It Feels Like Home

So many of my friends and family have asked how I found the primitive dolls. The answer is that they found me. I was working in the Craft Dept. of a discount store in town. I had worked there for years, nearly 20 by the time they closed their doors in 2002. On occasion, this tiny and whimsical little woman would walk into the department; looking for paints most generally. She was a lot of fun and I always enjoyed seeing her. We would talk of different things such as chalkware. One day she had noticed some drawings and paintings that I had on display for the holiday season. She asked if I could do some drawing for her. She was an artist, but didn't draw and needed some of her work drawn up. I said sure and we exchanged numbers.

Pulling up to her house brought the biggest smile to me. I had often passed by her home just a few years earlier on my way back and forth to work. I had always wanted to stop, but never quite did. Her home was built in 1812, a wonderful old Colonial home. She has lived there for sometime, on her own and yes repairs and paint were needed, but the house had a voice beyond that. There is a charm and a homey feeling that rules. I walked in through the door and I felt like I had just come home. The house inside was warm and cozy, yes very primitive with wooden tables and chairs that had stories to tell under ancient layers of chipped paint. In a back room, a wood stove heated us and cooked our lunch. She brought out dolls, pin keeps and little treasures such as old scissors and spools of thread... could I draw them? YES!!! I was in love with the dolls, so ancient looking, and yet the humor of a mouth that went straight across! I joked with her that I often looked that way upon waking up! I left that day with a whole new world spinning inside my head...I wanted to make these things as well as draw them. They spoke to my heart as no other media had. I had come home......