Audacity on her way home

Audacity---a boldness

This doll is certainly holding up to her name.

Audacity came to me with so much,

after being with so many artists,

that it was difficult to know what to do.

I began to think of Atlantis and her origins.

Queen Audacity is strong,

comes from a strong woman (Gail),

and needs more of the power of what comes from the ocean...

the starfish wisdom,

the pearl trident,

and the abalone power.

For added beauty she received some hair embellishments of

 sari ribbon and sari yarn

 to match her face and crown.

The starfish covers her heart and represents regeneration,

moon magic, beauty, and tidal movement.

Abalone shells are revered by ancient tribes as magical gifts from the sea. 

They stimulate fertility of ind and body, improving self-image and physical power.

She has a shell on her back for protection.

Does Atlantis exist?  Some think it does.

Mermaids and Mermen (the merfolk) were once warriors

and Queen Audacity still holds the power of the pearl trident.

Are we decendents of the people of Atlantis?

So many unknowns...

I also added a turquoise disc earring,

a sharktooth embellishment,

eyelashes to the octopus base, and

green eyelash yarn to her hair and

another pearl to a shell on her coral reef.

                                                                                   

    Audacity returns home soon.

Enjoyed working on Audacity.

Enjoy her Gail!

Yvonne

Anneelaw in south Texas

Anneelaw arrived and I was blown away by her uniqueness.

It was very challenging working on her.

She had already been to many great artists,

so it was difficult to come up with an idea

on what to add to this "lady of the lamp".

Here is a front view with all her additions so far.

This view shows the ribbons I added to her hair.

This photo shows her scissors charm and the round beaded charm

on her wrist.  She has another round beaded charm just like this

around her neck.

Added to her glass body is a fabric flower with a bead in the center.

The fabric flower has old lace added to it.

Two keys were added as embellishments.

One has the word LIFE on it,

and the other has faux diamonds on it.

Her journal pages were fun to create.

This first page has a photo of her with a ribbon.

It's hard to see the words on the ribbon, in the photo, but it says

"Some things a lady doesn't tell."

I think Mae West said that.

There is a song called Lady of the Lamp, sung by Donovan.

I added the lyrics on this page.

There are two more journal pages,

one of which lists the additions Anneelaw got while visiting me.

These are all of my additions....

1. button and ribbon on journal box to help open box

along with beaded fringe on front of box

2. round beaded embellishments to neck and wrist

3. scissors charm to wrist

4. two key charms

5. purple fringe arouond neck

6. fabric flower

7. nose stud

8. ribbons to crystal hair

It has been a joy to work on Anneelaw!

Yvonne

Onoma's gender revealed!

Onoma is a very interesting doll that Arlee created.

Onoma has such energy coming from her.

I figured Onoma was a female

 because it seems she is well endowed already

and if male her name would have been

Onomo with an o at the end. 

In many languages

the 'a' or the 'o' signify gender.

Weird I know, but that's my story.

Onoma needed some more color,

so she got eyelids made of turquoise teardrop stone beads.

I also gave her a metal mouth,

made from the end of a measuring tape.

I just bent it into shape to fit her face.

Onoma has been traveling all winter,

and we had some unusual freezes

here in south Texas, when she arrived.

To keep her warm, I made her a rabbit fur cape.

The cape is painted blue underneath,

along with spirals and other symbols.

Unbeknown to her,

 these symbols

signify where she came from.

The cape has a Tagua nut button for a closure.

The little apron in front has an

energy symbol painted on it.

I also added a blue/black feather to her dreadlock type hair.

The journal Arlee made is very cool.

I added her new face photo along with spirals

all around her, and

a quote from Aristotle....

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life."

The page on the right are some of her thoughts...

I will not worry about my unknown past or from where I came

I will shape the clay of my life into what I wish it to be

I walk alone with my shadow on the edge of the precipice

This I am today.

The next journal page on the left is her energy symbol.

The journal page on the right

was one I added to the journal

from some of my graffiti background pages.

I told of my contributions,

signed and dated it.

Onoma continues on her year long journey.

Gail in North Carolina is the next contributing artist.

Yvonne

The Prince

When Prince Charming arrived

he had just received a torso.

He really needed a head,

and I thought a frog prince

was much more interesting than

a handsome prince.

So, I created a polymer clay

face that was inspired by

Native Frog masks

This photo shows the back view.

He is pretty tall now,

about 16 1/2 inches.

I attached the head using a dowel rod

I inserted that

goes from inside his torso

to inside his new head.

The Frog Prince has acrylic eyes.

The 'frog pearls'

are part of his headdress.

It is made from an old earring.

The hat is made from my own marbled fabric,

with feather embellishments on one side.

His hair is long and is made from nubby yarn.

Right side

Left side with fleur-de-lis royalty tattoo.

Legend has it that Venus,

the Goddess of love and beauty loved the Prince.

But she was very jealous of all others.

She presented him with the frog pearls,

magical virtues to help others,

and frog wisdom,

Now he would remain

a frog prince forever.

Robyn made a great scroll type journal
and below is what I added to his journal.

What will life bring the new

Frog Prince?

Yvonne

Lady S. receives arm and more

Lady S arrived in south Tx.

with some amazing additions already.

