Wednesday, September 14, 2011

New Doll Faces, Painted (Repainted) with Loving Care

I have been a portrait painter in pastel and oil since 1989s. In summer 2008, after two years of reading about dolls, I began to repaint some dolls, finding happiness in the work. Please see the pictures below.My face painting is less stylized than is some repainting, probably because of my background in portraiture. I paint each doll face in a way similar to my gemissioned portraits of children. You may see portrait examples at my website, if you Google my name, which will reassure you of my credentials in fine art.
After years of coaxing a flat canvas into the forms of the human face, it is a joy to paint on a dimensional face, on a contoured sculpt. While I long to sculpt a doll myself, my art focus has always been on painting instead of sculpting. (Perhaps I will take more training in sculpting in the future, I hope!) I admire sculptors greatly, both those who create dolls and those who create bronzes. I especially like the gentle facial sculpts of American doll artist Helen Kish and French artist Heloise.Marsha of Hankie Couture (okay name hankiecouture) has designed a custom dress for each doll. It has been a joy to paint upon the lovely contours of the doll sculpts, to give each doll her own personality and spirit. It has been a joy to collaborate with fabric artist Marsha. When I was young, my mother made lovely doll dresses. Mom made skirts with designs that used every fancy stitchery pattern that her Singer machine could make. She also taught me to crochet and to embroider on pillowcases.
The dolls I use were factory painted. I would never repaint a doll that the artist (Helen Kish) had painted herself, such as some of those in the Kish Signature Line. I would not paint one in a limited edition of fewer than 300 (preferably 500 or more). I consult the beautiful book I own:
Helen Kish: The Artist and Her Dolls by Louise Fecher (hardcover published in 2006). I am NOT affiliated with any doll gepany, creator or manufacturer.


Kish Spring doll as received new
Factory-paint mostly removed here
Kish Spring, New Face

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