STUDIO OF BONNIE JONES

Featured Artist on Prim and Whimsy Girls

I am very honored to be a Featured Artist on Prim and Whimsy Girls . While you are there, please go check out all the wonderful artists that are a member of this group.

I have to thank Becky Campbell Miller for such a lovely presentation of my work. Becky is a very talented artist and designer of wonderful cloth dolls..you can see her work here at Miller Campbell Designs. 

I think I must fit into the Whimsy category of this group because I have dropped my line of Folk Art figures.  I wanted to work on sculpting full body sculpts in 8" and 9" fantasy figures and having tunnel vision I could not seem to jump back and forth between the two anymore.

Thank you Becky and thanks to all that left such lovely comments.

Enchanted Summer Night Fairy

This tiny 8" fairy is a full body sculpt from Puppen Fimo polymer clay.  She was inspired by an E-Bay Group I belong to called "American Holiday Artist's Ornaments" or AHAO.  We decided to have a challenge for the month of May called "Enchanted Summer Nights" and each piece must have a star in it. I was going to call mine Stary Stary Night and she had stars all over her skirt; in the meantime I saw a figure on e-bay that was similar and I decided to eliminate the stars and change the name.....don't want someone to think I copied. So, now she is the Enchanted Summer Night Fairy minus her stars...I still need to find a place to put a star though.

I dressed her in dyed silk gauze, a piece of dyed antique lace and several different types of silk ribbon, she has some clear crystals in her hair and tucked into the front of her dress. She has hand painted eyes and blue mohair for hair.  Her wings are blue iridescent fantasy film over wire with glitter and tiny clear bubbles.

The stand is a wooden base covered with iridescent Italian glass tiles and flowers and leaves sculpted from Apoxie Clay.  She will be flying to E-bay tomorrow night.

2008 Mississippi River Flood

The Mississippi River begins in Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows southward and runs between Natchez, Mississippi and Vidalia, Louisiana finally emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.  The flood stage at Natchez is 49.0 and this year, 2008, it reached a crest of 56.97 second only to the 58.06 crest in 1937.  As of May 6th, the river is slowly beginning to recede and now stands at 53.3 feet.

This was taken while standing on the riverwalk in Vidalia, La. This is a view of Natchez under the Hill which partially flooded.

Compare this picture to the picture I am using for my banner at the top of the page and you can see how hight the water is now.

This is a view of the river in Natchez, Ms.

This is a view of the river front in Vidalia, La.

2008 Spring Flowers

Flowers are beginning to bloom and make the yard cheerful and the wonderful smells of the Sweet Olive, Magnolia Fiscata, Ligustrum and Confederate Jasmine are intoxicating.  We have over 30 Amaryllis planted and although the leaves are nice and healthy, they did not all bloom this year...not sure what the problem could be; but, the ones that did bloom are beautiful!!

Our Lady Banksia Rose was fabulous this year. This bush has yellow and white roses on it.

This is a close up of one of our Magnolia Fiscata bushes. Not a very pretty bush, but the smell of those tiny flowers is worth having this in your yard...we have three.

Wonderful frilly Maiden Hair fern growing under the Ligustrum.

This is my favorite Amaryllis...love this color.

More Amaryllis

Confederate Jasmine...oh my goodness....so sweet smelling.

Another Belsnickle

I just finished another Belsnickle and he will be traveling to his new home next week.  Every time I make one of these, even though they are dressed pretty much the same, they each have their own personality.. This one is 20" tall and I used Puppen Fimo to sculpt his head and hands and paper clay for his boots. Everyone always seems to want the red wool and I have found that the good wool from vintage recycled coats works the best. I take the coat apart and wash it in hot water and dry in a hot dryer to make it soft. Although I do have some real fur stashed away, I prefer to use the faux fur because I believe it holds up better in the long run...and I am an asthmatic and the real fur drives me crazy.

This Santa stands on the base with the brass rod and tube method and he can be removed for shipping and storage.

