Early Cloth Crows 4 Sale

I recently had large flocks of crows flying in and landing in my yard, reminding me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds". They came by for just a short time, making their way across the yard pecking the ground for anything they could find. When they all flew away there was a whoosh sound with some bass . Crows are loved by some ,hated by others. I got the idea to have crows around my house after that. Sat down and designed these shown below. They are made from cotton fabric, stuffed and painted black with brown underneath. Wire claw feet so that they may pose however you want. Their eyes are onyx beads. Approx.7 1/2" tall x 11 1/2" from nose to tail.
Crows -$ 28. each + shipping

Antique Site

Carole Telfer Antiques is selling her collection. Wonderful things to see at this site.

Perfectionism in Art

I use to say I was a perfectionist, everything had to be just right. It`s a wonder I ever sold anything. Now as I think on this topic , I realize it was more of a control issue and went right along with the wanting to please others, wanted them to think highly of my skills. This is all an illusion because people don`t think alike. What may be perfect to me , is not acceptable to someone else, they would never do it that way! they might say. So the need to make it perfect was a need to control the situation in a way. If I make it perfect, I`ll be accepted, or I`ll make money from it and that gives me have value as a person. This was my thinking. I was chasing an illusion of how I thought it would turn out. If I do A B C perfectly, D will come along. But then I tried to put something out for sale that wasn`t perfect in my mind. Someone came along and loved it. I realized how limiting my thinking was to this "perfect" box I was in. The box is small ,not much space to move in there. A mistake isn`t always a mistake, it may just be in your mind, not someone elses. Doing your art and letting it come into being without giving it descriptive words, could be a way to stretch yourself and open up. I see perfectionism as constricting and critical. Who says what is perfect? How many things haven`t come into being because someones negative thoughts while creating?
Now when I make something, I just do it , enjoy the doing. I think of what the old me would be doing right now, but then I am aware that I`m not that way anymore, sometimes it`s hard to get use to a new way of being, even confusing sometimes, but I keep staying in the moment. Just some thoughts, may be helpful to someone. Melanee

New Berlin Museum and Antique Show My 1st video

What is Success?

I went to an arts festival in a nearby town today. I went last year and wrote about my experience here.
It was very hot again, the kind of heat that can make you sick , so we didn`t stay long. The observation this year was of a woman who made pottery , my Granddaughter was drawn to her work, I was just a little as I was curious how she got the glazes to make those types of designs on the pottery surfaces. Turns out she fires them and then puts them in an outdoor fire with everything but the kitchen sink, and the various things cause various colors and designs, no glazes used.
Now it`s not so much the content of her talk but the enthusiasm in her voice. This was a woman who is in awe of her own work. Because she never knows what she`s going to get, and she accepts that she will lose 1/2 of what she starts with because of breakage, she finds what survives to be precious. This woman stood out in the show to me, the others would say how they achieved their finished piece, but they said it like they were saying it for the thousandth time, and they probably were, but so was the pottery woman. Many vendors (and I call them that because that`s how they appeared to me, not artists) were talking on their cell phones, some looked down right bored.
My Granddaughter was taking photos of work she liked and wanted to remember, but I said she had to ask first. She got to one guys stand who said NO, and offered a post card instead, he pretty much ruined her desire to take anymore photos, as that was keeping her mind off the heat , and after that bit of uncomfortableness, she felt the heat and didn`t care about looking at the work anymore. The thing is , if he had left her alone, she would have just gotten a glared ruined photo anyway because it`s about impossible to take a photo of a glass covered object and not get a glare. So she wouldn`t have had a photo anyway. But he had to have control of his work in front of a 10 year old. I don`t say that in anger or sarcasm, I just mean to tell you what I saw.
The woman who had the enthusiasm for her pottery said , sure go ahead and take photos, I`m online and in magazines anyway. She had a confidence about her art. I wonder how many people went to the show wanting to take video and photos to look at later and were turned away . I realize they aren`t there to just show, but to make money, but we all can`t buy everything, we just want to look at it and enjoy it and celebrate it, celebrate that that person made it, brought it into the world.
As I was waiting for my Granddaughter to run through their falling water buckets, I was asked to do a survey. They wanted to know how high of an education I had, how far a distance I came from, if I stayed at a hotel, and how much money I spent. I didn`t buy anything, I wasn`t the demographic they were aiming for. I was looking for something under $50., a possible gift even, but the things I priced and liked were hundreds of dollars.

Money and art.....looking, experiencing, enjoying purchasing /owning. Does an artist appreciate someone experiencing and enjoying their art the same as someone buying it? Or is it money talks ? I would say there`s no set answer to that because the response will be as different as each person is different. I know when I did shows I did them for the money, I also made my work for money. I would get lots of praises, but what really meant something was the money, and these people sure don`t want to be sitting outside in the 90 degree weather for 4 days, for no money. But now I wonder if I had been more present when the people were showing me their appreciation , if I would have been paid in another way, if I had been open or able to accept it and take it in. They were giving me good energy, enthusiasm, and appreciation. Things when the feelings are honestly there can`t be bought for any amount of money. No wonder I had a breakdown, my soul saw me ignoring all that good energy , I was being offered riches and being blind to them, not valuing them.

