Jumping on Board

After enjoying so many hours of reading other artist's blogs, I decided to try one myself. Creating has always excited me, whether it's writing, drawing or making a teddy bear. I have always had a million ideas floating in my head at once and although I've used many different
mediums over the last 25 years, making miniature teddy bears and bunnies has completely captured my heart. I'm not sure if its the designing part I like best or the thrill of seeing a completely new animal staring back at me. It's simply the best job in the world!

Art has always been a part of me. I really enjoy collecting antique postcards and classic children's books, for their wonderful illustrations - they are truly pieces of art. Children's books are magical and they transport me back to a time when I was a child and life was much simpler. There were many wonderful Victorian illustrators - Arthur Rackham, Beaatrix Potter, Jessie Wilcox Smith and Cicely Mary Baker are a few of my favourites. I have several copies of some of my favourite books, "Peter Pan" and "Alice In Wonderland", illustrated by different artists, and it's really fun to open all the books and see how each illustrator has interpreted a particular scene. You get a little glimpse into their minds and how they saw things. It's also interesting to match the scenes by the old illustrators with some of the wonderful current ones like Michael Hague, Lizbeth Zwerger, Scott Gustafson and Robert Inkpen. All the different interpretations are valid, whether Victorian or current, and it helps open my mind to other possibilities.

Since I started making miniature teddy bears and bunnies, I find myself trying to put some of the charm of the old illustrations and post cards, into my pieces. I love making vignettes and re-creating the old scenes. Recently I have begun to age and distress my miniatures, to look more like antiques. The challenge has not been easy, but I am slowly getting the "hang of it". I'm posting a few pictures of my pieces - I hope you enjoy them.