One crazy week down and one more to go! I didn't get a whole lot accomplished due to reasons I mentioned two posts ago, but since I did say I'd show you something finished today, I have a couple of items. The first being my Frida doll with Diego mask. I've noticed that many doll makers have a Frida in their repertoire and with good reason~she was an undeniably fascinating woman and artist. Most of us probably learned about her in an art class but I didn't really know that much about her until reading about the photographer
Tina Modotti. So many artist biographies of that time period are intertwined.
Diego Mask and backside of Frida doll
Anyhow, here is my Frida inspired doll complete with a mask, of course, of Diego. As you know she had to endure months at a time in cast throughout her life due to an injury she suffered in her youth along with spina bifuda. So I chose to dress her in a corset made of plaster bandages and covered in cotton with a quote of hers: "Feet, why do I need them when I have wings to fly". The corset representing pain, femininity, confinement and a bedridden life in which she taught herself to paint, thus leading to the extraordinary creative life she was meant to live.
And I have a few sculptures I did manage to finish. I have several more (along with dolls) in the works but I probably wont get to them for another week or so. Mark is
finishing up his table for the golf resort that I mentioned and we will be delivering it this weekend. Then he has a week of teacher inservice days. But after Labor day he's back to work and Andres will be at the sitter's for three days a week and I'll be back to my normal routine (if you can call it that). I am sooo happy about that. This is my first summer with my doll business and I had no idea that Summer time would be the busiest for me on a personal level. I'm already thinking about how to plan out next year. I'll probably take half the summer off for family and get a sitter for a few days a week). Ok, Im babbling but as many of you working artist moms know it is really difficult to get anything creative done ! I love my son and wouldn't trade him for anything :)
Here are the sculptures..I only made a few with arms as it is quite difficult to paint and varnish with very little space in between the body and arm. I sculpted the arms then removed and reassembled them with asuper strong epoxy . I'm not sure if I will be making more with arms or not.
These ladies are approx. 4" tall
The light was growing dim with rain clouds this afternoon so I only have a few photos to share. I also bought some new matte varnish that I think is mislabeled because it came out a satin gloss which I don't mind, but the next dolls and sculptures will be in a matte varnish (much easier to photograph!). And to solve the "arm problem" I made a few busts with my signature masks :)
Sculptures with fox masks are approx 3" tall
Since I'll be super busy for another week, and obviously will not be having another"official" shop update until September, I am putting the five sculptures and Frida doll up in my shop this Friday morning (Aug. 22) around eleven am Pacific time. Thanks for stopping by and for being patient with me this summer! It's fun to think back to this time last year. I was just discovering art blogs and entertaining the idea of making dolls again,selling them and starting this blog.
See you soon:)
Dolls in the works