I added the following...

feathers to her beautifully done wings (by Amy),

a right arm covered in vintage fabric,

a long horse hair braid,

feathers and beads to her hair

a poncho with a vintage button on the front

 (the poncho holds up her wings btw),

brown and copper paint on her body,

The braid is intertwined with a sheer purple ribbon.

This pic above shows the beautiful colors of her wings.

The Isis necklace that Amy gave her is now wrapped around

a recycled sari yarn collar.

I also aged the necklace with a bit of paint.

Lady S. is transforming,

as her journal explains.

She has arrived in Egypt

and the year is 1922.

Is it all a dream?

Where is her father?

Did the Horus mask she purchased

put some sort of spell on her?

Egypt is a land of great mystery.

As she catches a glimpse of herself

in a reflection,

she realizes then,

that this is NOT a dream.

What happens next?

Lady S. travels to Gail in North Carolina

to continue her story,

and for more additions.

Yvonne

in South Texas

Serenity's First Stop

Serenity came to me with just a head and torso,

 from her creator Amy in Central Texas.

Serenity is so beautiful,

with such an interesting face.

I just kept thinking of

the Sea of Serenity

on the face of the moon...

Mare Serenitatis

Enjoying the splendor of the full moon

has always been very calming

in my life.

Serenity....

makes me think of..

calm

peace

music

a creative life

a centering line of thought

a study of work

contemplation

with eyes wide open

voices from the past

Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time;

serenity, that nothing is.

by Thomas Szasz

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Center-down

...Quaker saints

To the possession of the self the way is inward

...Plotinus

The cell of self-knowledge is the stall in which the pilgrim must be reborn

...St. Catherine of Siena

The crane symbolizes peace.

The Moon Shell,

a gift from the sea,

 says 'solitude'

and in solitude there is

serenity.

Everyone needs some time alone

to find the peace and serenity within them,

especially when there is chaos all around you.

Mano Poderosa...

a labyrinth shaped like a hand,

derives from the ancient times as a sign of

magical protection and benediction.

Walk the labyrinth for

serenity.

Some additions...

hair

vintage lace head wrap with beads

faux diamond on nose

moon shell

pearled polymer clay moon face cabochon

to forehead

man in the moon earring

long horsehair pony tail,

representing travel

in Native American culture

additions listed in journal

Old dictionary page

 showing definition for serenity.

Last journal page...

watercolor of Serenity

on dictionary page.

I truly enjoyed working on

Serenity.

Soon she will be traveling on

to the second stop in her year long journey...

to North Carolina with Gail.

Yvonne

Raisa's Art Journal

The journal I made for Raisa's journey

is an altered book.

For the front cover

I created a window cut out,

did some stenciling,

added fabric paper in and around the window,

added real flower petals, vintage jewelry,

metal letters, and a pressed leaf.

I made a book mark using black velvet ribbon,

and added a key for weight.

The key says 'memory'.

 When you open the altered book

you see black and white collage

with embellishments added.

If you look closely at the keyhole

you may see someone looking back at you!

The next page is collage

with black stitching around the edge.

The words say...

So many people

were shut up tight

 inside themselves

like boxes.

This photo is an example of what my collaged pages

looked like beforehand.

I have 7 sets of these in the rest of the journal

for the other artists to work on.

I glued many pages together

 to create thicker 'pages'

 throughout the altered book.

They can add pages to these if they wish

to have more than one set of pages.

I expect the journal will be quite full

and artistic when it returns to me in a year.

I know they will use their imaginations.

This shows the back of the journal.

Very simple, with some simple stenciling on it.

Now  my journal and my doll start Raisa

will be mailed tomorrow to Gail in North Carolina.

I am excited to see what Gaill will add to it all.

I am also excited to receive a doll start in the rotation.

WhooHoo....

here we go!

Yvonne

Soaring

Meet Raisa.....

...or the beginnings of her anyway.

This little 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch

petit point box

jumped out at me at a junk shop up in Dallas,

(and for the right price too!)

I thought....

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to use this for a doll body!"

 (This project requires a 'journal start' and a "doll start".)

This photo above shows the box open.

The possibilities for the other 6 artists are enormous!

(This photo shows the origins of Raisa.....)

I had two little angel dolls given to me.

They were in bad shape.

So I ripped the stuffed

(stuffed with what? I have no clue) 

cloth head off of one,

took the ratty hair off,

gessoed it (just one coat) 

and now it is a blank canvas

for the project artists down the road.

Below is a side view....

Now, I just want to say....

just because I used an angel head,

and a petit point box

does not mean this doll will end up "cute".

I hope it doesn't.  (hint,hint)

But, it is out of my control,

because Raisa will be heading off

to Gail in North Carolina soon,

and then on for the rest of her journey

around the U.S. and Canada.

Raisa still needs a journal to take with her.

I am in the process of creating

an altered book journal.

Photos coming soon.

 I am really trying to do something different creatively,

trying something new,

in this 2010 project.

Thanks Gail,

for asking me to be a part of it.

I wanted to share this quote

which I relate to my creativity....

"You can't cling to the old nest

and soar to the flowering branches

 at the same time."

-----Tama Kieves

Savor the Day!

YVONNE

(in Texas)