Once upon a time there was a little artist named Emma. She found my blog and she shared some of her art with me. She had the soul of a bird and her color was wonderful.
She liked my Puppet, and she like my donkey. We wrote each other sometimes.
And one day, her mom drove from the Midwest to Oregon to see family and it just so happened that trip coincided with that year's Pino Pie Day.
I had remembered they wrote and said they might come, but you know, people write me all sorts of nice things and they never come to be. So when a woman walked up to me at Pie Day and announced who they were, I was confused....
"Emma, my Emma? From way far away?"
Emma spent almost the entire day at Pie Day that year, dragging around a donkey doll she had found for sale in the studio which her mom bought her. That doll was Juliette. I was informed that Juliette has had many surgeries - a true sign a doll is loved. When Emma entered my studio that day - she was the first person to look up high and see the Puppets looking down from her perch, and she gasped! She knew those puppets!
I was told by her mother that when they left that day, Emma told her, "That was the best day of my life."
I have told that story many times to many people. There is power and grace in it for me - for it is one of the most meaningful artistic relationships I've had and it is about a big circle of puppet love.
But it gets better. Just days ago, I received this photo of Emma, with Juliette the donkey. But now there are other dolls to keep Juliette happy. Emma and her mom and sisters spent a day over the holidays making donkey dolls. I was thrilled.
And what she doesn't know is this inspired me too - to act on something I've been thinking about for awhile - to do Sock Puppet/Doll Online Class[es]. I needed a muse to remind me. Thank you, Emma. More about that soon.
