She started with a child's building block, an old wooden spoon, and a couple of clothespins. The bottom stick of the spoon became her arms. Paperclay did the rest. I love paperclay. Have I mentioned I love paperclay?
I think the mask suits her.
Showing posts with label ADO Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ADO Challenge. Show all posts
Feb 3, 2011
Meet Marcelle.
I finished her, actually the sealer went on this morning. Our Mini-Monthly Challenge on the ADO (art dolls only) team was a Masque theme...and as I happened to already have her 5/8th of the way finished, and knew I wanted a sort of twenties, flapper-girl follies kind of face, she decided she'd cooperate and dress for the challenge. Nice of her, wasn't it? I get the feeling she's not always so cooperative.
She started with a child's building block, an old wooden spoon, and a couple of clothespins. The bottom stick of the spoon became her arms. Paperclay did the rest. I love paperclay. Have I mentioned I love paperclay?
I think the mask suits her.
She started with a child's building block, an old wooden spoon, and a couple of clothespins. The bottom stick of the spoon became her arms. Paperclay did the rest. I love paperclay. Have I mentioned I love paperclay?
I think the mask suits her.
Dec 21, 2010
I finished Jack!
The most recent ADO challenge was Jack Frost. Of course, I take things very literally, so I had to see just how Jack Frost I could make him. He ended up being more of a Jack Sparrow meets Mad Hatter version, but I like him. I had never done a batting-wrapped wire frame for a doll, so the learning curve was steeper than with the gourd dolls, but every little bit of learning counts, right? I also learned that if you're making clothes for a static-frame doll, you better leave some seams open so you can sew them once they're ON the doll. Let's hear it for the ol' learning curve. :~) He's listed on Etsy now...and will be on Artfire soon.
Anyway, here he his. I hope you like him.
Anyway, here he his. I hope you like him.
Nov 28, 2010
This is Jo.
She's a challenge doll, created to answer the Inspired by the Masters ADO challenge. I chose James Whistlers' "Symphony in White No. 1"--which he had originally called The White Girl--as my inspirational masterpiece.
The painting was completed in 1862, but not well received, finally gaining entry into the Salon des Refusés, an exhibition held in Paris in 1863 to show work that had been refused by the selection committee of the official Salon. "Symphony" was in good company, however: Manet, Cézanne, and Camille Pissarro, were among other major artists represented at the exhibition. Despite its original aura of ridicule, the Salon des Refusés was a starting point for artists who began to ignore Napoleon's blessings to organize their own exhibitions, establishing 1863 as the accepted beginning of modern painting.
The model was Joanna Hiffernan, Whistler's mistress. Given an era in which an unmarried mistress modeling for her lover in the nude was considered little better than a prostitute, Jo called herself Mrs. Abbott to better help him sell his paintings. The vacant expression and stiff pose of the girl in the painting, resplendent in gauzy white wedding lace, fostered quite a number of interesting--and erroneous--interpretations of the painting. Mr. Whistler had conducted an exercise in color and tone, an example of Art for Art's Sake.
Reading about her, the reactions to the painting, and the history of her modeling for other artists, I couldn't help but find inspiration in Jo for a doll. Grateful that the ADO challenge guidelines allowed for interpretations rather than slavish copies, I let Jo develop as she saw fit, and the result seems to mock everything about the era--the art world, the hypocrisy of societal mores, even her own place in Whistler's life.
In response to the irony of Jo's story, I began with a beer bottle weighted with Plaster of Paris. Paper clay over foil and wire armatures made up the head, upper torso, hands and arms. I covered the body and head with blank newsprint, adding commentary snippets from a racy romance novel. (My favorite is the word 'family': Jo helped to raise Whistler's illegitimate son by another woman.) Washes of color--all the different tones of "white"--cover the decoupage of papers, antiqued overall. The arms are dressed in the satin, lace and ribbon of a bride...what I felt to be Jo's tongue in cheek response the 'bride after her wedding night' interpretation of the painting.
When I finished, and said so, Phil was shocked. "You're not going to give her any hair?" Joanna Hiffernan was famous for her Irish beauty and wavy auburn tresses. But I liked the in-your-face attitude of this Jo as she was, with her private smile and bright green feather.
