miniature artist studio

After months with tons of exciting work, I have finally gotten to play with a little art just for me. I am back at the Dollhouse Project and still experimenting!

In March I taught at the Inkpad in NYC and one of the attendees was a fellow miniature friend and artist that I "met" on twitter.

When she came to take my workshop, Ketsia brought the most lovely and amazing gift! A mini studio complete with easel and painted up side table. Mini canvas, mini sketch book, tubes of paint and mini paint brushes all that she had made herself. Her attention to detail was astounding! I was beside myself with her generosity and I couldn't wait to do a dollhouse piece with her amazing minis!

Be sure to also check out Ketsia's blog where she hosts Miniature Mondays! She even has a once a month mini club which I am so jealous! What fun would that be!

Here's Betty inside the dollhouse creating an artwork in her little studio! here you can see some of Ketsia's amazing minis!

And because I have had this idea in my head for a long time -- I experimented with drawing my own environment. I wanted to keep the background white with just line drawing. I really like the look but have to experiment more to get the  photography better. It needed a lot of editing in Photoshop to get the whites clean! Maybe time for a better camera! !

Thank you again Ketsia for your wonderful gift of minis!

illustration friday: toy

Here's my entry for this weeks illustration friday theme of "toy"

When I saw the word for this week was toy, right away I thought of my dollhouse project. While most think of dollhouses as toys I am using one as a vehicle for my illustrations. And now I am addicted! I get to play with dollhouses and create illustrations. It's my fantasy combo!

It all started with a simple little dollhouse... here's our late Stanley cat checking out the dollhouse when I first got it put together. I could always count on little Stan to be my helper with any project! (RIP Stanley - we miss you!)

 
First,  I create a little figure out of paint, paper etc and add a little line drawing on top....

Then I stage the shot and take the final photo, touch up in Photoshop (here I added the pattern to the bag in PS)

I have been so busy lately working on assignments that I haven't gotten to play with the dollhouse project as much as I would like. But I am itching to get back to it soon!

Have a great weekend everyone!

illustration friday: dusty

I've posted this before but these dollhouse artworks fit so well for this weeks  illustration friday theme of  "dusty" I had to post again!

For this piece Betty is vacuuming and of course the kitty runs beneath the "dusty" bed as soon as the vacuum comes out! Our Mabel cat was the model for this kitty.

I can't wait to get back and play with more dollhouse project artworks. The past few weeks have been so busy I haven't had much play time!

have a great weekend everyone!

wishing you a merry christmas!

It's down to last minute Christmas preparations at Betty's. Here she's putting the finishing touches on her retro-fabulous tree!

I think this piece also works well as my entry for this weeks illustration friday theme of "winter."  Nothing makes you feel more cozy about the cold days of winter than a brightly light Christmas tree and presents!!


I had fun making the tree for this dollhouse project piece and I even figured out how to light it with teeny weeny battery operated cake lights! (patting myself on the back)


Wishing everyone who celebrates a Merry Christmas! See you next week!

happy thanksgiving!

A little illustration I made .... Thanksgiving Day in just 4 easy steps!

 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

illustration friday: sneaky

Happy Friday! Here's my illustration friday entry for this week! I used this weeks' theme of "sneaky" as a chance to experiment with another piece for my dollhouse project!

For this illustration I wanted to illustrate "sneaky" but also do it in a sequence of images. This is another step as I practice my way to working up the nerve and stamina to do a whole graphic novel (or more like graphic "booklet") about my character. I haven't worked with squencing images since I was a sophomore in college in illustration class so it was fun to play around with thinking of images in this way.


The last few of my dollhouse illustrations I have used my own face (with retro hair added!). I decided that if I want Betty to have a range of expressions I am going to need to take my own photos and my face happens to be handy and with me all the time. It seems to be working out.

have a great weekend everyone!! 

illustration friday: burning

Happy Friday! Here's my illustration friday entry for this week! I used this weeks' theme of "burning" as a chance to experiment with another piece for my dollhouse project!

Have a great weekend everyone!

happy halloween!!

Wishing you a very Happy Halloween weekend with another illustration from my dollhouse project!

I took the photo for this using late afternoon lighting and I love the "yellow afternoon glow" effect. I dressed my main character Betty up as Dorothy, ready to hand candy out to the neighborhood kids.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween weekend! I'll be away all next week attending a business convention. So see you in early November! (I can't believe it's November already!)

just desserts

Last Saturday I took a class at a Miniature Show in Tysons taught by Patricia Wehmeier.  I was there with my friends Amy and Leslie and Leslie's sweet daughter (happy birthday Sylvan!)

It was so much fun! We made these teeny weeny desserts all day long and I had another excuse to experiment with my dollhouse project! We also learned some great tips!  Did you know that moisturizer will remove colored polymer clay stains from your hands? I didn't!

 
So here's my dollhouse character, Betty with just a small portion of the desserts we made: ice cream sundaes, cupcakes, chocolate bunnies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies etc. We also made the mini napkins, place mats and napkin rings.

