Good Morning!!

*Gentle Morning*

Hello there! *The Humble Arts* co-operative site has been updated and there are many wondrous goodies to be had!! (I popped in first thing this morning...) *Gentle Morning* is my current offering...I do wish the wonderful textures would show up a bit better!! The colors are slightly muted, but still fairly "true"...

http://www.thehumblearts.com/

And what am I up to this morning??? Wellllll....I am making an Annie doll. I started late last night, and she should be done by the day's end. Annie will be offered in finished and pattern form...and in light of making a pattern for her, I wanted to really offer something~~if not different~~then, "honest", if that makes sense. So, I began by browsing through American Folk Dolls (Wendy Lavitt) & of course, American Rag Dolls, Straight from the Heart (Estelle Patino). By the way, these 2 books are invaluable resources for Folk and Primitive Doll Artists!! Anyhoo...I noticed that the Annies that seemed most "real", most genuine, had a few different things in common...but I was especially drawn to a 1915 picture...now, the hair was brown yarn, but it definitely seems to have a reddish tint...or do I just imagine that because that's what I'm used to? :) And the early dolls seem to always be in some sort of blue dress with white pinny, so mine shall be too...here she is, just a start:

Remember how excited I was to felt those bunnies' features? Well, my Annie's nose and mouth are felted from red wool yarn, same as her hair...and in keeping with wanting a traditional look, I tried to sand off a lot of the staining and give her an old and worn body...she is really, really, wanting her arms, striped legs and black shoes...(they are stuffed & still need sewn to her and painted.) She is sweet, isn't she?

I'll post more pictures as soon as she's done!!

Blessings,

Meg