"Something Sketchy" with Deb Shatil

Former Phoebe and well-known doll maker and artist Deb Shatil presented a challenging yet fun enrichment session at our November meeting. She brought paper, ink pens, photos to sketch, and her artistic knowledge to inspire us to learn to make sketches by observing our subject matter while not watching our drawing take form. Above she is seen displaying a very successful finished sketch created by Colleen, followed by two more examples completed by Phoebes, shown below.

Deb also brought to the meeting some samples of the tiny cloth-sculptured pins that have brought her much admiration and commercial success over the years. Each one is an original work of art. Thank you so much, Deb, for the opportunity to advance our drawing skills and add your wonderful art to our collections.

Calendar

December 9 Christmas Party, (Saturday) 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. at Barbara's beautiful home and studio. There will not be a business meeting, but there will be a wonderful holiday party with fabulous food and joyful celebration.

January 13 Meeting, (Saturday), 11:30 A.M. at Marcella's. Drop -in social get-together will start at 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Business meeting will start at 1:30 P.M. The challenge for this month is any creation representing "Winter." 

Show and Tell

Harlene has amazed us again with her fabric embellishment skills. She created this long vest from black fabric and added bits of colorful fabric shapes. She then blocked off many areas with tape and filled in the design areas using Paint Crayons that are oil-based paints for stenciling and made by Stencil Decor, USA. They are similar to Shiva stick crayons and are permanent once they have dried.

Anne is continuing to create beautiful ceramic wall hangers like the face above. 

But, she also took a little diversion to have some fun by designing wild and whacky pieces using ceramic clay and various tins. A great sense of humor that is bound to brings smiles. 

Suzanne R. is dedicated to continuing to string bead bracelets that will be added to the dolls that are dressed and accessorized by the ladies who meet at the Cotton Patch fabric store in Lafayette. 

She also volunteers to pack the gift boxes which will be delivered to terminal children in Kaiser Hospital and George Marks in Oakland. 

Barbara and Betts are currently interested in creating books and samplers made from paper and slow stitched fabrics. They have been attending classes offered by textile artists Anna Corba and Mandy Pattullo, who teach in Sonoma County, USA, and in England. Barbara prefers to glue her pieces together, and her technique and her beautiful workmanship (as seen above and below) has won Mandy's approval.

Betts assembled this lovely creation, and the ones shown below.

Colleen has taken to painting, and her colorful and whimsical designs are wonderful!

Rosie is displaying another sample of the colorful dresses she and her group have been making and donating to "Dress a Girl Around the World."

Using assembly line techniques, group members focus on various steps of the assembly process. Rosie has been sewing on labels and stitching various prints together to make pockets that match the dress fabrics.

Rosie has also been making yoyos to adorn the pockets.  

Rosie is having fun teaching her tube necklace class to her students. This is a beautiful example made in her first class.

Phoebes love to collect dolls made by other artists. I think these were collected by Marcella.

This one, and the one below were collected by Shawn.

Caroline, like many of us, has been making dolls for years. These adorable ones are samples of a very successful design she has sold at art shows and church bazaars.

Donna has been tearing apart the silk and fabric artificial flowers in her stash and removing the hard plastic centers, and then reassembling them with paper centers. That way they will be less bulky to put on cards and send in the mail.