The Goode Witch of Washington County

Says WHOOOOooo???

2009-05-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't set aside Halloween except for a few weeks during Bunny season for over a year now and I'm loving it. I know I'm doing what I was meant to do. I've taken time and thought over the past couple of years to look at my dolls more and more in the Art Doll category and networking with some extraordinary artists in the field.Still it wasn't until a friend from Somerset encouraged me more to continue that direction... and I have. I've had such a wonderful time putting animals in time period dress, and have continued this journey to a another level. Bringing some of my Note card images to life as a doll. Some for show only and some for licensing at this point... but you will see some at my online venues ahead.

Until then, enjoy my owl~ it was the eye concept that I just had to try, I loved it and another, Snowy owl is in flight as we speak. The Seraph is another interest for me these 12 years of Folk art...the path is always moving ahead and mine seems to be bordered with Pumpkins and witches and all things spooky. Onward I go.....

Changes

2009-05-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

There are changes ahead for this Goode Witch, not so much in my art, but in my life. Life changes can be subtle or big...this will be big, but not bad. In it all, I've come across pictures of a few friends I have forgotten about. This one I just love~ Elsbeth. As I was cataloging drawings and patterns (I have several hundred over the years) I came upon her and others. I KNOW I need to be packing, but oh, how I want to bring them all to life! So torn am I! It will all fall in to place, I realize, but not without a few heart tugs along the way.

I just LOVE a Goode Witch

2009-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Especially in a lovely shade of green! I've been having fun here embracing my love of Halloween and playing around with some different orange fabrics for an Art Doll I'd like to do. It's a slow go with care taking, but it does move forward. Even with a slow economy we love our dollies and so I have been graced by many to adopt my pretties~ even of the Toady variety!

Things That Go Bump In The Night

2009-03-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

My, but it's been awhile. I've been busy and Halloween hasn't stopped, except for the past month. There were bunnies to be made and patterns to be drawn...oh, and let's not forget that it is tax season (now, that is just THE most wicked thing to a business owner... especially one that is more passion minded than about where ever cent goes.) In it all though, my mind has not strayed from pumpkin witches , black cats or skeletons....but maybe, just maybe I can settle into my work area adorned with skeletons and get started on a wonderful year ahead.This Goode Witch has much ahead of her with new sketches and ideas. Eleanor Higgins is the first on my pattern agenda and a even more extreme prim big doll. She's being rag stuft at the moment. Witch ornies are sewn and ready to stuff, they were a huge hit at the Heritage show and a must for my Fall Shows ahead... it I start now....

I'm a lover of dark early mornings,a good hour or two before the sun comes up. A movie to listen to and friends to be stuft, make for the beginnings of a perfect day~ as the sun rises, my friends come to life. Now, most of you know, I have wee little Molly beside me. She really loves to sleep all cozy and beside me, even putting her head on my pillow. She doesn't however enjoy my fondness for the dark hour before sunrise. Sometimes lately she will make her way out, but not without being in my way as I navigate without waking the house with light. She's just doing her job I suppose and she does it well. She does know how to give me a good heart thumper sometimes!

I'm Not Letting Go.....

2008-11-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm just not ready yet. I still have pumpkin head dollies drawn out and Santas that come first. I have added to my Skeleton collection this year and basked in the smell of the leaves. I made pumpkin bread and pumpkin spiced coffee. The pumpkin bread is best served toasted with cream cheese. Even in all that the days have been busting out busy... I'm not ready to let go yet of Halloween. I am ready to take advantage of the marked down candy at the grocery store....one of my favorite treats is awaiting! Simply mix a bag of candy corn with salted peanuts. Be careful....it's wicked good!

A Little Tour

2008-11-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

A warm goode welcome to all of you. I thought that I'd give you a look at how the Goode Comfort Studio is coming along. Tim set it up as a surprise to me in September, I'm so fortunate to have such a loving soul beside me. It still has some inspiration pieces moving in and the work areas will be coming along, but I thought that you would enjoy a peek. Take a little something sweet to enjoy with your tea........

So far, this is the main work area at the present. There is a sewing table and cutting table behind my chair with the sweater on it. There are Santas awaiting their beards on the table. They are surrounded my pieces that I've done, along with some of my dearest friends.

With all of this creating, there is hardly room to take care of the cobwebs and dust.. and so they get rather big. This wire version is about a yard long and one of my wire works. She moves gently as people walk by and create a breeze~ such fun!

One must have a sturdy shelf to hold ones treasures! This one was here already and so it is put to good use with some of my favorite treasures.

One of my favorite finds this season was this little lighted vellum box . Another favorite is the chalk ware pieces made by my best friend. They are dear to me.

The top of the computer desk is the perfect place for a skeleton to sit and read. Sometimes the best books are long reads!

If you haven't guessed by now, skeletons are a favorite with me. Will the studio stay this way now that Halloween is over? You can bet on it. We've decided that we really do like it all, so why not? There is another studio in the works, but that won't happen until next year. Now that one won't boast the spookiness of this one, but it will be worth my wait.

Smells and Memories~

2008-10-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

In an instant time flies back. A walk in the evening hours this time of year can send instant childhood memories tumbling about my head like the leaves that roll across the lawn with the breeze. It's dusk. So many of the leaves have fallen. There is nothing better than to walk in them as they rustle around your feet and you inhale their perfume. It's intoxicating for sure. Above me a V of geese fly overhead, announcing that winter will soon blanket us in white.

