I finished a new, Costumed Porcelain Doll. She's been in the works for over three years. I've been surreptitiously adding more layers to her face and more jewels to her veil for the past year and a half, and it's finally feeling complete. It didn't for a long time, but when her eyes started 'speaking' to me, I knew it was time to put the paint brush down. I'll reveal her name and her costume in the next post. In the meantime enjoy these nude nature photos and help me select one to make into a print. Tell me your favourite.
This Doll's eyes were inspired by one the earliest memories from my childhood, of the illustrator Macoto Takahashi. I believe his work had left a profound and irreversible aesthetic imprint on the formation of my young subconsciousness, because I can still see his influence lurking in the faces and themes of my dolls. I keep looking for the origin of my aesthetic; the beginning of my style and my path as an artist, and I think he might have been it. Or perhaps I was drawn to his work because it already resonated with my emerging identity. It's like a dream I can't remember.
A Mid-Summer Dream
Forest Spirit
Blessed By The Bumble Bees
In mid-summer all the luscious, moss is dry and yellow. The only patches of green are to be found in shady woods, where the sunlight is speckled and cool. I laid The Doll down into a bed of green moss at the base of a Douglas Fir. There was a small patch of sunlight, and the porcelain just came to life, glowing and shimmering like moist human skin.
All The Stars Below
Gallium Triflorum, also called Fragrant Bedstraw is one of my most beloved plants. It blooms in tiny, delicate little stars along the pathways and smells sweetly on contact. When I place the doll into the mids of it, its fuzzy stems tangle in with her soft hair as if they want to be a part of her.
We staged these shots in a sunny and fragrant glen of Daisies, Foxgloves and Gallium Triflorum, with Bumblebees buzzing all around us. I said to Chad that it would be really cool if we could somehow photograph the doll with bumble bees. A few moments later, 3 bumble bees flew right into the frame and hovered over the doll just long enough for us to get a burst of shots. One of them worked out! They must have heard us talking, and came to bless the doll with their presence and fuzzy bums.
Dog Assistants
I have three of them. They are not very professional, I'm afraid. The spotted Anya usually takes off first to chase Bald Eagles in the sky. The ginger Sadie likes to waddle off and eat rotting deer carcasses in the forest, then nap in the shade. The curly Bandit, on the other hand, has separation anxiety and wants to stick his little snout into all my shots. Like I said, all three are very unprofessional and kind of smelly. But they are my crew, and I love them.
Star
Immortality
Loss
Bumble Bee Blessings
Assistant Number Three