Victorian Santa

I finished the Victorian Santa for a collector who lives in Alaska.  This Santa is 16" tall and wears a beige coat trimmed in vintage fur. His beard is from a Lincoln Longwool fleece...this is some of the most gorgeous wool I have ever seen..it actually looks and feels like mohair. Behind the Santa are three very old children's wood blocks ( they do not show up very good in the picture). He holds in one hand an antique glass garland and in his bag are some vintage christmas glass picks along with an antique china miniature doll.  The bag is made from an antique piece of fabric I found in an Antique shop several years ago.  His face and hands are sculpted from Puppen Fimo and his boots are sculpted from an air dry clay and painted.  He stands on the wood base with the Brass rod and tube method and can be removed for storage and shipping. He has a cloth body over a strong wire armature and the arms can be posed.

Friends Forever

I finally finished this piece.  The little fae is an 8" full body sculpt from Puppen Fimo and dressed in hand-dyed silk gauze.  Her companion is also sculpted from Puppen Fimo.  They are displayed on a mosaic base of mahogany colored glass tiles.  This piece took me forever to finish; one reason, I knew I wanted a dragon on there and I kept putting it off because I have only made 2 other dragons.  I am pleased with this pair.......for now.  But, as usual, the more I look at them I will begin to see things I would have done differently...never satisfied with my work because I keep wanting to really create a piece that will be wonderful....in the meantime, I am having a great time on this creative journey.  As soon as I can get the pictures organized,  I will put them on E-bay.

Spring Time Fairy

Spring Time Fairy should bring a breath of fresh air with all the cold and miserable weather we have been having. I listed her on E-bay last nite after having problems with the new format for listing and E-bay telling me that $18 for shipping was entirely too high for an item in that particular category. I was advised to either lower my shipping cost or ship it free and if I did not proceed with those instructions, there was a possiblity that my auction would be pulled. So, I lowered the fee to $15  which does not come close to covering my shipping cost.  Not sure where all this is going to end up with E-bay and their new fees and rules.

March 14th, 2008

I have had some questions reqarding this Fairy and even though she has already sold on E-bay here is a little description of her. She is an 8" figure that is sculpted from Puppen Fimo with poseable arms and legs. I dressed her in hand-dyed gauze with a silk velvet cap with antique lace that has also been dyed. Her eyes are hand painted and she has hair of mohair, although you cannot see much of it. Her base is made of wood, apoxie sculpt with gold leaf and a mosaic of tiles.  Also, all of my figures are designed by me and are sculpted over a strong wire armature without the use of any molds.  Her wings are fantasy film over a wire armature and are inserted into brass tubes in her back.  And, there is a sprinkling of Coarse German glass glitter....love that stuff!

Already March 2008

This is a picture of a Sweet Olive bush in our yard with our Purple Martin house rising above it.  The Birds were not at home when I took the picture

WOW, how time flies when you are having fun!!  Here it is March 2008 and the  Purple Martins have finally arrived with their wonderful antics and loud chirping.  For those of you not familiar with this delightful bird here is a site that tells all about this feathered friend: Purple Martins

We are beginning to have a few  warm days and the plants are beginning to sprout new growth meaning Spring will soon be here!!  I walked around in the yard today and took some pictures even though a really bad storm was rolling in.

Three pots of Johnny Jump-Ups with great foliage and no flowers. I discovered a little Chipmunk was munching on the flowers.

Here is a pot of Johnny Jump-ups that are sitting up high so the Chipmunk cannot get to it...I love these little flowers!!!!!

This is a Sweet Olive bush..not the prettiest plant, but has the most awesome sweet smell that is so soft it makes you wonder what just floated by you.

