While browsing Flickr I found these wonderful photos by Kate Phillips. I especially love her 'evidence of fairies' series with a tiny skull, crown and baby dragon! She has a wonderful sensitivity to small things that is endearing... Be sure and see her other wonderful work, including encaustic paintings and essence vessels HERE!
How can one not fall in love with the work of Melanie Bourlon? She captures a delightfully french historical point of view in her Papier-mâché whimsies, that make me smile and wish for more! Just look at those beautiful and intoxicating shoes, delicious cakes and animals ~ dressed in historical finery or benevolently peering at us from afar... all created with such care we cannot help but fall in love! 
Sunday, I had 5 women, a group of friends, take a class in my studio. I thought it would be fun to do a paper theatre where we focus on the characters rather than the background. We used oval boxes for our base, and paper theatre sheets for the backgrounds. I then had them chose 'characters' from paper theatre sheets and needle felt the heads. Costumes were created from bits and pieces of a variety of textured papers. It was like playing with paper dolls again... My vision was dressed animals, or people with animal masks, having a wonderful time in a fancy~ball like atmosphere!!! Didn't they turn out WONDERFUL?!?!
A parade of beautiful FAIRY COACHES were created this weekend at the CASTLE! I love the sense of imagination the students showed. Wouldn't you just love to ride in one of these magical coaches??? WONDERFUL!!!
Barbara Willis, cloth doll maker extroidenaire and good friend recently asked me to contribute a special paper doll to be part of a new book she is working on! I was thrilled about the invitation. Her instructions to me, included a lovely victorian image and the words 'Make Her Pretty'! I immediately thought of THIS DRESS that I created for the Bloglandia Ball! If you know Barbara, you know she takes 'Pretty' very seriously, and she has a true LOVE of anything French! I decided on the sophisticated colour palette of pink, brown and tan, and a theme of Marie Antoinette. After digging through piles of papers, baskets of ribbons and a box of lovely fabrics I pieced together her skirt. The under-layer of a beautiful calligraphy (see last piece to far right, and piece just under her hand pointing down, was completely covered by the time I finished! I hadn't planned on adding the music paper panier, but felt like the skirt needed something to 'hold it together, when I reached that point.
Her blouse was created from a lovely bright pink tie-dyed silk that I had ironed onto fabric. I then added hand-painted silk flower petals for her sleeves, with music paper cuffs. For her hair, I decided to 'needle felt' white wool on top of a piece of white felt. I love the realistic look it gave! I then sewed on the ribbons, trim, and pearls and added feathers on top. The 'Golden Bough was an afterthought... she needed something to hold. I fiddled around with some Dresden antlers and came up with a branch like shape that I liked. The idea of Marie holding court with a Golden Bough in hand appeals to my romantic sensibilities!
This last photo shows the image I started with. THANK YOU Barbara for letting me PLAY with you!!!
Elsita of Elsa Mora is one of the most creative women I know! Born in Cuba and now living in California, she creates from her heart, sharing with us her struggles and successes in life in a prolific stream of artwork! This Monday her Mother, Margot, arrived and Elsita is creating a special book commemorating her visit. With the help of her 6 year old daughter Natalie, and her Mother, they are creating a profoundly beautiful and touching memoir full of wisdom, advice, art and whimsy! Elsita writes about the 'Dream' collage they created together seen above:
"My Mom said that during her whole life her wings have been cut so many times but they always grow back because she never stops dreaming. And here is the translation of what my Mom wrote for Natalie in the little book: Natalie, remember that in order to fly you will first need to learn how to dream. Dreams make our wings grow. Your Grandma Margot."
Be sure and peek HERE to follow along as her 'Blank Book Project' continues! Truly INSPIRING!!!
Here is my sample for the upcoming CASTLE class PAPER CAROUSEL, to be held Monday April 14th! Students will create a 'Woodland Animal Carousel' that spins on a 'lazy susan'. I've used some fabulous vintage hand-colored animal prints that came from Germany, as well as a combination of other paper-theatre images, gold dresden and green metallic crepe paper. The little gold saddles are actually dresden crowns - turned upside down! This should be a wonderful class, and I am already thinking of other 'themes' to use for future Carousel's!!!
For initial inspiration I found this wonderful 'Paper Circus' print-out online! As easy as it looks, it still took me about 2 1/2 hours to cut and assemble, and I didn't like how the spinning interior functions. Great idea, but hard to make it look good. (I'd recommend stiffening all your paper before you cut the pieces out.) Still, if you want to make your own 'Paper Carousel' and can't take my class, THIS is a fun one to try!
I am always thrilled when my students come back to take my classes. But even more thrilling is when they bring in pieces they have created, inspired by past classes, to share with me! Valentines class weekend was no exception, with two of my returning students bringing in wonderful eye-candy!!! The first photo is a wonderful 'window box' paper theatre created by Ingrid of 'An Original by Ingrid' on Etsy. Ingrid has been a student of mine for a few years now, and I've delighted in watching her grow artistically! Her work has been showcased in Somerset Magazines a number of times, and she now sells not only on Etsy but to shops throughout the Bay Area. I love what she created here, a romantic garden scene, with a moss lined path, birds in the trees and music in the air!!!
Nancy, whose work is shown in the next 2 photos, has also been a student of mine, as well as a thoughtful friend and confidant, for a couple of years. She brought in this beautiful 'Japanese' box that she created as a christmas gift. She 'photo-shopped' a variety of images and text to perfection. I absolutely love the inside, with its bold black, white and red text and sweet little Japanese angel!!!
As luck would have it, these two talents spent last weekend side by side while taking my Valentines class at the CASTLE, thats Nancy on the left and Ingrid on the right. They also gifted me with wonderful handmade Valentines - showing how true to heart they both are, with sweet crowned angels as a card from Nancy, and a sachet from Ingrid! THANK YOU and BRAVO GIRLS!!!
