The Imaginarium Team on Etsy

Proud to announce: i'm on The Imaginarium Team on Etsy! --And so eager to dig in and get acquainted!! Team Leader Priscilla http://www.readbetweenlines.etsy.com/ very graciously included one of my new reliquary pieces in a new 'all-Imaginarium' team treasury... check it out here!

More updates soon to come; i'm so inspired by the talent on this Team!!

Be It Ever So Humble...

My Etsy shop is still a fledgling thing, and i'm just starting to dip my profile into the more communal aspects of this shopkeepers' social media hybird thing known as Etsy; namely the Teams. I've recently joined three: the EMT EtsyMudTeam, BeautifulDreamers OOAK Art Dolls, and AnthropomorphicOnEtsy. The EtsyMudTeam has launched, thru one of its leaders, a collective where I, as an Etsy shop owner, can mark certain of my items for donation, whereupon all proceeds of that item's sale (minus PayPal fees and shipping costs) go to the Leach Pottery's Japan Relief efforts.

I've personally experienced some comparatively minor flooding in years past, and i know what it is to walk back into a house filled with mud and mold and ruined family heirlooms and start picking up the pieces. But when i watch the ongoing devastation of the poor people of Japan, just as with Katrina's victims, I'm horrified. The loss is so massive, it overwhelms me.

Because I currently live in a warm, dry home for which i'm grateful every day, I'm donating 100% of the sale of all my little birdhouse ornaments to this relief effort; please check them out, and if you've a warm, safe home you're grateful for, consider buying one of these birdhouses, offered individually or in sets, as a reminder of your connection to all those whose homes were swept away by the earthquake/tsunami in Japan earlier this month. And if my little birdhouse ornaments aren't your thing, please check out the EMT's other donated pieces. They're beautiful, every one.

While one purchase, by itself, will not fix everything, i do know firsthand that recovery from devastation of any size is incremental, and every little bit helps. Please pass these links along to your friends and family, colleagues and associates. You can also donate directly to the American Red Cross Japan Relief Fund here. Thank you.

Fellow Anthropomorphiac: Beaumont Studios

Just found the blog of a fellow Anthropomorphic Artist on Etsy, artist Olivia Beaumont, whose work i've been admiring for months now. As i'm still a green blogger, i'm putting her button here in a post, and will figure out the "Links I Love" gadget later...



Her work is a fine blend of intellectual arrows and emotional targets and i'll admit right now that i'm a bit envious of both her mind and her talent. Brava, Ms. Beaumont!

The Year of the Rabbit: ‘Quiet, Positive & Inspiring’

According to the authors of Chinese astrology, today officially inaugurates the Year of the Rabbit, which is, according to an article I just read, “significantly less stormy than the [Tiger year] we just endured. Chinese astrologers are projecting quiet, positive and inspiring things to come.” Sounds good to me: just the recipe for heightened creativity, and I’ve got a lot planned.

Right now I’m working up a whole new group of anthropomorphic busts; everything from mice to March Hares; frogs to birds. Plus, I’m beginning a new direction: exotic creatures from other countries; a Tarsier from the Phillippines, an Aye-Aye from Madagascar, and a Jerboa from Africa, all of which I’m very enthused about….but I digress. More on all of that in upcoming posts.

In honor of today being the first day of the Year of the Rabbit, I’m sharing one of last season’s delightful and unforseen collaborations: meet here my White Rabbit (#4), an uncostumed doll from my Etsy shop’s ‘Destash’ collection purchased by a fellow Estian, talented artist in her own right and a delight to collaborate with. She asked me, immediately upon purchasing the White Rabbit, to come up with some costume sketches, and when she couldn’t decide which one she liked best, kindly commissioned me to make them all (in the midst of another collaboration we were already engaged in!! How lucky am I?) Look for more Rabbits from me in the coming weeks, of all sizes, colors and provenance.

Catch Up!

Well, things got really busy over at my Etsy shop from my last post in September, and stayed busy right up thru a long holiday hiatus with my family. So now it’s time to ramp up the blogging; lots to catch up on, and lots of new projects on the worktable…

“William, Goat of Win” scampered halfway ‘round the world to Australia, taking up residence with a lovely and talented collector/costumier there, and (thru her kindred colleagues) prompted several more goats, and a cat, as well as some interesting spins on custom ordered finishes for a few destash items already in my shop. Over the next several weeks, look for updates with pictures of each of these pieces and some words from their collectors, who’ve collaborated with me from afar, by costuming them with a finesse that’s just astonished and delighted me!! (And if you’re inspired, drop by my Etsy shop, hit that “Request Custom Item” button and start one of your own!!)

