Thursday, June 12, 2008

stone dolls

Well it's official, I'm completely smitten with stone painting! They are such a perfect little canvas! Holding a little part of the earth seems to ground and inspire me all at once... mmm...smooth stone in hand and time disappears. Last night I could have painted dolls until the sun came up...but I knew the price to be paid was too steep! Thursday mornings are a flurry of activity around this place...a little sleep helps. When I collected these stones at the lake on Monday, I had no idea that I'd be needing more...so soon! I think I see another Father's Day project happening this afternoon...whoops! Hope you're not reading this, sweet husband... who feels like I've traded him in for a pile of rocks!

As much as I've loved creating stone dolls, my daughter has enjoyed carrying them around and playing with them. I've been reminded of a beautiful children's book by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, Elizabeti's Doll. This is a Tanzanian story of a young girl who longs for a doll to cuddle, when a new sibling is born. She finds a stone that is just the right size and shape to nurture and carry on her back (just like her mother). What a gentle and universal tale.

I must have been tapping into something deep and primitive within...I've discovered stone dolls have an ancient history. Archeologists have uncovered a 4000 year old stone doll (Bronze Age). They thought it was a religious artifact, at first, but it was found in the children's quarters next to a set of tiny dishes. Click here for the article. I encourage you to forage for natural materials for your children's play...and the art you create ...sticks... stones...nuts...seeds...

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15 comments:

  1. These are really lovely!
    You are so lucky to have such beautiful canvas stones where you live.

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  2. I love them! What kind of paint are you using?

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  3. The stone dolls are beautiful, and I love how you've related your own creative discovery to something far deeper and universal. I've been wondering lately whether the desire to create something from the materials we have around us--to shape nature into personally or culturally meaningful forms--is something so necessary to us as a species that if we let it go in our everyday lives we become quite unhappy. I know I do.

    Thanks for sharing your lovely mothers with us. And it would be interesting to see father's dolls!

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  4. i am smitten with your stone dolls!!! how did you do them? where did you get the patterns to make them? or are they yours? what kind of paint? ooh!!!

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  5. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback. I'd love to see others painting or creating with found materials.
    The kind of paint I used is in the post, "local".
    perilloparodies- the designs are mine...thanks for the compliments, yea! Inspiration came from many sources...some of it was painted freehand...some parts were sketched in pencil first.

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  6. These are just beautiful. I love the history behind them. Your brush work is brilliant :)

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  7. Glad I found these via Crafty Crow. Wonderful!

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  8. OMG....I LOVE these! I want to head out to the driveway and look for stones right now.

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  9. I just wanted to say, thank you so much for your inspiring blog. I made one of my own stone dolls (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and have been filled to the brim with wonderful ideas! thank you, thank you thank you!!!
    http://jennymunder.typepad.com/just_be/2009/03/sunday-craftiness.html

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  10. What a lovely idea- so nicely done, too.

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  11. So pretty! I love your site and Etsy shop too.

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  12. I love these! Just featured them!

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  13. The painted rocks look fantastic! I love them.

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