Art Dolls by Du Buh Du Designs

Olé!

Dolls (sisters) in the works

 I didn't get as much done this week as I had hoped but did spend a lot of time learning or should I say re-learning about painting with acrylics. I dusted off some of my old art books( along with books on works by the masters) after I got fed up with having to twice sand off the face of one of my dolls.
 As I mentioned before I am not a painter ~in fact painting was my least favorite art class in college and I struggled with the few I had to take. Which is rather funny now since I actually paint my dolls.
These two sisters are the results of just letting go and experimenting with a looser painting style which is even trickier than getting skin and features smoothed out. This was the first time in awhile where I got totally lost in the process and I enjoyed it immensely. I look forward to making more dolls like this~lots of texture and expressive brush strokes..



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The Auction of Cigar Box Shrines ends this Tuesday the 31st! If you haven't already viewed or bid on a shrine please visit the Auction site. All proceeds go to help Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots Organization and from what I have heard they could really use financial help at this time. Also I dont know if you knew but quite a few of the Cigar Box shrines were made by students from California~it's wonderful to see other kids wanting to help out other children elsewhere. Please go visit their site to read their artist statements and if you can please bid! Thanks!



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Lastly I came across this video via another blog and thought was worth sharing. It's a talk given by author Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) at the TED Conference this year. It's about twenty minutes long but definitely find time listen to this if you are an artist, writer , musician or other type of creative person.(just mute the music in the right hand column)
Have a fantastic weekend~ I'm off to Portland tomorrow for a little fun!

Welcome Spring..where are you?

One of several dolls (in the works) on my work table

Well this week I was planning on working on a project , but that project's due date changed to May giving me an excuse to Spring Clean . I'm back to making dolls again but was reminded this gray, rainy/snowy Sunday that we're having our taxes done tomorrow. !. So today it looks like I'll be adding receipts and figuring out mileage and all of that detailed fun stuff instead. I kind of wish I could just have a few marathon days strung together where I could get some art done. I'm betting that most of you wish the same:)
 I wanted to share a few sites with you. I came across an artist whose work I find wonderfully charming. Her name is Kima (she's a Spanish artist living in Greece) and she works primarily in felt .Not only is her work so full of life but the packaging and photography of her work is really well done. The combination of those qualities is what drew me to her work. You can visit Kima's blog for more images and she's having a giveaway as well :)

(all images above © Kup Kup Land)
Another artist you may have seen, if you frequent Etsy often, is Jennifer Morris. She works primarily in clay creating some of the most exquisite jewlery I have ever seen! And if you have visited her Etsy shop you will also know that her product photography is gorgeous. She just set up a separate Etsy shop for her fine art photography and has just launched her blog this week called Spilling Beauty. Head on over and check it out..I suspect her site will become a place where many of you will be making a daily visit~it's quite inspiring~





(all four images above © Jennifer Morris Photography)

Enjoy your first week in Spring everyone~I'll be back sometime next week:)

My great grandmother Emma Irene Kelly (pictured with three of her eight daughters including my grandmother in her lap).

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you!

  I have Irish ancestors on my mothers side who came from both the North and the Republic of Ireland, but truth be told I know very little about them.  Somewhere in our big family there is a history written about that side and I am reminded today that I ought to get ahold of a copy..sooner than later...before it's lost...

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Congrats to fellow Carnival attendee, Miss V...You won a little box of edible carnival treats:) Thanks to all who dropped by and left positive comments and emails! My project was kind of a last minute job but I loved creating different scenes.Expect to see more of that down the road as 3D illustration is something I am really interested in exploring.

Artist  Monica Magness has put out a call to all artists (and non artists) to participate in an art project regarding the issue of the murders of the women of Juarez, Mexico.  The goal is to have as many people as possible to send in an artful "dress" to  Stampington & Company (publishers of Sommerset Studio, Art Doll Quarterly, Artful Blogging, etc.) as a way of calling attention to this dire, ongoing problem. Please visit her site for all of the details and if you feel so inclined , spread the news on your blog and let others know about this project. 

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I'll be working on another upcoming project this week and next week is Spring Break for my husband so you may not be hearing much from me..enjoy your Spring Break!