People's Choice Event - Deadline for entering this event is September 5th.  If you are thinking ahead to the Year End Competition, keep in mind that one of the requirements for Year End is that you have had to participated in at least one juried show this year.  So if you weren't in the Winter Blues event, or didn't compete at the IADR Art Doll Convention in May - The People's Choice Event is the last event to enter so that you can qualify for the Year End Competition.

Also, it is a fun way to participate since you are having friends and family vote for your work as well as the public.  You can't sell dolls without being seen, as this is our best event for our Artist's Studio pages to be seen.  The reach is always tremendous.  Keep in mind that if you want any updating to your Artist's Studio pages, let me know so we can make those changes.  You can email me at [email protected].

People's Choice Event will begin the voting starting September 8th and run through until September 22nd.  Keep in mind the Winner of the People's Choice will be featured on the cover of our next IADR Art Doll magazine.

At this time the IADR Art Doll magazine is planned to be released October 6th.  This year we are also having the IADR Doll Sale in October to make it easier to order and maybe have by Christmas for those wishing to purchase something special and unique.

Also we are already thinking of next year events and a poll will soon be out to see what type of themes you would like to have for the IADR Art Doll Convention in May as well as themes for the August juried show.  The Winter Blues juried show is pretty much "winter, blues, or anything in between" for that event *smiling*.

There are many things happening at the IADR, don't hide behind a mask.  Get involved with thinking about what you might want to submit in the People's Choice competition.  Do you want to put a 'Do What You Love' submission in the IADR Art Doll magazine?  Deadline for magazine submissions is September 19th.  If you like a theme to be added to the POLL, please send it to me soon at [email protected] as I hope to have the poll ready for next week's blog. 

The Shylock Doll Gathering is meeting TODAY (Tues, Aug 12th) at 12:30 pm.  The next IADR Art Doll Convention Planning Committee is meeting September 10th.

​That’s when I had one of my “aha” moments.  If I knew everything when I was beginning my art path, then I would have nothing new to learn now.  For me, my art is all about the experience of expressing myself through my creations.  If my art sells, that is a wonderful benefit and I am glad for it, but it isn’t the motivation as to why I create it.

To continue my "aha" moment I also realized people learn and remember more with pain than pleasure.  Sad but true.  For every moment I got frustrated or fed up with a piece I was working on, I tend to remember those moments more than my successes.  But that is okay if I also took away from that experience a new understanding or progressed in my art.  For art is truly practice - practice - practice!

So this blog is for any of you that are in one of those "moments".  Especially with all the changes to the market, AI development, and at times even the feeling of lack of support or community, remember you are not alone in these feelings.  For myself, even as frustrated as I can get with my art, I am glad I have the ability to still do it and the passion to continue to follow it... where ever it leads me.  As someone recently asked me, "Do you believe dolls can heal?"  I absolutely believe that and that they can teach us about ourselves and also make our world even a little better.