Moon Child-I hope you change your mind...

Ta Da! I think Ive fallen in love with this one, and I don't know how i will part with her, but I will never the less :)
Once again...she is coiled, I used cotton yarn, which i dyed last year...this ball in particular went into the dye bath tied up too tightly, so it dyed in different tones, from very dark blue...down to a pale, nearly white blue.
Again, her hair is marino wool, just stitched on to the actual face, and then the braid running across, is stitched in as well. Found star and heart...not sure where they came from originally...but the heart is a locket, which is fully functioning :)
And feathers...you have to have feathers:)

I painted on her lips because she looked a bit cross...and gave her eyeliner and mascara...so...

Now she looks really pretty :)


XXX

The Brave Heart

I think, really and truly...only certain people get these...they are pretty mad to say the least about them...but also, not blowing my own trumpet, I think they are pretty amazing too:)
I think they challenge people. Dad came into my room last night when I was painting the lips onto 'the key to my heart' and he didn't even say anything for a while, he just stood beside me and smiled. But he smiled in a good way...in an 'i can appreciate how much time and effort went into that' kind of way. And he held it, and examined it...and said that he liked it...etc.
And you'd be surprised the type of people who 'get' things like this...they come from all walks...young, old...etc. But its also interesting watching people interact with them as well...Some people will go over and be all up for it, and then a friend, or boyfriend, or mother gives them a look and they instantly change their mind...isn't it funny how easily influenced some people are. It makes me really happy that im not.

I think she is really sweet...even if she wasn't worn as a broach...who's to say you couldn't put a little slid clip on the back and wear her as a little head piece...or frame her and place her somewhere in your home...or add  her onto a bag... I think people are scared of things that are different...they cant see how you can normalize something, if the situation calls for it...or do the opposite...make it totally ironic and nuts all together...
I hope 'brave heart' finds someone lovely on saturday to go home with. She deserves that i think :)

x

Coiling is tedious...but lovely

This is the first of an unknown amount of 'doll faced' broaches...

This little cutie has been given a facelift, literally. I wish i had taken a pick of what she used to look like. But, yes, this one is for me, for keeps:) I think she's really sweet, and Im naming her 'the key to my heart'...get it...get it? :) She covers my palm completely, that gives you an idea of the scale. And i have used coiling for the blue base...which is so time consuming, but worth it i think...her hair is marino wool...i drew on the black of her eye...and the heart and key came off a necklace i bought off jane years ago, which i never ever wear :( Im going to put her on my coat, me thinks:)

So tomorrow, should be lots of fun:) Im long overdue a sewing day with jane:) And i really enjoyed making this little girl, cant wait to make more tomorrow!!!!

I wouldn't like me, if I met me

Hope, the end.

Hope part two - the funny ones ;)

Hope part one - the ones that break my heart in two

these are just a selection, of ones that brought tears from my eyes. Thank you to those who took the time to write to me, i really appreciate it.

'this thing that breaks my heart in two'

pen, pencil, promarker on 90g paper

teach me up close

there is something about his face...i don't know if he is angry or sad...if he's shouting or crying...if he is fighting or giving up...but i love his little face...whatever it is that he is doing...

im looking at this, like it isn't even mine.
there is so much tension, i can barely stand it.

Basic Space

He is just so close...so so close...but he holds still, knowing that with one finger, he could crush her.

Teach me gently how to breathe

Pencil, pen, promarker on 90g paper

Girl and Bear

Thank you Jane for inspiring the layout...I think its nice to see them clustered together...but they are nice on their own as well...like your own work xxx
I like my bed spread in the background...its girly and dreamy ^------^

Im feeling warm and fuzzy looking at these...its coming back, I dare say...and I think this may develop into a much more 'worked' body of drawings/painting/sculptures/films etc...oooo so excited!!!

'It will be ok' is defo my favorite of these...the bear is beautiful, I wish he would come to life and keep me company.

I tried, with 'Hide and Seek' to put them into a place...set them somewhere...but when I looked at it again, i realized that I actually didn't like it. And I can say that now...I can say 'I like things floating on the page....I like the scale being totally off...I like how naive and simple they are...I like them'
I can breathe again...I don't have to justify, or explain or stand up for them...because they are just for me and if someone else likes them...great...but right now, that isn't my concern. Im just enjoying drawing, for the first time in YEARS...because there is no pressure...and no one is looking over my shoulder, asking what Im at, or, telling me that what Im doing is rubbish...
Right now, it doesn't matter if they are rubbish.
I love them
They make me happy...

deep breath.......

I feel like Im getting my strength back
It feels good....
So so good......

Hide and Seek

Pencil, Pen and Promarker on 90g paper

Numb

Pencil, pen and pro marker on 90g paper

it will be ok

Pencil and letraset promarkers on 90g paper

Downpatrick Head, Mayo

What a beautiful part of the world...

