Dixie Goes to Auction

A new woodstove in late winter in Maine makes for exciting times!  This past weekend I went to an auction.   I even took my husband's truck, which I'm sure made him nervous.  But I didn't get any big things, mostly smalls.   The dolls started gathering around the woodstove.  Be careful, Paper Doll Izzy! 

Dolls from left to right are by Jackie Hendricks, Elaine McNally,
 Unkown carved doll, Megan Holloway, and an antique Brucker Topsy-Turvy.

Elaine's Izzy is warming her feet. 

The woodstove is either a cast iron doll stove or a salesman's sample.  I'm not sure which.  It has movable and working parts.

I also got this doll sized step-back cupboard.  No idea of the age, probably vintage, but I liked it anyway.

It was such a neat day, I decided to let the creepy dolls I accidentally won in from the cold garage to warm up.

They looked a tiny bit less scary near the woodstove.

Blog Evaluation Day

I visited Eclectically Vintage's blog today and read about her blog goals. Her blog is three months old (and isn't it big for its age?).    It made me think back to when I first started my blog back in 2006.  I just started writing my thoughts down for the public to read.  Oh, my!    If you were to read every entry you can see it ebb and flow just as my life's challenges have.  

When I started writing I didn't know anything about keywords or search engine optimization (SEO).   Truthfully,  I think you can ruin a blog worrying about that stuff too much.  Not that you shouldn't pay attention, but your writing can become stilted and your blog read like a manual if you're too focused on it.  

This blog is about my art so I don't have ads on it.   But I do feature other people's work.  I really like doing that.   I have had ads for a short time on a couple of my other blogs focused on the topic of antique dolls.  It was fine, but not really worth the amount of work that went into it.  

Did I say my other blogs?  Yes, yes, I did.   I have a lot of blogs, but don't post on a lot of them regularly.    When I looked at the list, it was a bit astonishing.  But if I think of them as a wheel, I can see the purpose.   It also shows me some things I need to do with some of the off-shoot blogs. 

Northdixie Designs - my main blog, my art blog, the life blog.  It's the hub of my wheel. The other blogs are spokes of my life.   

Izannah Walker Chronicles - for 5 years I've been studying this type of antique doll intensely.  I write it to share with other doll makers and lovers of Izannah Walker dolls what I've been able to learn and what's going on in the Izaannah world.  Yes, there IS an Izannah world.  

Maida Today - focused on studying antique dolls and making antique inspired dolls.  I started it because I was able to see other antique dolls to write about that didn't fit on the Izannah Walker Chronicles 

Izannah Walker Workshop - the blog that focuses on my Izannah Walker Workshop pattern and how to make an Izannah Walker inspired doll.  

Some Sargents of Maine - a family genealogy blog 

Our House in Pictures - my home improvements "to-do" list.  Not business related, but can lead traffic to my business blog. 

Round World Flat Map - a blog I set up to write about autism.  I pulled the shade on that one, though.  It's too personal.  

Maida Dolls Group - while not a blog, I also lead this group, which is a spin-off from the Maida Today blog.  

I actually have a few more completely inactive blogs which I'm not listing.  Oh, my!

It's important for me to remember my blog is not my business.  Some DIY blogs ARE their business, and they make an income from the ads that are there.  But they didn't all start off as businesses.  Many of them just started off as on-line journals and morphed over time into businesses.

My goals for my blog?

Simplify the design and function. 

Do more focused series.

Keep making art and writing about it.

Keep living life and writing about it.




Wheel and pie charts are great for evaluating all kinds of things. 

Making Cradled Wood Painting Panels

Large cradled wood painting panels are expensive to purchase.   Yes, I wouldn't have to put the time into making it, but since the materials cost $10 it might be worth learning to do.  Especially if you want a very large panel to hang over your fireplace or couch.  I want to make a very large colorful abstract painting with my boys.  Youtube to the rescue!



You can view other videos on Youtube about making cradled painting panels.

Work In Progress

 

It's February school vacation, and in between keeping the offspring happy and engaged, I've been working on these creations.  The Maida Dolls Group is working on a group challenge to make characters from our favorite public domain storybooks.   I'm making a Little Red Riding Hood.  She's inspired a bit by some antique book illustrations, by Izannah Walker, a Superior papier mache doll, and a little bit of antique Alice dolls. 

The Dangers of the Sherwin Williams Chip-it Application

I'm getting traffic from  Apartment Therapy.

I love  Apartment Therapy.  It's a big site that I enjoy reading.  So following the rabbit trail to see why, I ended up at  this post on Apartment Therapy about using Sherwin William's Chip-it application. I was surprised to see an image I created in the post.  I made the image using Sherwin Williams Chip-it Application to analyze the colors in a vintage Ferry Seed poster.  I found the image at the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery. When I analyzed the above image it was with the idea of creating a room with the feell of the vintage poster, not to create a similar painting.  I believe the image itself is in the public domain, but the image was scanned by NYPL for their digital gallery.

DesignSeeds, one of the commenters at the Apartment Therapy post, pointed out a big problem with the Chip-It Application.  

