Appalachian Folk Art by Kentuckian, Rebecca F. Miller Campbell. Featuring handmade One of a Kind (OOAK) signed, numbered, primitive art dolls, paintings & bits of whimsy from the hills of Eastern Kentucky.
Remember Picture Day at school? This is kinda like that without all the fidgeting….last minute primping and smoothing of the hair, straightening the skirt, bigger smile please and, as always, a few outtakes. No matter what anyone tells you, photographing artwork is hard work. I’ve been waiting for good light forever during this rainy July.
Sometimes you find that inspiration is staring you in the face.
Literally.
Every morning this is the face I am greeted to when I walk into my kitchen, wiping sleepiness from my eyes. This little face peers through the back kitchen door and as soon as she spots me she begins meowing sharply. Food. She wants food. When does she want it? NOW!
And so I feed her and sneak a pet while her head dips into the food bowl.
It wasn’t always like this.
Around this time last year, this little lady showed up in our neighborhood. From where she came is a mystery. I just noticed her one day outside my studio window, perched atop an old table on my porch used for holding ferns and pretty flowers on my porch. It’s typical to see wandering cats in on our street. Like most places, there is an abundance of homeless critters or perhaps critters with homes who sometimes wander the streets.
Before long this little feral lady had a batch full of kittens. I found them in June nestled under my azaleas and promptly took them to my porch for protection. Little Mama did not like that however and soon moved her kittens. I felt bad for trying to intervene….my intention was to tame the kittens and find them homes. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it.
But, this little lady has stuck around the neighborhood winning hearts and earning tasty nibbles with her sweet, delicate face. This past year has been a time of getting her healthy, getting her comfortable with the human voice & touch. Yesterday, I watched her come to my husband for petting and soak it up. She’s still a little standoffish at times but we can sneak in neck scratches when she’s eating and she’ll come really close to me for treats. There has been a lot of sitting with her while she eats this past year. I think this spring will be great for her! And I think little by little she will learn to trust although I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to pick her up and cuddle.
Although this little lady doesn’t have an official name yet & is still a neighborhood cat as I suspect she visits lots of us regularly, she is the inspiration behind my doll for this month’s PFATT Marketplace.
I’ve named my doll Mittsy, but I suspect our feral gal would think that’s too cutesy.
Mittsy is available on PFATT Marketplace today at 1 PM EST. Click here to purchase.
I love designing new dolls. I love drawing the idea on paper, making the pattern. My most favorite part of the design process though–is seeing my idea actually come to life. I know a design is a success if the outcome is even cuter than I could have imagined. I feel like these four new Little Critter designs, inspired by all things farm, are better than I could have imagined (Yes, I know…a crow isn’t really a farm animal..but, I’ve never known a farmer who didn’t battle crows or seen a farm absent of them.)
These little guys are available for the month of February on PFATT Marketplace. Take a look and while you’re there, check out the rest of the art created by small business owners like me.
Here are some close ups of my new designs. Let me know what you think!
These little fellas are currently available on PFATT Marketplace for $40.00 per + $5.00 for shipping via USPS Priority Mail. Click here to purchase and if you are a regular customer of mine & don’t do Paypal, email me for details. Thanks so much for looking at my latest work!
This…
is how these little fellas
begin.
Just simple sketches on white paper which I’ve divided up into sections. One half of the sketch is always a little more detailed than the other side. The sketch above is what I’m working on today. In a few minutes I’ll cute each segment out then fold each character in half on the vertical line that runs down the body. I’ll cut my shape from the more detailed side and Voila! an ornament pattern is born. The vertical line allows the ornament to be symmetrical on both sides. To some this doesn’t really matter, but for me…I’m always so disappointed when I’m finished stuffing an ornament and notice the ears are way off or the cheeks are in different positions. So I like this method. It works for me…(usually). I still have to pay careful attention when I’m stuffing so that the curves are “right”. You would think that since the shape is sewn a certain way, you could just stuff willy nilly and all would turn out fine. Over the years I’ve learned that this is not always the case. I can control the shape with my stuffing fork.
A stuffing fork, you say? Whaaa?????
That little white instrument on top is my stuffing fork. Under that are long hemostats. These are two items I can’t live without. I have a back up stuffing fork, just in case I should ever lose the one I’m currently using. In the beginning of my doll making career I used whatever I could find to push fluffy fiberfill into doll bodies. A skinny long handled paint brush was my go-to. And I thought it worked fine until I saw a stuffing fork in a doll parts catalog. “Hmmm, I’ll give it a try”, I thought. It made such a difference in my projects. The tiny tines allow you to really control the stuffing in a way that I couldn’t with a long handled paint brush. It holds my stuffing so that I can direct the tiniest amount to sharp corners like tiny ears, hat tips and pointy noses. I think my work really began to improve when I purchased the stuffing fork. In fact, I wouldn’t even want to try to make painted ornaments without it.
Today I’ll be cutting out and sewing a large batch of these little guys for winter stuffing sessions bundled up on my couch while the temps dip outside! It’s nice to still be productive when it’s too cold to actually work in my studio. Oh the woes of living in an old farmhouse!
But I’ll have Netflix and my stuffing fork to keep me company.
Online:
Appalachian Fireside Gallery
Berea, Kentucky
Kentucky Folk Art Center
Morehead, Kentucky
Kentucky Artisan Center
Berea, Kentucky
Kentucky Historical Society
Frankfort, Kentucky
Locust Grove Museum Shop
Louisville, Kentucky
Indigenous Craft Gallery
Cincinnati, Ohio
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