Tis the Season!

I missed last weeks blog post because I've been a busy little bee. I recently received a commission to make a pair of dolls for the same lovely couple that I had previously made dolls for. I also have a magazine assignment that I was working on at the same time. I have to learn to manage my "free" time with my "work" time. I was able to do my assignments on time, but I didn't make any to keep my blog up to date.

Anyway, the call came in to make a pair of whimsical dolls of mom and dad, and include all the kids, too. From the information I received about the recipients, they seemed like pretty swell people. Silly, fun and lighthearted. So that's how I wanted to represent them in doll fashion. They are also Oregon Ducks fans, so I worked the team's colors into dad's Hawaiian shirt.

The four "kids" are represented by tiny Ducks, but I changed the appearance of each kid "Duck" based on personality cues I got from my client.

Rough draft sketch

Body part layout plan.

Mid-painting process shot.

Cut out and assembled.

Final version with everyone assembled and arranged on the background.

Duck detail.

Final. Complete with smudgy fingerprint (that was hopefully removed before delivery)
I found this great shadowbox at Craft Warehouse. I really like the
color of the stain on the wood. Originally, my fiance was planning
to make a shadowbox from scratch for this project, but we're still in
the planning and designing stages. He didn't want to give my client
a shadowbox that he wasn't proud of.

I have a couple of ideas floating around for some dolls as a personal project, but something I'd love to share with others. But first I have to finish another paying gig. A creative girl could totally get used to this! I love that I feel like I'm being a productive person, and although, I'm not raking in a ton of dough, it's enabling me to be able to purchase supplies, which continue to allow me to create!

These last handfull of doll projects have really motivated me to put myself out there for custom portrait dolls. I've always been a little hesitant to offer portrait-based dolls because I'm really finicky when it comes to portraits. I want the image I'm creating to look EXACTLY like the person it's supposed to be. But with cartoony style drawings, there's a little more leeway when it comes to resemblance. What do you think?

Machanica anatomica

It's been a bit since I've posted anything on my blog. I don't have any exciting excuses other than we've been house shopping and that's sucked the creative juices out of me for a long time. I recently sold some work and the same client commissioned me to do some work for her as a gift to her loved ones.

Since my thesis, I've been obsessed (I say this in a creative obsession sort of way) with creating images to be stored in shadowboxes. My paper dolls, or anatomical hearts.

Hearts aren't a new subject for my work. I've been trying to find ways to squeeze them into my work for a long time. Usually they're just the simple symbolic representation. But lately I've been taking that up a notch. The anatomical machine that is the heart.

I'm not the first to depict the heart as a machine. I'm not doing anything avant garde. But this is my own passion. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process of drawing, painting and assembling. My creative space and process would probably make Henry Ford proud.

Enough chit-chat, lets get to the creation porn.

This is the first project that I've done in a while where I didn't sketch out my image before applying it directly to the paper. So, just in case, I made three different versions to see which one would look the best.

TV personality and chef Bobby Flay once said something that stuck with me. It wasn't about art of course, it was about food. Basically, he said that when you're making pancakes, always throw out the first one because it will definitely be a flop. This seemed to ring true to my "on the fly" painting project. The image on the right is the first heart I started painting. The one on the left is one that I was half-heartedly (sorry, bad pun) painting at the same time. It wasn't until I finished that I realized I didn't really like the way that my first one turned out and I turned my attentions to the heart that became the final piece of art.

Beginning stages of paint on the third and final heart.

Close to completion. Just a few minor details.

I added some "rusty" areas, and blended shadows and reds better.

Cut and laying on my mat, ready to be attached to the background.

Arranging the heart over the background, trying to find the best placement for it.

Final.

The frame that I purchased originally came with brackets that you wrapped hanging wire around to mount to the wall. The brackets overlapped the background image and were really distracting (you can see them in the image above this one). I removed them and installed a sawtooth bracket and it's much better. Lesson learned.

I'd like to thank my client, who ordered this out of love for her dear friends and gave me the opportunity to share my work with other creative souls and to share the process with my readers, fans and loved ones. I really can't wait to share more with the world!

Un-Valentines

The boy and I SAY we don't celebrate Valentines day, but we do in our own, lazy fashion.

We try to make it a point to leave notes and tell each other how much we care as often as possible. While I like the sentiment behind the "holiday", I don't think anyone should spoil their loved one on a single day. It should happen as often as possible.

I also don't like how commercialized that it's become (or may have always been). Making people feel bad if they don't drop a pretty penny on some material object, cheap candy or flowers that will die.

But I used it as an excuse to make something for my love. Well, because that's just the way it works.

I was just going to pop in to the thrift store to see what kind of books they had. I had an idea to hollow out a book and turn it into a frame. But after looking through what they had, I wasn't impressed.
Until I looked at their murder-mystery section. I happened upon a book called "Heartsick" and while the title was timely, I didn't think it was appropriate. Next to it was "Sweetheart" and the lightbulb went off over my head. This was PERFECT.

I made the mistake of checking out frames while I was there (as I'm wont to do) and found some cute little shadowboxes. They weren't the size I wanted for the heart project, but something told me to buy them. I paced back and forth trying to decide. The shadowboxes are only about 3x3 and that's a bit small for what I had in mind.

I said "screw it" and bought the two boxes, the book and a cheap plastic Baroque-looking frame.

I haven't had a lot of time to do personal projects, so I had to start on this on Friday while the boy was at work. But I was carving the pages out while he was downstairs cooking on Saturday. Needless to say, the pages didn't cut straight because the book was so thick. Perfect for my project, not so good for cutting straight (I can't even draw a straight line).

I finally finished while he was playing Call of Duty across the room from him. It was anticlimactic, but I really liked making it.

Just a book

Unassuming

SHAZAM!

I really like how the heart came out.
I'd use this paper for my thesis, if it
weren't so hard to cut.

For my sweetheart.

Keep an eye out, I'm totally into making some of these to share with the world.