when your art looks back at you

We have been busy working on a collection that we are hoping to start showing this winter.

Yes…we discovered a new canvas for jeff’s masking tape art technique

---gently used, abandoned dolls.

Not sure why, but to me, winter seems like the perfect season to introduce these upcycled, homeless toys.

Maybe they remind me of the toys from the Island of Misfit Toys etched into my psyche when I was little and watched Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer every year.

I’ve certainly enjoyed them huddled around our studio these last couple of months,

…and taking photos of them.

Their faces have a way of capturing my attention, and distracting me from my work.

Faces aren’t new to jeff’s work though.

Here’s something that I don’t think I’ve ever told you about Jeff: he is a ‘people person’ like no one I’ve ever known. I believe the energy he receives from interacting with people feeds the core of his soul.

I imagine that is why he likes to create faces so much

---the interaction you have with art that looks straight back at you is on a different level than any other.

Perhaps that is why some of the most famous paintings are portraits--- like Mona Lisa, Girl with the Pearl Earring, or one of my favorites---The Helping Hand by Emile Renouf.

 

 
This little butterfly art doll hangs in our etsy shop now and is the first to be offered for sale from our new collection.

Our day of the dead art bottle has just been listed here, in time for the celebrated and beloved Mexican holiday, “Día de los Muertos”. Whenever I see it, I smile about as big as it’s smiling itself, right back at me. :-)

Another thing that makes me smile? …this animated short, I recently came across.

(¡Viva Calaca! Day of the Dead from Ritxi Ostáriz on Vimeo.
Created in 2008. ¡Viva Calaca! is an animation project by Ritxi Ostáriz (http://www.ritxiostariz.com) based on the Mexican Day of the Dead. Direction, illustration and animation by Ritxi Ostáriz. Music by the American artist, Voltaire.)

 

However you intend to greet the end of October, I hope it is as celebratory and full of good times as this charming and creative video is.

cheers,
~dale