Eight Years of Folk Art Making

When I first started selling my art, I sold paintings on eBay.  I also sold antique smalls. Researching an old box of old cloth dolls purchased at auction showed me the world of one-of-a-kind art dollmaking I like to sew and I like to paint so decided to create a few folk art dolls. That was eight years ago.

Recently one of my early dolls showed up on the secondary market and I bought her to come home to visit a while.  When you've been doing something  that long your works will show up on the secondary market.  People change their styles and decide to go in a new direction in terms of their collecting.  It's all good. 

The doll above was meant to be an expression of "What if Izannah Walker and Ludwig Greiner collaborated on a creation?" I remember paperclay was a new medium to me. Also, I was learning that my fine art painting technique did not translate well to folk art doll making. In folk art making, I was NOT looking for an expressive brushstroke. It took me a while to learn to use tiny brushes (which were anathema in art school!). I struggled with using larger brushes back then. I'm happy that the painting has stayed well on the doll.

It's interesting to look at this doll that I created in 2007 with 2014 eyes.  This was the first doll that I made with paper clay that I felt had any sense of Izannah~ness to it.  My 2014 eyes see some things that I would change if I were making it today. But I will keep her as she is. After she's had a visit here with I will send her on again into the world.