New Look, New Feel, NEW WEBSITE!!!!

Yes, we’ve  MOVED.  While we are still unpacking boxes on the new site we do invite you to change your bookmarks NOW. UrbanWildflowerDolls has a new home. This site will no longer be upated.  Please visit the new website and blog for updates, pictures and everything else going on in the world of UrbanWildflower Dolls.  We so appreciate all of the support you have given us over the last year.   Peace and Blessings, Deborah

COMING SOON!!!

Hi there.  While the site has been quiet I have definitely been busy.  Within the next few weeks I will be launching my new website: graysonstudios.com and a new blog. I am SO excited. It’s been a long time coming but CHANGE is almost here!!!  The site will be more robust with beautiful new look AND a way to purchase my work.  Thank you so much for your support!

PEace and BLeSSings,

Deborah

Where I Work Part II

Thanks to everyone for all of their thoughful comments and suggestions about my work space.  Where I work is truly an evolving aspect of my creative life.  I am always moving tables around etc. to find how I work.  Now that I am doing more screen printing and printmaking in general I find that I really have to be organized.  I definitely don’t want to get ink on other work in progress!  Here are a few more pictures of my space.  Today I plan to go to the studio to work on new patterns that I drew over the holiday.  I will let you know how it goes.  Peace. Deborah

Where I Work Part 1

Studio Wall

Wall of Dolls

I love to look at where people work.  Karoda’s journey to design her studio inspired me to get my work space in order.  My studio is a fairly good size. It’s somewhat of a wreck right now because I am working hard ona quilt I plan to enter in a show.  So take a look. Normally I would make things super tidy for company but I think y’all will understand.

Old Candy Storage case I that I found in an antique store.

Keeping it Simple in 09

Two heads sculpted from Hanes Beefy Tees!

Head sculpted from air dry clay

So I mentioned in my last post that I would list my 09 goals.  I gave it some thought and came up with a short list . Mostly, I have decided to continue on the path I set for myself in 2008.  I am very pleased with the direction I am finally moving toward.  For a while it seemed like I was stuck in a rut.  I think I spent so much time teaching and demoing that I left no time for learning and exploring. Toward the end of the summer I tried to shake things up.  Despite their continued popularity I quit making the same style of doll over and over again.  I began to explore new media: printmaking (especially monotype and paper lithography), clay, I went back to painting in acrylic and watercolor, and I did a wonderful workshop in encaustics.  I also added new dimensions in my studio art quilts which has brought me a little success and recognition.  Working in new ways not only helped me to stretch my wings but it also helped me find my passion for dollmaking again. I resurrected some of my old pattern designs but I am doing different things with them now.  I did a little research on the significance of the number nine.  One of the meanings that came up deals with renewal.  Here is to renewed passion for creativity and artmaking. My goals for 2009:

Expand and Explore:

• Continue to work on printmaking techniques.  This year will be the year of screenprinting and monoprints on fabric for me.  I am already signed up for a textile workshop at the Atlanta Printmakers Studio that starts tomorrow!  I cannot WAIT.
• Do more sculpting!  I love sculpting heads, hands and feet for my dolls.  I use fabric and clay to do this.  I feel like I can create much more expressiveness using a combination of materials
• Draw everyday.
• Do more documentation of my work.  I have started do a little more writing about my process in my sketchbooks. I have always written brief notes to  myself about what I did.  I plan to write more about what I was thinking when I began the work.

Many Blessings in 2008

I cannot believe that I am finally writing the last post of the year.  2008 has been a tough year but a year filled with many blessings and lots of HOPE.  As has been my practice for the last few  years I create two end of the year posts: my wins (what I was able to accomplish for the year) and my goals (what I hope to accomplish in the new year.

Here is a select list of my wins for 2008:

• I completed 80% of the goals I set for this year.  I am okay with this but as the Gospel song says I want to make 100 because 99 just won’t do.
• I participated in SEVEN shows this year. I met so many wonderful folks.  I love you all.  I was especially excited to work with Ms. Gwen Hubbard and Ms. Lewis from That’s Entertainment Children’s Theatre Company. The children in this group are fabulous and extremely talented. I had the honor of having my dolls and quilts featured in their Christmas production: “All I Ever Wanted.”
• I took more risks and continue to move in new directions with my work.  I am EXCITED about this.

Next post: 2009 goals.

Time to GROW

Have you ever worked in a style so long that you looked up and found that you no longer felt inspired by your own work? During the spring I felt that I was sliding into a funky rut in my work. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work. It’s just that I knew that I could not continue to do the same thing. The next few posts will cover some of the new directions my work is taking. The Afro Puff rag dolls won’t go away. They are just taking a break for a bit while mama develops a few new friends for them to play with. Here are a few of the rag dolls I made earlier this summer.

Pink and Orange toGEther

Getting Ready for this weekend’s meeting

Greetings doll lovers. For those of you who will be attending the bi-monthly meeting of the Atlanta Doll Guild we have a fun meeting planned. We will be focused on sculpting and painting heads. Here are the supplies you need:

SUPPLY LIST

stuffing,stuffing tool,scissors, hand quilting thread, long 2 1/4″ – 3″ needle, a mechanical or regular pencil. gel pen (white and any additional colors), Berol colored pencils, pigment fabric pens, pencil

Mickey will bring a head for everyone to work on.

A big thanks to Martha and Mickey for their willingness to share their skills with the group. Please bring your challenge dolls for show and tell!!

Peace and dollmaking, Deborah

Pictures from our FIRST meeting

Here we are (well some of us) during show and tell at out first doll meeting. We meet *every other month* at Intown Quilters in Decatur. We had a blast talking about our work, what our hopes were for the group and what are projects will be. Click on the Atlanta Doll Guild tab above for a description of our challenge for April.

Our next meeting: Saturday April 19th. Hope to see you there. PEACE and Dollmaking.

A BIG THANK YOU to Cookie for taking the pictures last month and for taking the time to send them to me. THANKS Cookie!

We mEt!

Greetings all.  The first meeting of the Atlanta Doll Guild took place last Saturday at Intown Quilters in Decatur, GA. I believe it is fair to say that a good time was had by all.  Jocelyn, Mickey, Angela, Martha, Jeanette, Cookie and Carol are a dynamic and multi-talented.  For now we have chosen to keep things pretty informal.  We will participate in group challenges, teach each other special tips and tricks as they pertain to our doll art and just regularly come together to fulfill our love of everything related to art and dolls. 

We have even agreed to our first group challenge: creative pancake dolls (see challenge section for more details).  Focus for April meeting: face sculpting and painting

See you in April!