Alison: Oh, it's my week to write?

When I was a wee lass, I loved to draw.

So I went to art school.

I took lots and lots of life drawing classes.

I loved children’s books and wanted to be a children’s book illustrator.

And, I was an incurable romantic.

Then life happened,

blah, blah, blah.

And now, half a lifetime later,

life is such that I can write to you once every two weeks,

and spend two or three days a week

in the basement making things.

So. This is what I am making now.

First I had a *vision* and sketched it out one night when I couldn’t sleep.

I found some soft sculpey in a shop while visiting my sister and mom in Connecticut. So I made a face.

Then I made its body from electric fence wire and batting.

The fabric covering the doll is soft like a baby blanket.

I added a little color to the face,

and voila, my rabbit child.

Maybe I was influenced, deep down, by Maurice Sendak’s illustrations ('In the Night Kitchen' or 'Where the Wild Things Are'), but really I think it was from that series of illustrations I made of the girl and mouse in art school when I wanted to be a children’s book illustrator.

It is on display at Artist in Residence, a cooperative gallery on Main Street in Enosburg.

P.S. I accosted the Fed/Ex man yesterday because ...

My faaaabric arrived!

So I am headed to the cellar now, lighting candles, playing soft music, and will slooowly rip the bag to shreds and bury myself in my new purchases.

And, look at what I bought last night.... (*sight*)

I have NO idea what to do with it, but I looove this fabric and dreamt of it all week, after seeing it last weekend at Jo-Ann's in Burlington. I bought the rest of the bolt.

(*Heavy sigh*)