Wednesday, 16 September 2009

It's oh so quiet..


Because theres no baby yet!
Having all this time at home, all this free time to do whatever I please, is abit like having Disneyland to yourself but without any of your friends to share the fun and games with.I absolutely love the time that I'm having now, I really do. I haven't had this much time from work for ages,so it feels like I'm learning the skills of being at home. It sounds strange to say that there are skills involved but i really think there are. When you go from working day in day out, and only ever getting to see your couch, your T.V your bedroom at a certain time of the day, its a real joy in knowing that there is a light that floods the livingroom around late afternoonish, that my neighbour listens to Billie Holiday on a record player in his garden which I had never known before, and that I get to sit outside on my balcony whilst it's still light which I had never done before either. I also notice how tempting housework can be, just to feel more productive. For me to feel like this in particular is a highly disturbing revelation!
But theres a downside to all this. The house is so quiet, and as much as I enjoy my time, it's a time that spreads out into an unknown point which scares me a little. It's not as if I can't go out or meet people. I can and I do. (Well maybe not quite so much now because I am after all more than 9 months pregnant and carrying quite a hefty load!)I'm starting to learn alot of things about myself, like how I communicate with my friends and how truly important creativity plays its part in keeping me sane. I never knew it before, because working took me away from all that.
The house won't be quiet for very long though, I definately don't need anybody to tell me that! So, as an example of how I have made the most of this temporary quiet time at home all by myself, I've successfully diverted my nesting instincts to the creative side of me. I have finished my second doll! She was looking like she had a fake tan. Very orange in otherwords. So I rectified it, and finished off painting her arms and the back too.


Heres how I made her:
1.I used the ruby doll pattern from oneredrobin and changed the legs. But i used it strictly for the purpose of learning how to make a basic doll shape.
2. Once I had made the doll, I applied white gesso, and sanded it down.
3. I pencil sketched the face and floral design on to the doll. Sanding it down really made it easier to draw on the cloth. I didn't know that before.
4. I then got stuck in with my acrylic paints.
5. That's it. I wanted to blanket stitch a little pocket at the back to slip in a card or something cute but I don't know how to do it. I could have embellished it with sequins and such. The possibilities are endless really. I have a hard time putting a rein on 'prettifying' things!

I should really give her a varnish but I need to find out what kind. Any ideas on this?
She will be one of my first pieces for my future future etsy shop. :)


I'm off to watch this
Have a lovely Thursday!

3 comments:

Flower Girl said...

'morning khairun! (oh, good evening for you huh),

she's fantastic! love those lashes. she's beautiful! i might have to try one of my one own someday. thanks for the inspiration.

i HEAR you about the long, quiet days. you are just waiting and waiting now, trying to be patient for the biggest thing ever to happen... NOT easy. i'm still sorting out long and quiet days, but it's true, doing art is such a haven. (especially when you get four uninterrupted hours to do it at a time, whaaa?! i'm still in shock i'm going through with it. oh my.)

the thing i've found is that you can't imagine how much you are going to love that little boy. it makes all the tedious times worth it a million times over. yup.

there's my two cents on the matter. worth what you paid for it ;) must rescue anabelle from licking my shoe.
xo, kate

khairun said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me on this one Kate. Really appreciate it. :)

Nx said...

Love how she turned out Khai, well done. I really like the little sketch on the post before - you're really good at creating characters with their own little personalities. You may have seen Emily Martin's work before, here's her blog she's good at making little characters too. http://theblackapple.typepad.com/