The painting was completed in 1862, but not well received, finally gaining entry into the Salon des Refusés, an exhibition held in Paris in 1863 to show work that had been refused by the selection committee of the official Salon. "Symphony" was in good company, however: Manet, Cézanne, and Camille Pissarro, were among other major artists represented at the exhibition. Despite its original aura of ridicule, the Salon des Refusés was a starting point for artists who began to ignore Napoleon's blessings to organize their own exhibitions, establishing 1863 as the accepted beginning of modern painting.
The model was Joanna Hiffernan, Whistler's mistress. Given an era in which an unmarried mistress modeling for her lover in the nude was considered little better than a prostitute, Jo called herself Mrs. Abbott to better help him sell his paintings. The vacant expression and stiff pose of the girl in the painting, resplendent in gauzy white wedding lace, fostered quite a number of interesting--and erroneous--interpretations of the painting. Mr. Whistler had conducted an exercise in color and tone, an example of Art for Art's Sake.
Reading about her, the reactions to the painting, and the history of her modeling for other artists, I couldn't help but find inspiration in Jo for a doll. Grateful that the ADO challenge guidelines allowed for interpretations rather than slavish copies, I let Jo develop as she saw fit, and the result seems to mock everything about the era--the art world, the hypocrisy of societal mores, even her own place in Whistler's life.
In response to the irony of Jo's story, I began with a beer bottle weighted with Plaster of Paris. Paper clay over foil and wire armatures made up the head, upper torso, hands and arms. I covered the body and head with blank newsprint, adding commentary snippets from a racy romance novel. (My favorite is the word 'family': Jo helped to raise Whistler's illegitimate son by another woman.) Washes of color--all the different tones of "white"--cover the decoupage of papers, antiqued overall. The arms are dressed in the satin, lace and ribbon of a bride...what I felt to be Jo's tongue in cheek response the 'bride after her wedding night' interpretation of the painting.
When I finished, and said so, Phil was shocked. "You're not going to give her any hair?" Joanna Hiffernan was famous for her Irish beauty and wavy auburn tresses. But I liked the in-your-face attitude of this Jo as she was, with her private smile and bright green feather.
Nov 23, 2010
Finished my first doll challenge.
So the challenge on Art Dolls Only--at least the recent mini-challenge--was to make a doll with a medium we've never used before. I've played with so many materials over the years, not necessarily with dolls, but other arts. The one art medium I've wanted to try to make a doll of? Junk. Yeah, just whatever my little dumpster-diver mind can scrounge up around here.
(The husband is frugal and practical, but he does cringe sometimes at what I drag home.)
She has a mixer beater wrapped in a ribbon skirt as a beginning, some copper wire and 30-06 shells for arms, wall mirror brackets for hands, shelf-bracket plugs for feet (w/ a little paperclay and glitter.) Her face is sculpted paperclay with upholstery tack eyes and a ball-chain mouth on an orange juice tin-lid, with curly red wire hair. Her upper body is paperclay illustrated with a decoupage of the one who broke her heart. Couldn't resist pointy acorn cap boobies...
I began this doll with the idea to make a "Kitchen Angel" but somehow she morphed into a Single Career Girl of the fifties, smiling with determined cheerfulness because that's what Nice Girls do. Her smile doesn't get anywhere with the old matrons of the place, however. They see her hour-glass figure and judge her shiny glitter...and whisper, "It's not my place to say, but that one...she's been known to stir up trouble."
I enjoyed the chance to stretch a little, try something I've always wanted to try, and experience the absolute joy of experimentation. Thank you Art Dolls Only for the challenge!
(The husband is frugal and practical, but he does cringe sometimes at what I drag home.)
She has a mixer beater wrapped in a ribbon skirt as a beginning, some copper wire and 30-06 shells for arms, wall mirror brackets for hands, shelf-bracket plugs for feet (w/ a little paperclay and glitter.) Her face is sculpted paperclay with upholstery tack eyes and a ball-chain mouth on an orange juice tin-lid, with curly red wire hair. Her upper body is paperclay illustrated with a decoupage of the one who broke her heart. Couldn't resist pointy acorn cap boobies...
I began this doll with the idea to make a "Kitchen Angel" but somehow she morphed into a Single Career Girl of the fifties, smiling with determined cheerfulness because that's what Nice Girls do. Her smile doesn't get anywhere with the old matrons of the place, however. They see her hour-glass figure and judge her shiny glitter...and whisper, "It's not my place to say, but that one...she's been known to stir up trouble."
I enjoyed the chance to stretch a little, try something I've always wanted to try, and experience the absolute joy of experimentation. Thank you Art Dolls Only for the challenge!
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