Suddenly, I'm 8 again, walking along the blue grey slate sidewalks, as an array of fall colored leaves dance among my feet. The trees take on a spookier look now that they are almost bare. The sky is a very New England overcast making the mountains look cold and steely. It's nearly dark and and surely suppertime. I can smell Grandma cooking pork chops for dinner and the excitement is welling up in my tummy. I can't wait to open my costume box. I've looked at it every day for a couple of weeks now, careful not to break the clear film that covers the mask. Tonight is special and treats await. There is booty to be had and Charlie Brown to watch before bed. This Halloween will be the best, because I just know I will look awesome in my Tweety costume.

Sleepy Hollow Days

2008-10-15T15:45:00.001-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how so much of what captured me in my childhood, still carries with me today. I'm more mindful now, looking at what stays with my girls and impacts them. They have come to realize that their Mom balances the responsibilities of an adult on one hand, spinning a plate while in the other, spins a few other plates that many adults left behind.

The mountains are wearing their best dresses right now and in a couple days so much of it will blow away. I wrap it all around me and rejoice in the smell of the leaves and woodsmoke that curls from chimneys on these crisp mornings. I pull the memories close and smile. I enjoy sharing so much with my daughters. They are both at the Jr/Sr High School at the end of our street... the same school I finished my schooling at when we moved here back in '74.

I showed the girls where my English class was and how we sat their early in the morning listening to Mr. Foley discuss literature. He was old.. ancient even, with kind eyes, a deep voice and an Adam's apple that bobbed furiously as he recited passages so passionately. It was our piece for October that is forever ingrained. It was a foggy morning and you could barely see the orange leaves on the trees across the street from the class room. We opened our books and Mr. Foley began. We listened intently as he read the passage describing Ichabod Crane and suddenly the classroom burst into smiles and giggles.

You see, Mr. Foley was reading a description that could well be his own. He gave us a nod as he looked out of the corner of his eye and held out his hand to hush us. In that instant we knew... yes, the comparison had been made many times before and this was a favorite of his that he embraced and passed on to us with a little visual. I still call those foggy days, Sleepy Hollow Days, as do my girls. Now I pass it on to you.

Welcome Goode Friends

2008-09-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

A warm Autumn greeting to all of you. Some of you have written in with a sigh that Ravenwick was taken off the blogging map. Originally it was to be a place for Jessie and I to share our enjoyment of somewhat spookier things. Jess is growing into a fine young lady, but her interests lie in her social world right now. Ravenwick will wait, but perhaps then, it is time to share with you, another part of me. The part that loves Halloween and all things considered spooky. This is a beginning and I'm unsure just where this blog will go, but for tonight I will share a little bit of how we have enjoyed this time of year. Fix yourself a cup of mulled cider or perhaps a bit of peppermint tea, put a log in the woodstove and enjoy yourself.

I have loved watching my girls grow. I have also loved sharing with them my passion, which along with the art, was Halloween. When the girls were quite young and we lived up on the hill, I dressed as Rosie the Witch for a community charity. I would entertain people young and old as they waited to see a Haunted House fundraiser.

What started out simply as a lark , (I had to work quite late to do anything very elaborate) soon became the talk of the town. I tried to fashion myself a bit like Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus. A museum catalogue gave me the perfect bar wench type dress and a fine start, but I had to go from there. Being in a small town, it is difficult to find less needful things, but I did manage to pull something together. No one knew who I was. I wore a reddish wig and a a Madonna type bustier (cone boobs) that sat nicely on top of my wench dress. Sally Jessie Raphael red glasses, Austin Powers teeth and high top basketball sneakers made me quite the vision of witchy delight!

Over the years my props grew. I had a broomstick with a license plate and a bicycle horn on it, a dead cat collection (stuffed and NOT real), not to mention a few tricks stuffed in my bustier. I could get a half of a PBJ in one cup (perhaps cone is a better description)and a HUGE pair of ladies panties with a strategic brown stripe painted in the other. I had a little hand bag with squishy spiders on one wrist and a sometimes carried a shovel , to which was wired a dead looking cat from a Halloween catalogue.

I would sit on a very shy young man's lap and sing, "oh mystery of life, at last I've found you..." or take couples and mix them up with other partners. I'd bring out my shovel with the cat on it and,ask, " who ran over my cat?". If someone looked a little frightened before starting into the Haunted House, I would pull out my trusty underoos, hold them up and tell the person that the last group that went through had left them. If someone came back the next night, I'd tell them that they had left them the night before and I wanted to give them back.

It was so much fun and people would come from as far away as Conneticut and Maine to see me and have a picture taken. The rest of the Haunted House was different every year and many people put a great long hours into it every year. With all of us, it was a success for the community. A lot of money was raised for a good cause and I was very proud to be a part of it.

I'm no longer Rosie and the Haunted House is no longer there. I still get asked to do her for other Haunted Houses and perhaps someday I just may, or even better yet, show up unannounced somewhere. I have no pictures of myself, but that is fine by me, as I would rather be behind the camera. To all of you, I say, give of yourself to someone or a worthy cause. A bit of your time can make a difference to one or many. You may touch lives in a way that you never dreamed of. You just may make a difference bigger than you ever intended. I did.. for a few moments in time, this once painfully shy girl, hidden behind a wig, glasses and teeth, helped to make a difference to her community and embrace her love of halloween.