There is such hope in the photo...

but such darkness

Like everything

We wouldnt know what light was, if there was no darkness...

And how could we ever feel happy...if we never felt sad?

Today

I am going to draw something...if it kills me

Breathe

sonia rollo

*WOW*

Oh golly gosh
I dont think I have ever been so inspired or so moved, possibly in my life
 *Cirque Trottola*
In Westport, as part of the Westport Arts Festival...
Me and Jane went after our stint babysitting the show that we are both in, in the Hastings garage...

• Tiny tent, for starters...something you would see at electric picnic
• No pictures or video, or food or drink allowed...Jane and I came to the conclusion that those things just distract you from the performance, from the experience...so much time we spend documenting everything. I dont even feel like i was at Tegan and Sara because I spent so much time behind my camera...
• It was a French circus...everyone was v french...
• The women ushers had little red clip on tiny top hats on...short turned up jeans...and they kept talking back and forth over the 'stage' organiseing where people should sit...
• There were people from all walks of life there...young, old, artsy, middle class, upper class, lower class...hippys, goths, preps...you name it...it was so interesting to look into the crowd and see everyone's personal stories on their faces
• 3 performers...one, tall, bearded and frumpy looking, hunched over, the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked deranged, like an escapee mental convict...like an alcoholic...a funtioning one at that tho...he opened the show my dragging himself into the centre...the music was in time to his movements...screeching violin bows on plates...it was so poetic and moving...oh my god the tension...i was about to pass out...
• The second...a woman, who looked more like a 12 year old boy...with a fiercely frightened but energetic face...her hair was deep pink, nearly red...and stood out like a hedgehogs spikes...her boyish clothes were fitted...there was not a bit on her...she was so so toned...the muscles and veins in her arms and legs...an amazing little body...so strong...she made all these tiny expressions with her face...so subtle, but alot like things that siobhan would do :)
• The last, was another man...he was slimmer in appearance then the first...lighter too...his clothes were loose...he looked very smart...with a hat on, and a jacket. 
• There was amazing chemistry between the first two...it was trust...tension, love, hate...awkwardness...frustration...understanding...so much was left totally unsaid...they gave you so much space for your own thoughts and ideas to come in and colour in everything...fill in between the lines...
• The music was so atmospheric
• Floating piano......up a ladder...bellowed little piano on the ground...the two musicians were at opposite corners...the chemistry between them alone, took my breath away...they were using the bows of violins on plates...old violins that squeeked in all the right ways...oh, jesus the music alone was worth every penny...
• It was all so physical...but not in the predictable way that circuses usually are...it was so clever and understated and humble...they looked like...like it was effortless...like they were breathing...there was so much heart in it....
• my favorite bit was when the thinish man came out with this very big old style sweeping brush, and he balanced a tapered ladder on the flat bit of wood, where the bristles are attached...then the woman came out with like a spotlight, which she attached to the bottom rung of the ladder...the lights were dimmed and she descretely put on a simple waist belt/harness thing...and then proceded to climb the ladder...while it was balanced on the sweeping brush. The light cast a shadow of her on the roof top...and I couldnt help but think of 'hope'...my piece in the festival...how it changes depending on the light outside...the darkness to light...And i dont know, something came over me...i was so so moved...this ladder to no where...and her climbing it, trusting that it was being counter balanced by the man holding the broom handle...so much trust and tension and darkness and light...little tears ran down my cheeks...

Thats what art is though...its something that moves you. it touches a central nerve. it taps into something deep within you. you might not even know what it means to you, or what it is really trying to say...what its intention is, but it speaks to you anyway...and you feel something...it moves you, like the ocean waves, pushing and pulling at your body as you walk into the water, a force that you cant really understand, but you cant stop either...it takes you out of yourself...so you feel things that you mite not have been able to otherwise...you think of things that you mite not have thought about...it just...art...or what i think art is...i think it has a higher purpose then to look nice on your wall at home...or in a gallery...thats all well and good...but good art, real art comes home in your mind and stays with you for days...it grows in your heart and makes a nest inside you...it doesnt care if you buy it for your wall, because it has already moved in and made a home inside you...and it wants to be with you because it knows how much you need it...and it needs you to love it and be remembered and grow itself and become something else and change and develope...

• any way...that little art rant pep talk is over now ^_^
• so yeh...amazing...balanced dress on broom as well and danced with that...it actually looked like it was a ghost...i nearly fell off my seat
• trapeze stunts which were nerve rackingly beautiful and intense...and funny....

It was amazing...and im so happy that i had the oppourtunity to go and be inspired. i feel so full.
I feel like ive eaten a big dinner...if my stomach was in my heart.
I havent get like this is so long
Its because their work came from the heart. And it was amazeing.

Bear Heart

I had a dream that a bear was holding my heart

It was a nice dream

He was a cute bear

:)

Tangled

Heart Attack

Hope is all this and more to come

Ignore all that came before

This is the fresh start.