So why go to that type of show,more artsy than early, you might ask? To see what I could learn and see. To learn about myself and my own art journey. And as my husband said , to go on another adventure.
My question I`m seeking an answer for these days is, "what is success? " Bonnie Raitt sings a song on one of her early albums I wore out as a young girl ," What is Success? to do your own thing, or to join the rest. Living in hopes, that someday you`ll be in with the winners"..... So far, this enthusiasm I witnessed today looked like success to me. The attention she gave my granddaughter, also an artist , seems to be success to me, to add to another human`s potential future by acknowledging them as an artist, showing a child respect like she did, and not like she was less because she`s a kid, all look like success, if not as an artist, definitely success as a human being in this world. Can I separate the 2? The human being and the artist? Can you be successful in one and not the other? I`ve heard of being a successful artist financially and not being a successful human being integrity-wise. I`ve seen an artist surviving in the world, and not doing any art.To not make anything is clearly NOT success.
What is success? Being in a magazine? Being so popular you can`t make the product fast enough , so you`re never done. Selling your work for high prices? I`ve now seen all these things that would appear to be success to some, bring unhappiness and even sickness to those who have experienced it. So I stay alert to any answers to this question that may come my way. What is success to you?

Old Fly Catcher Bottle

Sunday morning I found this bottle at the junkie flea market I go to. Not sure if it`s old or a repro. . You put sugar water inside, it attracts the flies and they go inside and can`t figure their way back out and die. I haven`t tried it yet, but maybe at this weekends 4th of July party. If anyone knows any information about these bottles ,I`d love to hear about them. Even if it`s about the reproductions , so I can learn the difference between the old and new. I have another one somewhere that I found a few years ago, but it was smaller and had a glass stopper lid and a wire to hang it up. That woman said it was old.

I have a friend who says I need to pick something and become a master of it. That`s what the really big artists do and are then known for doing that, whether it be dolls, pottery, painting, whatever. That makes sense to my mind and I see the logic of that thinking, but I can`t seem to be someone who can do just one thing. I change from medium to medium ,one piece after another. I just did the altered art and now when I wanted to paint an early portrait right after that. I`ve tried to be another way, but I have accepted this is the way it`s going to be. If I try to say how it`s going to be, such as I`m going to be a painter, I`ll sit there looking at an empty canvas. I can`t tell "it" what to do. It leads me and I stay open and listen and do and keep my mind quiet from any possible negative reactions. That is what I am practicing right now, just make something and try to keep the critic from ruining the experience by ignoring it.

I tried rug hooking, I like it very much.



I tried watercolors , great fun!



Needlepunch or needle punch , love doing it.


I`m trying my hand at penny rugs too. Haven`t finished this yet. Colors are not as bright as shown in the photo.


For now I seem to be a jack of all trades and a master of none and I`ll have to accept it until I find that, one day something will be "it" for me. I`ll accept my flip flopping :-) Melanee

Make do

You may have read my post about Budging the Mule, It finally got up and is moving along these days! I`m so happy to be back creating. I hope you will keep checking back to see what I make.

Here is a make do I finished yesterday. I found this bottom to an old oil lamp at the flea market a few weeks ago. Now what else will this base ever be used for? The fabric is old pink cotton and it`s stuffed with old cotton. Everything reused and given a beautiful new life. Each hanging strawberry has been stitched by hand by me. I just love it and I`m tempted to keep it, I hope it will find a new home where it will be loved.SOLD Email Me if you are interested.

New Altered Arts Blog

I`ve opened a new blog about my folk art and mixed media work. Here`s the link.
http://melaneeherrerafolkart.blogspot.com/



I still have the Early Cloth and Paint group on Yahoo too.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EarlyClothandPaint/

Fabulous Doll Trunk

The antique space next to me had this wonderful old doll trunk, all original ! Something so old in such great shape and available for sale, always makes my heart go pitter patter. It`s only about 12" wide or so.

