Completing UFOs

Let all the doings of the day float by….Stop doing…just for right now.

- Quote by SARK

Photo Courtesy of Pinterest by Planet Sark

I have a bag of UFOs sitting at the bottom of my closet with all the intentions on finishing them. This was a rather large series with some side projects in between that was abandoned for a variety of reasons. This month, I decided to begin pulling them out, one by one, and completing each of them within a 30 day period.

This month’s project is called "The Resting Angel". She was originally abandoned a long time ago because it didn’t feel right with how she was turning out, despite the many attempts at trying different techniques. Nothing seemed to be working.

My exercise for this month was:

• to finish her
• choose supplies that inspired me at that given point in time with no thinking involved, even if it seemed like they didn't fit with each other
• and getting lost in the process, without regard for the finished project

My end result was to have 1 completed UFO from that bag of "Yet-To-Beings".

Can I tell you how enjoyable that was to just let go? I need to do this more often and stop over-thinking it…stop wanting it to be perfect…good….satisfied...getting frustrated…not happy with how its turning out…forgo how I really want it to come out. To just be surprised in the end. I think that's what its all about. Enjoying the journey. Stop putting so much pressure on ourselves with the SHOULDs in life.

Who really cares? That is not the purpose of this piece or of any piece and really is not even why I create these things. It’s all an exercise of getting lost, letting go and seeing where you end up. 

"The Resting Angel"\

Front View

9" x 6"

Artist: aka Mrs. Art Doll Maker

Some doll makers create beautiful dolls. They inspire me. I would like to create like them. I can create like them. But find, I don’t want to create like them. I let my hands move and my heart dictate what sings to it. Channel. Channel. Channel. That’s it. It’s okay if it’s not good. (Okay, I want it to be good but it’s more important to just create. Everything we make cannot be good. We all must make crap. It’s part of experimenting, evolving, learning, purging and growing. I think some pieces I do turn out well while others are Oh My God. Ouch. I wince to look at it.)

That brings me back to this piece...A lot of people at work have been talking about how crazy busy everything has gotten lately, how much they have to do and how tense and rude people have been. That is what inspired me in this piece and to attach SARK’s quote to the back of it. It’s a reminder to anyone who reads it. At the top of the quote, SARK lists an example of a typical running to-do list: (make more money, laundry, hurry up, bills, lose weight)

Then, the quote continues to remind us to let go of everything and let it all float by, stop doing, just for now. This is why I call this piece “The Resting Angel”. Take a step back and breathe. Let it all go.

"The Resting Angel"

Back View

9" x 6"

Artist: aka Mrs. Art Doll Maker

Materials: colored pencils, fur trim, feathers, clay face, butterfly, ribbon, and a SARK quote.

Its Good To Make Crap

A Doll Is a Piece of a Soul

Photo Courtesy of A Fanciful Twist

Discover what this doll's afternoon adventure is @ 

A Sneaky Art Doll Quarterly Adventure 

"When a piece of art from an artist is bought, it is not just an object. 

It contains hundreds of hours of errors and experimentation, 

years of frustration and moments of joy. 

It is not just a thing but a piece of a heart; 

a piece of a soul; 

a small piece of the artist's life."

-by Rebekah Joy Plett 

as published in A for Artistic: Where Artistic Minds Meet Quarterly eMagazine 

Issue Winter 2015

As I'm making my dolls, I don't know where they come from but sometimes, I step back and see reflections of myself. Although that was never my intention, I recognize a memory, an experience, a personality trait, a physical pain, an emotion that gets translated into this being made from cloth, clay, paints, beads and trim. How it all comes together is a mystery because I'm lost in the process and stop when I hear that inner voice tells me, "Stop". 

Seeds planted from the past that I may not even have ever known were sowed but discover them pushing forward as heads of flowers through deep, rich black soil that feels so alive in my hands when I garden. It smells fresh and rich, ALIVE! I love seeing the brightly colored, new growth peeking through the darkness, growing tall and strong. 

Even though there looks like there was nothing there and now there is, what lies beneath the fertile soil and depths of our soul? Even the crap in our lives acts as fertilizer, making for some fantastic grounds to reap a harvest. But who wants hardship? Pain? I don't. But I do recognize the gifts that can come from them if we allow ourselves to receive. 

Something where there was once nothing. New growth...they are always surprises for me and if I'm expecting my seeds to sprout, I always hurry with anticipation to see the first signs of bright green life peeking through that blackness. It still amazes me how our experiences transform themselves into these things, these objects, what we create from them. 

This one quote generated all these thoughts.

The Influence of Voodoo Dolls in Doll Art and The Tranformation Doll Artists Made

Photo Courtesy of Who Doo Art

Doll artists are a fun group of people. We can take scary subjects and turn them into something playful, quirky, offbeat, and completely different than anything see before? How many other groups can be said to do that? No, we are a very unique bunch and enjoy the luxuries of seeing "other worlds" that are unseen to 

Photo Courtesy of This Next

Kind of like Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who! when Horton discovers a Who and an entire Who Village living on a flower that he's now protecting because no one believes him. No one else can hear or see them, until they focus reeeaaaalll hard.

Apparently, voodoo dolls can also be used for good. There are many ways to make one of these dolls. In fact, one method uses natural items and is identical to the way you make a nature doll or spirit doll, or what I copyrighted as Blessing Dolls. 

I've been wanting to make voodoo dolls for quite some time now but don't like the idea of what they represent. I am not a follower of voodoo and don't know much more than mainstream society's view of them. Apparently, they can also be used for very positi. As a doll artist, I get inspired by many things and those experiences will trigger a doll or series of dolls that I want to create. 

 I see, read and enjoy learning about the different types of dolls made throughout history...for different religions, countries and cultures. I don't care for anything that sends out negative energies to hurt or manipulate someone. (Please note, I am not a connoisseur of voodoo or the dolls and don't know everything they represent. I

This idea of making voodoll dolls hasn't gone away for me but I wanted to put a spin on them...to make them postive, not scary, playful, quirky, odd, unique, something different than your average voodoo doll. 

Lo and behold, other artists have the same idea I do! 

From the very little research I've done, voodoo dolls can also be used for good. See Voodoo Doll. Either way, it still doesn't sit right with me. I don't like the idea of sending negative energies to someone or manipulating them to do what I want. 

learn about Voodoo Dolls

In New Orleans, one voodoll doll shop explains they are used as, "focusing tools...they help us to enrich our lives with love, properity, good health and many other influences."

• Whodoo Art Blogspot (abandoned)  

Photo Courtesy of Wikia

• You Doo Dolls (Cartoon by Fairly Oddparent. These are magical voodoo dolls that fairies were allowed to give to children at one time. However, the practice stopped because they are very dangerous.)

• Who Doo Dolls: Odd Art for Unique People (Etsy shop. My favorite.