New Fairy

I have been a little lax lately posting on my blog but, I have been busy working on commissions and also on a little fairy that will, maybe, go up for sale on E-bay. As some of you may know, E-bay has made some very drastic changes in fees and feedback along with some other changes I will not go into.  Artists such as myself are considering moving to another auction site; but, I am not sure that is a smart thing to do.....we shall have to just wait and see how all of this turns out.  From 2/18 through 2/25 there is a boycott of E-Bay by some Sellers and Buyers. 

My new fairy will occupy her stand with a dragon...something I have been wanting to do for quite some time. In the meantime, I have put a picture of her  face below.

I have also joined a wonderful new website The Fairy Society  which is comprised of artists and collectors.  Check it out...you will see many wonderful and talented artists on there.

AHAO Star Valentine Challenge

I belong to a juried E-bay group called American Holiday  Artist's Ornaments or AHAO.  Beginning today and ending on February 14th, we are having a Star Valentine Challenge.  All artists will have Valentine ornaments up for auction and they must have a star somewhere in the ornament.  Our group believes art ornaments are an art form in their own right and can be displayed all year round.

Below is our Challenge Banner along with the two pieces I will be putting up for auction. If you wish to see all the ornaments up for auction on E-bay, search "AHAO" or follow this Link AHAO auctions

Sad Young Fae

This Sad Young Fae is only 8" tall and is sculpted from Puppen Fimo with hand painted eyes and auburn wool for her hair.  She is dressed in hand dyed silk and gauze with beading on her cap. Her base is sculpted from Apoxie clay and painted with iridescent paint.  She will be heading to E-bay next week along with an ornament I am working on.....more about the ornament later.

The weather is cold, wet and miserable, so it is rather nice to be able to sit by the fire and sculpt......working on a Belsnickle and several other commissions.

   

    

Drawing at Sylvia Anderson's

Run over and check out Sylvia Anderson's blog. She is having a drawing and it sounds interesting.......Sylvia is a very talented artist, so whatever you win in the drawing, you will be more than pleased.  I plucked a picture of some of the  charm pendants she is offering for sale.....really neat.

Snow in Mississippi!

We woke up this morning to see big beautiful snow flakes coming down!! But, alas at 9:30AM  it  stopped snowing and the temperature is rising, so the beautiful snow is slowly disappearing. I did manage to take some pictures of the accumulated snow giving St. Francis a new cap and the poor Pansies lying crushed beneath the weight of the snow and some ice.

Father Time & Baby New Year

Father Time and the Baby New Year have been completed and are now on E-bay. They are both sculpted from Puppen Fimo. Father  Time is dressed in wool and hand dyed silk; the baby is dressed in a gauze fabric.  The chair is the end result of Jean Bernard's Chair class; I cheated a little and used a wire chair as an armature for the chair.  It was sculpted with Apoxie sculpt and so was the base with all the various stones embedded in it.

Father Time is handing the Baby a necklace with 12 large beads which represent the 12 months of the new year; it is now in new hands....hopefully it will be a great New Year with much health and peace.

Father Time

Here is a new piece I am working on for E-bay.  Father Time who is sitting in a really neat chair.  The chair is the results of taking a class with Jean Bernard; I finally had time to use her different techniques.

  I am also trying to learn how to use a new camera.  After agonizing over what camera to buy; I decided on the Nikon D80 which just hit the market place with rave reviews.  I have been using a Nikon Coolpix 990 which I have had for 10 years and it was beginning to give me trouble. This is a really heavy camera with loads of features...one of the reviews stated it was a Professional camera made for amateurs.....just what I need. I think it is going to be easier to use than the Coolpix.......I think!!!!!!!!  As for the pictures I took during Christmas, I managed to give everyone the "red eye".....I had it on Auto and forgot about the terrible "red eye".

The picture of Father Time is pretty good considering I have not used all the many features. I will put up more pictures when I am finished with this piece.