Money & Art

Money.......I can speak for my own experience, I started making things for fun, because I wanted to try it, experience it, I was making with no thoughts of who would like it, what color they would buy etc., just for the pleasure. Then someone said why don`t I make them one, why don`t I sell them at........where ever it might have been . Now there was a shift at that point, I started creating with someone else in my mind, no longer for myself only, for the fun, experience etc. , as mention above. But the point is, someone wanted what I made at the beginning, what I made without a customer or shop in mind. How many of us started that way?
Then I worked at it more, using patterns, then no patterns, trying to create what I thought would bring financial success. I was no longer doing it for the experience, it was now my job, I needed to pay the car payment, the rent, things for my kids. I was the good mother making money for my children. I now demanded of this work to keep me happy financially, and when it didn`t meet the expectations, it was what??? because someone copied me, because I couldn`t get into a certain show, because I couldn`t get enough of a certain thing made, not having a clue which thing would sell well. Trying to come up with the right concoction of merchandise , display , and location. Maybe it rained that day, it was the rains fault, maybe it was 95 degrees that day, the weather kept them away. If it was nice , they stayed home and did gardening, and on and on this went as to why I wasn`t making enough. It will never be enough, because I am doing it for the wrong reasons. To make me feel good financially will make me feel stable, appear successful, temporarily feel happier, until it doesn`t anymore. Now I don`t mean this as bragging just so you know for this story, but before my creative breakdown, I had lists ,pages of orders to fill, I had gotten lots of work, I got what I was trying for, and it didn`t feel like I thought it would. I couldn`t do it anymore.
It was a thought from a group I have on Yahoo that changed my whole life, to make what I want to make, not what customers want. This started me on a journey that really has brought me back to the beginning, where I lost my way, where I did what others were doing at the time. This brought me temporary happiness, then came the unhappiness of it.
This is why I can have no ill feelings for those who copy, they won`t find true happiness this way. They will be pleased temporarily , but in the long run, they will have to keep looking at others for their work. They don`t see they have inside of them the work that could bring them joy and peace. Just as I didn`t see that I should have stayed with making things I liked and wanted to make. They don`t know each of us has this greatness inside of us, but there is so much negativity that keeps us from seeing it. Advertising tells us we need this to be better, if we buy it we will be better, this is how we were taught, to get something from the outside to make us better, obscuring our own light shining inside. They have us color inside lines of what we should be making pictures of, they teach us to draw and they fix it, or criticize it, and make it small, judge one better than another. Others were kept down, so they keep us down, but we must try another way. To not link money to our work. I sell antiques for an income now, I needed time to build up some stock and find my way. I`m still finding my way, as far as my work is concerned. I needed to separate my work and money. To think of something and make it come out through my hands, and then don`t judge it, let it be. If I love it, I don`t want to let it go. These are all new experiences for me. I was a one woman production line turning out pears, apples, rabbits ,etc. ,until I broke. I couldn`t do it anymore. I spent countless hours thinking what others would possibly buy, I was meant to try another way of being. Like the idea, if you are meant to move on to another job, you get those thoughts in your head and you` re too scared to leave, you`ll get fired! No matter what, you are meant to do something else, that was me.
I can`t tell you what happens after I build up an inventory of work that I`m ready to sell. I tried to sell a piece on Ebay, I asked $125. for it. Was in my store for awhile, gave it a good chance. I ended up donating it to the library silent auction, guess what it brought? $125. I felt it was a indication that I was right, it was worth that, but that`s not where I`ll be selling.
I just am telling you what I have learned through the years of doing this kind of work. For me,to put my work together with expectations of where it will be sold and to whom, was a financial success, that left me unhappy.
To protect your work , again is the act of owning, you don`t own it, it is a gift from God, it is bigger than us, it is more than us, we should be happy we get to participate in it. If we are inspired, we are" in spirit". It is from the universe, coming into the world through us, but not ours. Fear may be keeping you from being fully in your work, fear when you make something good , someone will steal it.
Nothing will stop copying , as long as there are people who don`t know enough or believe or encouraged to look within for their own work, who haven`t been told they could get great joy from finding their own greatness, but this may be a harder way to go for some, and if you have no confidence, no self worth, or value, you`ll think it`s better to copy someone else. They keep doing things the same way, and like they see others doing . How much energy are we willing to give something we can`t change? How much time ,thought, energy can you spare to be upset ,offended, be a victim of?
If you have fear about your money, not enough, lack, it has a lot more to do with you than your work. But it has no voice and can`t say , it`s not it`s fault. I hope these thougts are some help to those who read them.

Corner of my Kitchen

The hooked bird on the wall is my 1st thing I ever hooked. The chairs at the table were made by my Great Grandfather who was a carpenter and built houses and even a roller coaster. I collect a little redware, yelloware, wooden boxes, cutting and bread boards. Just some of everything not a lot of one thing.

Kitchen Shelf of Collectibles

I like to collect, old tin, old pottery ink wells, my only piece of old chalkware, the chicken on the top shelf. The chicken on the bottom is a wind up toy.

Old Aligatored Pink Cupboard

Years ago I had a booth in a craft co op that was in an old Jail. A woman there had this in her stand and wanted to get rid of it, hated it, and said I could have it and wouldn`t take anything for it. She just wanted it out of her basement. I`ve loved it ever since.

Tiny bear I made, pussy willows from last fall.

One Drawer Stand

I found this stand painted this color, this is newer paint, I had a cupboard in the 1980s I painted with the same paint. The wicker purse on the right I found really early at the flea market one morning, the makedo I made from an old painted piece of velvet ,can`t remember where I got that great hat, hat stand is probably from a porch, and the box is from the flea market too.