this old man

i was encouraged by the good folks at whip up ...

"...to upload a link to your favourite handcrafted item, that you have made recently, by way of an introduction to your blog and your crafting specialty/personality."

this old man was made during my week at arrowmont school of arts and crafts.  i have blogged about the greatest place on earth before, and if you are interested you can hop back and read about this most spectacular place.  this figure is the result of my experience in tennessee and i like him quite a bit.  his head is cotton t-shirt jersey, filled with polyfil, needle sculpted, stiffened and hand colored.  i learned that when you are needle sculpting, at least as a beginner, you shouldn't start out with a face in mind, but let it develop - i was going for a young gal when he emerged...  his body is raw silk and sculpted, once it was stuffed, to resemble the kind of posture i imagined my old man to have.  he is temporarily (permanently?) tied to a piece of bark that i picked up off the floor in the wood shop.  i loved that place so much, i can't imagine i will find a better piece for this guy to stand upon.  i lashed his head to his body with raffia and with linen thread suggested pockets into which his hands are dug pretty deep.

i  like his plumpness, where his belly sort of rolls to the side.  it makes him look a little soft, like the years have been good to him.

so, what does this man say about me, and my specialty?  i suppose that i love to make things, i do it for a living and i do it for fun.  he doesn't represent a particular style though, as i don't think i have one.  there are just too many things to try, to test out and to consider.  i suspect one day i might find a niche, but not a specialty... i have the site to encourage myself to continue to try new things, to hold myself accountable and to have fun.  this is fun.

Comments

[Julie]

He is absolutely AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! Where have you been hiding woman??!!!!!!!!!

[vegasandvenice]

Such amazing expressiveness!

[wendy]

Steph he is fantastic! you have captured posture and expression so well.

[tuscanycastlegirl]

I love his "plumpness" also. I'm so glad the years have been good to him :)

[heather]

wow. a real optical illusion. when i first saw the photo, i thought he looked life-size... i think it's the angle it's taken from, and the proportions.

he LOOKS big!

but then i saw the flower pot... and i thought 'wow, that would have to be a huge flower pot!'

[bethany]

I love your dolls..

I know what you mean about "specialty"..
There are so many thing to try. So many reasons to create and the world is a playground for the imagination..

[Sara]

I also took a class at Arrowmont 1999!! I love the place! it's so inspiring, because of that you always can do great things in it, having time and inspiration!
Your blog is difficult to read because my eyes doesn't see very good...