for a week.  Not a first but we were sure busy with Putt Putt golf, ceramics, cooking, all the fun stuff.

This year we had a wonderful spring, but summer has finally made its hot and sticky way to the South.  But with this comes the lightening bugs, the smell of chicken on the grill and the sounds of outdoor life.  May you enjoy the sweet sun season!

Hilari

 

Taunting

Let's get one thing straight, I do not like clowns.  I know, I know.  Inherently there is nothing wrong with them.  They have brought joy to millions, and up to a point I giggled at their antics but...  I remember the exact moment I lost the warm and fuzzies towards these vile creatures.  I blame it on Steven King and his character Pennywise.  His book "It" was great, enthralling, a real page turner.  The 1990 TV adaptation broke me.  It may have been my life situation overflowing onto the storyline or some latent deep seeded thing from my childhood but after that two-night event I was done with them.

Side note:  I do not take issue with people who enjoy being clowns.  I think it is admirable they want to spread happiness to others.  Do I have friends that are clowns, no, but that is just happenstance not choice.

On to the piece.  As it has been stated in the past, I enjoy a tromp through yard and estate sales. It's the thrill of the find. On this particular Saturday the Estate Sale sign called and I followed the arrows to a large house full of potential goodies.  I perused the driveway selections where a couple of children's chairs showed some potential, then into the heart of the house I entered, the garage.  This is where the odds and ends are places, and tools, ohhh, tools.  It was there I locked eyes with our central character. By his side were five or six porcelain headed dolls and while picking up a poorly dressed bride, considering it my find for the day, the clown said, "Oh, you'll be back". No, thank you all the same and into the rest of the house I went.

My creative juices found nothing else of interest so back to the beginning to ponder over the children's chairs. The only direct route was back through the garage where I was accosted once again by the clown.  He was like a predator with candy to a small child.  Come here little girl...no, I don't want to work with you...Oh, what fun we will have.  Look at my pretty colors, my porcelain skin.  We could do wonders together.  

I took the candy.

Returning home, with the children's chairs, dilapidated bride and clown in tow, I knew my first priority was to execute my authority and disassemble the clown. What remained was the head, hands, shoes and red striped pantaloons, all in pieces on my workbench. My momentary superiority was shattered when he whispered...What are you going to do with me now?.   

 Getting down to business I gathered my wire, tools and a gifted ceiling fan globe.  I elongated his neck area because the piece was not proportional when I simply stuck his head on the base.  Pleased with the look, I added movement using fishing weights connected to a wire dropped into the globe and when the crank is turned his head will slightly tilt/rotate in a creepy kind of way.  His pantaloons were used to cover attachment wires and to introduce a bit of softness compared to the rigidity of the glass and wire.  The mobile was attached simply because I liked it.  He worked up rather quickly, I assume he was trying to make his point.

He now resides in the living room taunting me daily.

Today is Saturday and I am off to see what project I want to delve into... jewelry, embroidery, laundry.  Hum, wonder which will win out.

Peace,

Hilari

 

The Chosen One

Enjoying The Breeze

I have come to realize that as the years pass I am much less inclined to create as winter sets in.  I still make just not with the zest of ideas flowing.  I crochet with gusto but it is usually with others' patterns or my fallback of Granny Square blankets which I donate to an organization called Project Linus.  If you are a blanket maker (crochet, quilter, knitter, fleece, etc...individual or group) in need of producing please check them out.  It seems I homestead in the colder months with the comfortable but this season I am branching out...all the way to embroidery.  I have been enjoying the process shown through online classes and have made 2 books with simple, quirky stitched covers.  At this point, which is very early in my journey, I have grand plans for 2023 Christmas presents.  I sure hope it sticks.

Even though my creative urge is snuggled up in a cozy blanket on the couch for the moment, the sunshine and warmth of the last summer had me going strong.  And with the smell of fresh cut grass this was created. 

This one knew exactly what it was going to be before it even got started.  While helping a friend load her firewood bin I picked up the next piece to be stacked and it said "Whoa, slow down, check me out".  Well, who can resist that.  I gave it a good once over, even noticing it had a nice flat bottom so no adjustment would be needed there.  I told it "Yes, you surely are a nice piece of wood".  Again it spoke, " Now that I have your attention here is what I want to be..." and within a week and a half it was complete.  

With the finished concept thrust at me I just had to jump right in and find my starting place. I sanded the front of the wood making sure I left the beautiful cut marks while leaving the back untouched to show off the textured bark. I gathered my chiseling tools and carved out the niche which set the size of the air dried clay figure.  Next I placed the crank at the bottom of the wood because, well, that was where I was told to put it.  When this is engaged the thin wire makes the body's legs kick around.  

Another creative end game was thrust upon me during the same time, making metal mobiles. More about that later, but with it came about the haze of clouds lazily floating over his head.  After all was completed as asked, or rather demanded, I added my own touch of the bright yellow flower.  With this I knew it was finished.

Each spring our city has a month-long Dogwood Arts Festival which, as it sounds, is a celebration of nature, both natural and gardens, and the arts.  I am happy to say that this piece was chosen out of 415 judged entries to be one of 45 displayed in the downtown gallery. It was very exciting to see it out in the wild being shared with others.

With being just past the middle of February we are well on our way to spring. Happy Early Pre-Spring to all.

Hilari