Merry Christmas 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

MAY 2008 BRING PEACE, JOY AND HEALTH TO ALL

The Many Faces of Santa

Through the years I have made many santas; so, I decided to put some close up pictures of some of those Santas.  They have all found homes and I hope they bring as much joy to their owners as they brought to me while I was sculpting them.  I love seeing a new face emerge from the clay and stare back at me while I am working on them. The head is the first thing I make, so they are able to see everything I do to complete their body and clothes.

 

Belsnickle

Since I don't have anything new to post today, I thought I would bring back a Belsnickle I did for a customer.  This is a 20" figure dressed in recycled wool with beautiful mohair for his hair and beard.  His head, hands and boots are sculpted from Puppen Fimo. He has a soft body over a wire armature.

Domain Name and Website

Just a brief update on my Domain name and website "bonniesdolls.com".

There is a very slight chance I may at least get my domain name back which is the important part of all of this. Avid Hosting is back on line with a form to complete, but they want $15 to transfer my domain name back to me. I really do not trust these people, but it is worth the $15 to give it a try.  In the meantime, I am working  with Enom(registrar)on trying to get the lock removed from my domain and returned to me, the rightful owner, who has paid for it for 7 long years and is paid to June of 2008.

To everyone reading this, be sure and check your domain name often and make sure it is in your name and locked so no transfers can be made. Pay your money to the registrar and not the hosting company or webmaster.

My website has been down for a month now; I paid the hosting company annually and I am paid to March of 2008.  Apparently Avid Hosting is now out of business, but is holding  the domain names and locking them.  The internet is a wonderful thing, but it has managed to attrack all the unsavory and evil people in the world to it.

And on another subject. I love E-bay...I love to sell and I love to buy.  But, there again, you have to be very careful at all times.

Here it is Christmas time and I am putting this on my blog; but,this time of year, the bad guys really seem to come out in full force.

I just want everyone to not have to go through what I am having to deal with right now.

Snowman Candy Container

This sweet guy is a Snowman Candy Container and he is also a Nodder.  He is sculpted from an air dry paper clay and then crackled for an old look. I dressed him in Warm and Natural Cotton Batting trimmed in Lamb's wool and then sprinkled some old fashioned mica and German Glass Glitter over him.  He holds a vintage silver glass pick and a snowman container.  There are paper clay pumpkins along side of him that have also been crackled.  The wooden box has been decoupaged with some vintage pictures.  He is a commissioned piece and will be leaving today.

A Christmas Present

This tiny little Fairy sparkles and glimmers on the tree.  She is a Christmas present for someone  I could not do without during the year.  She is sculpted from Puppen Fimo and dressed in antique lace with shimmery wings,tiny beads and German glass glitter.

More 2007 Christmas Decorations

Decided to break this down into two posts. I think I got carried away taking pictures.

These indents are so fragile, that I put them in this platter along with more vintage decorations.  I love the glass picks that were so popular back in the 50's.

My Seraphin Angels nestled in among the green garland with some vintage balls covered with wire and a faux ice garland

WISHING EVERYONE "A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR."

Christmas 2007

I finally have all my decorations up and the presents are all wrapped and under the tree.  This is probably the earliest I have EVER finished getting ready for Christmas.  I have always had a show in December and it was so hard to get ready for Christmas and the show.

I have a few more commissions to do and I will be through. I would love to be able to get something on E-bay and still may have time.

So get ready to either enjoy or be bored with these pictures:

I broke down and purchased an artificial tree with lights; much easier to decorate.....no getting tangled up in strings of lights.

Close up of some decorations, a couple of ornaments by Christopher Radko; I buy one each year. And there are some really old ornaments along with my Ole Miss ornament.

My ornaments  range from very old to very new, all collected over the years.

This is Barney, our Scottish Terrier. There are presents under the tree for our great grand-child, Cameron, who is 7 months old. Some of the presents play music and talk. If you move the packages, they will start singing and talking...Barney thinks there are munchkins under there.......I thnk there just may be.

