Friday, January 13, 2012

New Beginnings

Long time since I posted anything.. 

For those who don't follow me on Facebook, I have moved from the USA to Australia ~ Long story, but I had to move closer to my children, and so here I am.  I live now in Murwillumbah  in the far north of New South Wales, just south of the border with Queensland, and the famous Gold Coast.

None of my art supplies or my dolls are here yet, but the crate that holds all of my beads and other art supplies, as well as my dolls, has made landfall & all being good and well, it should be here in the next week or so.  It first has to be cleared through customs, I hope they manage to get everything back in the crate, as Joe and I packed it pretty tight ~ had to be to prevent things from sliding around while it was out there on the ocean.

This is 'The Keeper of Faces'  she is my first Art Doll made using assemblage & she was so much fun to make that I want to make more.


Her body was made from a small drawer, this allowed me to attach her head over the drawer pull, she has 'barby' hands which are attached with wire to small pieces of dowel and beads that form her 'arms'.  Her legs are polymerclay over dowel for strength.  Of course I had to use beads, and I had such fun gluing her beads on that it was hard to know when to stop.  I guess I will be doing more of this kind of beading LOL

She has a story, and it's attached to her back

I added 'LIFT' arrows so that she can be picked up without touching the beaded areas ;)

Before I set off on my newest adventure in life ~ moving back to Australia ~ I managed to finish a couple of UFOs that had been sitting for a long time.. 

The first is 'Mother & Child' I like how she she sits without the need for a stand ~ I weighted her bottom end with lavender seeds..

The question here is......   'Do these beads make my butt look big?'

 This guy is Joe's Polar Bear...  He was a labour of love, a gift for a wonderful gentle man, enjoy him Joe  ♥

 I have a few beads here, I and might pull them out tomorrow and see what happens, my hands are sitting idle and I don't like that!!

7 comments:

Kath said...

Ellen, I am so happy to hear from you. I don't have Facebook and had no idea you had been through such a big move.
I'm glad your bead supplies arrived OK, that must have been nerve-racking!
Hope you are all settled in now, i would love to see your new home and your neighbourhood.

marilyn said...

I can't wait to see what comes out of the big box of beads!

Mr. Natural said...

Of course the polar bear is here on the wall for me to see every day. Thank you so much for it (and other much)! Reading this first post from Australia has touched a deep emotional place in me. The wood stove in the studio is percolating now and should have the place warm and toasty soon...

Judi D said...

Wow...just catching up....hope all is well...hugs. Have added myself to follow your ventures...be well

Ellen said...

Judi dearest, so good to hear from you, are you on facebook???

xoxox

Ellen said...

Kath, so good to see you too dear friend!! I hope to keep my posts here more regular, at least tha is the plan xox

DIAN said...

I have just stumbled across this blog - I noticed the mention of Tweed Valley. My father-in-law lives in Tweed Heads and we visit him (from Melbourne) whenever we can.

The countryside around Murwillumbah (sorry I am not sure how to spell it.)
is lovely. I hope you feel settled there.