The problem is that it is very easy to infringe on a designer or artist's work using Sherwin William's Chip It app and not attribute the original image to the creator.  And in a sense, that's exactly what happened when Apartment Therapy borrowed my image to talk about Sherwin William's application.  Because by sharing the analyzed image I shared, the link to the New York Public Library got lost.

I'm sure Sherwin Williams will say they're not responsible for what people do with their tool.   

But I think in the interest of attributing credit,  they should have the app add the URL that the picture was taken from, similar to when Pinterest pins an image.  

If you're an artist or designer, you don't want someone ripping off your color sensibility using this application. 

But the application can be used in a variety of good ways - analyzing the exact colors of an image you took, or a painting you made or an antique or public domain image, as the Ferry Seeds poster is.   It can be used for GOOD and not EVIL.  ;-)

So people, be careful when you make a pin of an image to be sure it's in the public domain. 

Read my previous post here.

Centering Blog Title Images and Post Titles in Blogspot

I need to work on the side view.  Hello!  I've been experimenting with some head shapes that are BIGGER so that less clay needs to be added.   I will need to adjust the back of the cloth pattern on this one.  It's too big. But maybe this doll can become a snowgirl?

I keep losing this information, so thought I would post it here on my blog.



To center a blog title image - insert this CSS under the Template - Advanced - Add CSS box

.Header img {
margin: 0 auto;
}


To center the post title - insert this CSS

.post-title {
text-align:center;
}

To center tabs at top


.PageList {text-align:center !important;}
.PageList li {display:inline !important; float:none !important;}

Special Olympics Snowshoe Race

This is my son Alex racing at Special Olympics.  Turn your volume down before watching.  I was cheering while holding the camera and wow I should not do that!  ;-)  My other son is camera shy, but he just won the science fair competition.  I love my boys.

Felice Boucher's Photography

Visit Maida Today 

for my thoughts on this amazing photograph.


 Felice was named Photographer of the Year in 2010 
and was just named Photographer of the Year for 2012.


Felice Boucher.com

Dear Pinterest: My Love Has a Limit

Pinterest, I heart you.   Facebook and Twitter are mere memories to me. But we've hit a snag in our relationship, Pinterest.

We need better boundaries. 

You know how when I highlight some copy on a page to give a little background on what the pin is about?  There should be a limit on that.  

People work hard on what they present on their sites.  If you're interested in your tool being used for good and not evil, please limit the amount of text that can be copied and pasted in a pinning window.  That way everyone wins - the writer, the artist and Pinterest.  

Do you think we can work it out?  Do you think some better boundaries could be developed?  I think this is pretty important. 

Waiting by the mailbox telegraph phone  computer for you to answer....

Love,
Dixie

Antique 1903 Book: Mr. Sharptooth By Joe Kerr

I paid more than I should for this lovely old book, 

but who can resist illustrations like this????

In addition to making a Little Red Riding Hood for the Maida Dolls Group Story Doll Challenge, I will make a Georgie and Mr. Sharptooth character for my own fun.  

Honor Goodfolk Comes Home

Have you ever had someone do 

such a kind and selfless thing for you 

it brings tears to your eyes?

This is Honor Goodfolk, the first doll I completed using my Izannah Walker Workshop pattern. I named her this because she was the expression of my intent to honor Izannah Walker.  Honor was one of the dolls I made as a giveaway for class members.  Over on Maida Dolls Group, someone made a kind comment about Honor's picture, which I had posted.  And I commented back that Honor was the first doll I completed with my pattern.   And then I went along my merry way.   

Mary Bean was the winner of Honor, from the first class.  And she saw my comment.  Mary is a wonderful doll maker in her own right.  She decided to send Honor home to me, saying that she felt it was right that the first Izannah doll I made with my pattern should come home to live with me.  And so on Saturday I opened a box and look what was in it!   My first doll made with my pattern.  It was such a kind and generous thing for Mary to do.  I will always keep Honor.

I think Honor needs a necklace, 

and maybe a small companion to sit in her lap.

Thank you, Mary!!!


Visit Mary's blog 
to see her wonderful creations. 

Chip It: A New Application from Sherwin Williams

Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect shared this awesome tool developed by Sherwin Williams called Chip It.  It's an applet you install in your toolbar similar to the Pin It app.   Basically the app analyzes an image and generates suggestions for paint chips.   There are all kinds of ways it could be used for artists who love folk art.  I "analyzed" a couple of things to see how it works.  I love it!  Here's the image above analyzed with the  Chip It  App.

Source: digitalgallery.nypl.org via Dixie on Pinterest

I analyzed the picture of my cousin and I and here's what it generated...it would be fun use the Chip It program to catch the feeling of a wonderful landscape in your home.   

Have fun with Chip It!

I Want to Play

See the girl on the right in the plaid dress?   That's me when I was two-ish, playing with my cousin Julie.  Isn't it amazing when you look at old pictures and realize that little girl is IN you?   She and I are going to do some paintings this week.  I am tired of dealing with the Sins of Disorganization and I want to play with color the way a two year old would.   

Michele Made Me wrote a post about children's art which I enjoyed and made me think of this picture.