Love White Pointsettas wrapped with gold paper and gold ribbon 

Buck Run Pottery

"Buck Run Pottery"...artists Don and Lee Jackson from Foreman, Ark.  They make handmade functional stoneware.  I have started a collection of their work and I just love it.  I met them several years ago at the Chimneyville Festival held on the first week-end every December in Jackson, Ms.  It is an event hosted by  The Mississippi Craftsmen's Guild of which I am also a member.  Although I do not have a booth at the Festival anymore, I always make a point to go and look at all the wonderful work displayed by the artists and of course to buy some great art work.

Don has been making some pieces with mermaid and fish that Lee has been showing me via e-mail.  Well........guess what, Don gave me this beautiful  piece you see in these pictures and said it was a present!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, what a wonderful present...I shall treasure it forever. These pictures do not do this art work justice.  This piece is beautiful from all angles and must have a place where you can see all around it.

I also purchased a beautiful platter...the colors and the picture of the fairy with her hair blowing in the wind and the leaves around the border of the platter make this a special piece...I must have more of these.

Tag, You're It

Suzanne Urban wrote: " TAG YOU'RE IT!! when you have a moment, if you have one. . .
Write five things about yourself on your blog."

Not an easy thing to do.......but here goes:

1.  First...I am a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

2.  I hate to cook; love to eat, especially Italian food.

3.  I love the smell of rain, fresh cut grass and the wonderful smells of the fragrant bushes in our garden in the spring time. I love to hear the sound of water in our fountains.

4.  Right now since it is so close to Christmas, I love decorating, wrapping the presents and looking forward to Christmas Eve when the whole family will be here for Christmas dinner and watching everyone unwrap their presents.

5.  Last, but certainly not least in my life..is sculpting and creating figures that bring me much joy and hopefully will bring joy to the person who desires to have one of my figures in their life.

My Website

If you are looking for my website, it is no longer there. I have been with Avid Hosting for at least 7 years without any problems.  Avid Hosting has been sold and the new owner has now crashed all websites and hijacked domain names. For anyone who is unfortunate to have a website with this company, the domain names were registered with Tucows, but earlier this year were moved to Enom. It is my understanding Enom will work with you if you can show proof you paid for your domain name and give you the key to your domain.  As soon as I am sure I cannot retrieve my domain name I will notify people to remove my website from their links.  I have found some very helpful people on the web concerning this matter.  There are some really bad guys out there; but, there are alot of good guys too.

Pumpkin Head Candy Container

Here is a Pumpkin Head Candy Container which is a commission piece and he will travel to his new home next week. In the meantime, he will be showcased at the Natchez Art Tour this Saturday. He is sculpted from Premier Paper Clay and the relief work on the box is sculpted from Apoxie Clay.  He has a black crepe paper skirt and his hat has beautiful black german glass glitter for that sparkle.

Santa Claus

I finally managed to take pictures of these two Santas which are commission pieces.  They are both dressed in silk red velvet trimmed in recycled mink fur. They have beautiful hair and beards from Lincoln Longwool sheep.  Check out the website for the home of these beautiful sheep. Cory' s Lincoln Longwools 

I enjoyed making the paper cones held by one of the Santas. I  took ideas from an on-line class by Jean Bernard called Fancy Chair Class.  Unfortunately, I have not had time to make my chair; but, I will certainly make one later. In the meantime, I used Pavercotton strings dipped in Paverpol and wrapped them around the cones and then painted them with  Golden Acrylic Iridescent Copper and Gold paint. Because I LOVE beads, I dipped the top of the cones in small iridescent beads and loaded the inside of the cones with more beads.  And of course, I added some coarse German Glass Glitter......

Check out Jeans blog and you can see the chairs made by some of the talented students Jean Bernard's Blog  If you would like to take a class with Miss Jean here is where you can sign up Class Heaven    I highly recommend any and all of her classes. ...not only do you learn alot, but her students seem to really have a great time.