For today, meet Rascal: a Boston Terrier pet portrait commissioned by one of my oldest friends for his niece for Christmas. He was a secret right up until the holiday, so he never made it onto my Etsy shop…

Rascal is a beloved pet, apparently the subject of great doting from her; she dresses him up and takes him with her everywhere .

I did him as a puppy-boy, with two costumes: one as a mischievous scamp in a heathered sweater that has a two-pointed hood on the back for his ears, and one as a ‘little Lord Fauntleroy’ type, complete with lace collar and cuffs. I had great fun with this piece, and word from my friend’s Christmas gala was that Rascal was a ‘big hit.’ So I’m pleased to share him here.

For a glimpse at pet portraits from years gone by, during my years in Nashville, see the link to my Flickr page on the right margin of this blog. As we sit cocooned in all our snow up here in NYC, i plot my Spring lineup, replete with rabbits, eggs, and perhaps some more exotic creatures, like tarsiers, jerboas, and aye-ayes... [oh my-my...]

Happy New Year, Everybody.

William, Goat of Win

Meet William, Goat of Win, my first "Alchemy" custom order on Etsy.

I am very excited about him, and a little anxious: William is the first anthropomorphic figure i've ever worked on that will be completed by another person. He represents a new wave of offerings on my Etsy shop: custom-made parts for dolls, figures, maquettes, etc. Process photos coming up next!!

Singerie for August

Good grief, it's AUGUST already!! July went by in a blur of greenhorn Photoshoppery and digging through old stashes of stuff while i build inventory for the next kiln firing. In a basket of dog busts created for my pet portrait promotions a few years back, i found a few more chimps; a mother and two babies, and one of a very few "Bleu Monkeys" that i got a little crazy for after my initial "Imogene Experience."

Now, once upon a time there was a huge demand in 17th century French culture for any kind of dressed up monkey, and they even had a name for it: Singerie. Usually miniature in scale, and dressed in period costume, they were often depicted in clandestined little vignettes doing things naughty, frivolous, and generally human. In fact, i daresay that L. Frank Baum's minions for the Wicked Witch of the West could've flown right through some reference to them before flocking onto the pages of The Wizard of Oz --albeit no longer miniature in scale. They weren't blue in color in the French version; but their "blueness" was of a cultural hue that could've been a subconscious riff in Baum's turn-of-the-century moral psyche... in my humble opinion.

To further complicate matters, i became aware of a fable --perhaps from India or Tibet?-- i'm no longer sure of the provenance of the story, so if someone can illuminate, by all means, dig in! It goes something like this:

There was an old emperor who, in his isolated dotage, married a young bride whom he adored, but who died suddenly and mysteriously, leaving the emperor in a paroxysm of grief. He was inconsolable, and sought the counsel of his most trusted advisor, who simply said to him, "It matters not what you do, sire, as long as you do not pursue the blue monkeys." Astonishment gave way to curiosity, and then to obsession, and the emperor decided that he could not resist the very thought of such enigmatic creatures, and set off on journey after journey, discovering worlds of wonder and making alliances in every culture, in an attempt to learn what he could about the elusive blue monkeys, but no one knew where to find them.

Decades went by, and the now ancient emperor who, in the course of his searching had encountered many great things which enriched the lives of his subjects, finally lay dying, unfulfilled in his quest. Defeated and exhausted, he called his trusted advisor to his side to unburden himself of this final disappointment.

"You were right to advise me not to seek the blue monkeys," he said, "for i have failed most miserably in finding them even though it was my keenest objective over these last many years since my wife died." And the counselor smiled, "Ah, but sire, your disobedience has been my greatest achievement. For i knew you would go seeking them the moment i put the thought of blue monkeys into your head. Forgive me, but it matters not in the least whether or not you found them; i knew that the pursuit of them would save you from the grief that was consuming you when your young bride passed away from this life. --That you had more to accomplish in this world."

"And so you have," the counselor continued, "and so your 'failure' is the boon of your loyal subjects. See how our culture has blossomed in the wake of your diplomacy and courage! See how our children are educated about the worlds beyond our city walls!! See how people smile even at strangers, all because of blue monkeys that you could not find!! Sire, you are the greatest emperor this land has ever known."

But his praise fell on deaf ears: the emperor had slipped away in the midst of the counselor's absolution, to join his patient bride in Heaven, amid a sweeping, whooping crowd of eager blue monkeys.

I love that story. And so my dilemma remains as it was when i left off with these little faces a few years ago, which kind ARE they??? Are they naughty 'monkey tricks' or agents of divine guidance?