The fabulous doll artist Marla Niederer...

Hello lovelies,

I have been slacking here on my blog, but today I have a fabulous offering, an interview with my dear friend and fellow artist, Marla Niederer. Her art is so great it takes my breath away! I asked her a few questions, and here are her answers:

How did you get into doll making? What other kind of art did you do first?

I am a self-taught artist and have always been engaged in one art project or another since my earliest childhood memories. I have always been drawn to figurative art and my earliest art was two dimensional figurative art. I have used a variety of mediums but spent a lot of time playing with pastels and acrylic paints. As a child I also loved dolls. About 24 years ago I picked up a magazine and saw dolls being created as an art form and I was fascinated. From that time on, I have been designing and creating art dolls. My earlier works were a combination of paper-clay and cloth. Currently I work all in cloth.

What is the most challenging about the dolls you make?

Pushing the boundaries of cloth. I am always working on developing and refining my techniques so that the figurative art I create matches more closely what I see in my head, heart, and dreams. My art has evolved considerably since I began and hopefully will continue to evolve as long as I create.

What is the most rewarding?

Teaching my art to others. That is my way of trying to share the benefits of engaging in creative pursuits. I have always found the process of creating a way to de-stress, to live more fully in the moment, and a way to make my heart sing.

Marla, I know you have retired from your regular job recently to work full time on your art. That is really exciting and something you have wanted to do for a long time. Tell me a bit about retiring and working on the dolls, and how that has changed your life.


I really don’t consider myself retired. I left the field of public education to enter the field of figurative art full time. The change has been transformational. I follow the rhythms of my body. I no longer wear a watch, time has become irrelevant. I eat when I am hungry and rest when I am tired. I wake up rested and eager to start each day working on my art. I am calm and able to handle stressful life situations in a much more serene manner. I smile and laugh much more than ever before. My heart sings all the time. My art is evolving at a much quicker pace. I have always been an artist and now I can be who I am all of the time. Life is bliss.


Marla, I know you're having some classes coming up soon and I would love for my readers to find out more about them.


I will be teaching an online class on Claudette: A Cage Doll on A for Artistic starting March 31, 2015. You can read more about it by clicking on this link:

  http://bit.ly/1FaSSUu

  

 

I will also be teaching a live class How to Needle-Sculpt and Use Watercolors to Create a Cloth Doll Head at the Quinlan Art Doll and Teddy Bear Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday April 30, 2015. I will also have a sales table at the convention for my figurative art dolls. You can find out more about the convention and how to sign up for my class by clicking on the following link:

http://bit.ly/1w4myCO

Here below are some earlier examples of Marla's dolls.

  

Thank you, Marla, for your beautiful gift of teaching doll making to the world!

To connect with Marla online, you can friend her on Facebook, and follow her on her BLOG.

Mermaid at Home, mixed media collage... how to...

A friend of mine, Marla, asked me to do a commission for her.  She makes beautiful dolls and other kinds of art, a truly creative soul.  She sent me a box of things I might put into it, but I only ended up using some of the background papers.  I knew she likes mermaids, so I thought I couldn't go wrong with that!  :)  So I made a how to post with this project.

This collage is smaller than the usual sizes I work with, about 9x8" so the design got a bit more challenging since the elements have to fit the format.  I tore pieces of decorative papers and glued them on good with medium. Make sure the edges are glued down. The shells are from wallpaper border remnants, the butterfly from wrapping paper, and the others are decorative papers from the craft store.  I have gazillion in every color you can imagine...

When it's really dry, I like to smear on acrylic paints with a paper towel.  I like soft blended edges.  If you want bolder lines, use an old credit card.  Torn paper edges lend themselves well to smeared paint. 

When the paint was dry, I added on elements and blended them into the background with more layers of paint.

I added on more elements and some stamped images with permanent ink, and I outlined the mermaid and painted her tail with paint pens, also permanent.

More detail, and I worked on her hair.  Wasn't all that thrilled, but I kept on going.

 

I ended up adding more details with some inspirational words and two women who are friends at the bottom, symbolizing our friendship that has lasted for many years.   I fiddled a lot with her hair and face, and painted some fish, plus added some fish pictures I found, which were tiny!  Then I let it all dry before I varnished it.  The acrylic varnish really deepens the colors and the details. 

I took the last picture outside, and also captured a picture of my "rioting" mum on the front step.

Creativity strikes again...

CREATIVITY STRIKES AGAIN....

I had a creativity attack yesterday, and I finished one polymer clay embellished box. See above. It has all my favorite colors, blue, turquoise, copper, and a hint of burgundy. Polymer clay is a very friendly and forgiving media to work with. By experimenting you can come up with many great ways to mold it. Perfection some times shows up from a lump of clay... Here are some examples of polymer clay art. Maybe you'll get inspired? I don't use a pasta machine; I roll out the soft clay with a rolling pin, then use a clay blade and various handy tools to make impressions in the clay. It's time consuming, but it's fun to see it grow and turn into a cohesive picture. Color combinations are what make the visual interest.

Bailey is often helping me in my studio by lying right on my work space. His marketing motto for today: Always make sure you're in the center of the action for maximum exposure!

Happy creating! Maria