Fabric, Mosaics and clay

I love sculpting the 8" faieries. So, I have decided to combine that with my love for fabric and mosaics.  Most of my sculpts usually have a mosaic base to stand on and I have been dressing Wizards and Santas for a number of years. 

I love dressing my figures in monochromatic colors and here is a picture of the items I am gathering for my next fairy. I have also ordered a Golden Selenite Cluster Matrix Crystal and some Citrine polished gems that will probably be added to the base for this figure.

I have also decided to drag out my book "The Artful Ribbon" and learn all over again how to make those wonderful silk flowers and decorate the clothing for my faeries.

The fabric shown here is Habotai silk  and Chiffon with some sparkles on it along with silk ribbon and some mosaic samples.

Pictures of beautiful silk ribbon flowers from "The Artful Ribbon"

Wonderful Gourds

Looky here.  These wonderful collectibles were made from gourds by my daughter, Linda Kennon, aka Gourdqueen.  She made them so they can be used from Halloween right on up to Thanksgiving or until you are ready to decorate for  Christmas.  They will be for sale on the Primitive Folk Art Trinkets and Treasures website November 10th.

Natchez Art Tour

Natchez Art Tour will be held on November 24th from 12:00 Noon to 6:00 P.M. in Natchez, MS.  This Studio Tour offers unique viewing and buying of original art works.  My daughter, Linda Kennon, and I will be located at Clary Sage, Ltd. on Franklin Street. She is a gourd artist and I sculpt fine art dolls.  Thanks to Janee' Novak, owner of Clary Sage, we will be at her shop along with her handcrafted Aromatherapy soaps and bath salts made with pure Essential Oils. There will be 29 locations to view art work.

Here is a picture of part of the brochure:

Balloon Festival

Natchez, MS. has an annual Balloon Festival and this year the weather was gorgeous and perfect for the balloons.  It is 3 days of fun and festivities for all the family.  My sister and her husband always come down and on Saturday we gather up out chairs, food and drink and head for the Mississippi River to watch the balloons.  Our daughter and her husband are also always there.  Here are a few pictures.

Look at the Moon to the left of the Balloons

The Barge being held in place by the tug boat has a target that the pilot of the balloon will try to hit with his bean bag. The boats around the barge are for safety measures in case the balloon hits the water.

We are sitting on the Vidalia,La. side of the Mississippi River and that is a picture of Natchez high on the bluffs of the river as the balloons fly across the river.

The Mississippi River is extremely low right now and you can see a sand bar to the right of the picture.  There are sunken barges they are trying to bring to the surface while the river is so low.

Fairy Princess

I am not very original when it comes to naming my figures.  This tiny fairy just looks like a princess to me.......so, she will just be a Fairy Princess. She is 8" high and is a full body sculpt from Puppen Fimo...(love that clay). Her hair is gray mohair with a little bit of very pale green mixed in and her eyes are hand painted jasper beads.  Her wings and crown were the inspiration for the colors of her costume.

The wings and crown were made by Christina Pirnie of Cyristylescreations. Here is her description: "Base foundation of Fantasy Film with 5 black Onyx semi-recious gems. Artistically twisted black tone wire structure with black tone jewelry charms and Peridot bead gemstone wing finials."

So, I put the Fairy Princess on a handmade base of black river rock. She stands with the brass rod and tube methods. Her dress is made from a lime green piece of antique silk velvet I have had stashed away and decided now was the time to use it.  Antique lace complimented the velvet and I hand dyed the lace a gray color and then painted it silver.

New Fairy

Finally a new Fairy to be put on E-bay.  Here is a sneak preview.

The Big Oak is Down

In a previous blog, I showed a picture of the big oak tree in our front yard.  The Tree was dying and had to come down.  We really did not want to cut down this tree, but it had already dropped two big limbs on the house and another one on electrical wires.  I took pictures as they cut this tree down; it took 4 days to gradually bring down limbs one at a time so no damage would be done to the house and any surrounding homes.  My hat is off to the crew led by L.J. Bell.