Playing with Dolls

Today's speaker at our monthly Guild meeting has been playing with dolls for a long time.  Kathryn Walmsley brought a wonderful selection of the dolls she's made over the years.  Included were the original doll she made when she was a child as well as quite a few of the dolls she's made recently.

Kathryn with her display of Mixed Media Figurative Sculptures

She uses a variety of techniques and materials, including polymer clay, paper clay and resin over an armature to develop the main body. She then will craft the clothing and other items needed to create a truly fanciful figure.  The artistry in her work is breathtaking and these pictures don't do them justice.  Her web site (follow the link attached to her name) has much better pictures of her work where you can really see the facial features and the skilled treatment of her subject.

She made the statement early in her presentation that most of her sculptures contain a message but it's up to the viewer to determine the content of the message.

Look at how expressive the faces are - and how beautifully painted.  She mentioned that she uses primarily paints from the local hobby stores but uses them as washes (with water mixed in) rather than straight from the bottle. 

Which came first...the chicken or the egg?

Queen Sweep - created during the time frame when Kathryn was closing down the studio she had operated in Oldenburg for 17 years.  In addition to clearing the clutter on the floor, the top of her head opens up so you can see the ideas swirling around inside for future projects.  How clever is that!

 Then on to our UFO update and Show and Tell. Here are just a few of the many quilts that have been completed recently.

Carol showed this gorgeous quilt top done in batiks.  She'd had it for several years and said she finally decided the batiks were too beautiful to be left languishing in the closet forever. 

Susan probably takes the cake for the oldest UFO completed recently.  What you may not be able to tell is that each square is stuffed with batting so it's a very puffy quilt.  She finished it quite nicely with a white lacy edges that will hang down on the sides of the bed.

Later in the day I took a walk around my neighborhood.  It was a lovely Spring day with the trees blooming.

Another case where the picture doesn't do the tree justice.  They're all over town and they are gorgeous.

Cheers!
Margaret