We're off to visit my family this morning until the new year, so this is just a quick post to say Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and, whatever else you might celebrate, I hope this time is filled with warmth and joy!
(and a touch of Gorey strangeness...)
In the spirit of the season, I've made this snowbound lass, Freya, part girl and part reindeer. I was walking home from the store one snowy day and found some cut branches lying on the ground. They had these lovely little buds at the end that reminded my of deer antlers, so I gathered up as many as I could and brought them home. (And got many a bemused look as I dragged huge, ice-covered branches through the streets.) I coated the branches with several layers of thick, clear varnish to preserve them and they turned out beautifully:
Then there is this bald little dear, Elspeth, who now has hair (ringlets even, and a little hat). But, as usual, I'm behind in my photos, so she'll show up bewigged in my next post. Elspeth is paperclay and quite a bit bigger than Freya. I think someday I might make some bald dolls - there is something quite striking about bald women. We all remember Sinéad, right? She was so stunning without hair.
While we've had nothing like the ice storm that hit the Northeast, it's been very cold and icy here. My husband and I went for a long walk the other day; it was sunny and bracing and the light shone beautifully off the ice. It always fascinates me how ice can coat even the the tiniest, most delicate surfaces, making every thin little leaf and stem glitter. This is the view from our front step:
And this is beside the train bridge near our house. I love our neighbourhood because it is a lovely contrast of prettied-up Montreal architecture with gritty, industrial landscape. And the major ethnic groups are French, Irish and East Indian, so that keeps things interesting!
Happy Winter Wonderland, Everyone! I hope you're keeping warm...
Today I finished two busts, and was so happy to have a new batch of wool in lovely colours for the hair. Meet Elliette:
I actually used to dye my hair this colour, back when I was in my twenties and could scoff at fears about what kind of chemicals might be needed for such an unnatural colour. These days I'm back to my mousy brown and lie awake worrying about my mercury fillings! (I've decided to take the plunge and have them removed in the hopes it will cure my tinnitus, but that's another story. Cruel aging!)
And here she is with Edith, a big band singer of indeterminate age. Just imagine what she goes through for that head of platinum wonder!
So the political situation here in Canada is very bleak and unstable at the moment. I won't get into all the murky details of parliamentary democracy, but suffice it to say that while the US has an intelligent, charismatic (and rather handsome) president waiting in the wings, we have up here a ruthless conservative who has lost the support of Parliament (and much of the populace) in the midst of that economic crisis we all keep hearing about. And I have about a thousand papers to grade in the nest four days (well, over a hundred. No joke.) And it's cold. So I need a bit of a lift. So the other night I was out with some friends from my prose workshop to celebrate the end of the semester and we got to talking about our ideal karaoke songs. I have actually managed to live through the nineties and the noughts without EVER having done karaoke (not by accident) but I think these ladies might have convinced me. Anyway, I managed to dredge up my hypothetical karaoke song on youtube and I'd like to share it. This is a Canadian band from the eighties, so many of you might never have heard this song, but I urge you to give it a listen and check out these INSANE outfits. Hilarity.
80s Nostalgia Video, Installment the Fourth:
WARNING: crude language, lewd gestures, women who look like men trying to look like women, a keyboard player who will make you pee your pants laughing
I'm a writer, graduate student and doll artist living in Montreal.
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