I think when I get around to writing + photographing the story of Betty that she will be terrible at everything domestic except baking. That way I can make all these fun sweets for her! Who knows ... maybe she will open up a Sweet Shop!

illustration friday: racing

I'm working with my dollhouse project again for this week's  illustration friday theme of  "racing"  

I don't know about you but when I go to the grocery store I am always racing around like a mad woman trying to get out of there and home as fast as possible. Groceries flying everywhere as soon as I am in the door. Grocery shopping is my least favorite thing to do!

So for this theme of "racing" I have my dollhouse character racing home from the store just like I do! 

What's really fun experimenting with this 3-d way of working, is that I get to play with perspective in a way that isn't as immediate with my 2-d collages. 

for #1 the camera angle is from below the figure

for #2 the camera angle above the figure. 

My photography wasn't perfect on these because I was "racing" to finish, but still had a great time playing with different perspectives.  

Paul already weighed in and he says #2 with camera up high .....which angle do you like best?

have a great weekend!

illustration friday: spooky

I'm working with my dollhouse project again for this week's  illustration friday theme of  "spooky" 

then I created this version with my main character at a window....

and because everything looks spookier in black and white...

Have a great weekend everyone!

illustration friday: beneath

I'm working with my dollhouse project again for this week's  illustration friday theme of  "beneath"

Still playing with my character, next challenge is to give her different expressions. I have to figure out how I am going to go about that.  Photoshop with definitely be involved!
 

For this piece Betty is vacuuming and of course the kitty runs beneath the bed as soon as the vacuum comes out! Our Mabel cat was the model for this kitty.

Here I am playing with a closeup and testing out the macro function on my camera. Not sure which one is my favorite the close up or the full photo image. I like them both!

have a great weekend everyone!

more dollhouse project

I'm still having fun playing with my Dollhouse Project. Here's my latest:

You may notice I am using the same cute gal in all the compositions. That's because I have a master plan of creating a graphic novel of sorts with her ... so I am testing out my main character. So far I think she's going to work!

Now to really start developing the story! I bought this book to help loosen up my rusty creative writing muscles. Of course when I bought it I had grand plans of writing each morning for an hour. ha! that hasn't happened yet with all the travel I've been doing. I'll let you know how I like it once I get started.

happy anniversary!

Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary to my wonderful husband Paul!

I can't believe it has been nine years already! Thank you for being such a patient, incredible husband and friend. Thank you for taking such good care of me every single day! Without you, I would be living on microwave popcorn and cereal ;)


I love you so much!

our suitcases are packed!

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, Paul and I will be loading up the car along with Maggie doggie for a 14-something hour drive to Orlando FL. Our friend will be here holding down the fort and taking care of the kitties so we won't have to worry about Stan and Mabel!

We'll be spending our trip visiting family and catching up, I haven't been down to Orlando and seen everyone since January. WAY too long!

I'll be updating via Twitter as we travel and while we're away and I'll be back in the studio on Sept 13th! Have a great Labor Day weekend!

illustration friday: atmosphere

I wanted to work on my dollhouse project idea and blend that with Illustration Friday so here's my submission for this weeks illustration friday theme of "atmosphere"

I created two versions, first in color.....

Then in black and white...

the "atmosphere" of a piece really changes when you convert it to black and white :)

This is my first test of photographing my drawings in the Dollhouse along with 3-d elements. I am excited about it for a first try. I managed to light the fridge up using these lights. They are battery operated and you just twist the end and they light up. Twist the other way and they turn off. I want to try making a little lamp base + shade around this light. In any case it worked great for this picture and the cool lighting it gives off feels very much like fridge light.

I do need to get a better camera. this one is a Kodak 12 megapixel, I notice it's grainy when I zoom in on the image. Any suggestions for a camera? For my purposes a point and shoot would be preferred but with an image I could enlarge up to 11x14 or 16x20 if possible.

Happy Friday!

new dollhouse project

I've had an idea that had been on the back burner for almost 2 years and finally I am acting on it. The idea is to create a dollhouse environment combining my little drawings along with miniatures, then photograph the scenes to develop a picture storybook. And if all goes as planned some stop motion animation too!

I have no idea how this will turn out but I am excited to have a project that will be purely experimental and just for me.

I searched for dollhouses on Craigslist hoping to find a used one. But there wasn't anything that fit what I had in mind. I'm still on the lookout for old dollhouse furniture that is 1/12 scale, so if you have some you don't want let me know!

After much searching I decided on this house from HomeDepot:

It said it on the package that it was easy to put together but I needed help... Maggie decided she would lend a paw!

Here it is all together!

and here's the inside:

I would like to figure out how to install electric so that I can add little lights. First I need to figure out how involved that is. But I'm ready to give a shot!

Working on putting the house together brought back many happy dollhouse memories and crafty projects of making miniature things. I forgot how much I love miniatures!

I remember my Barbie Dream House that I got when I was about 6. My Dad put it together which took hours and hours. I was so excited! I created my own fireplace for that house using a Jello box and covering it in tiny pebbles ( it was 1980 - stone fireplaces were all the rage). That Barbie Dream House inspired a lot of crafts!

About the same time we had a neighbor who had an old dollhouse that she wanted refurbished. My mom volunteered me and I worked away wallpapering, redoing the floors and having a blast!

Here's to my new project and for exploring creative ideas just for fun!