Monday, June 2, 2008

High Maintenance Girls




Another Monday.

Working on the altered book with my buddy Lynne gave me the confidence to go ahead and risk ruining my art dolls (a.k.a., high maintenance girls) by trying a process I had seen in a book about artist trading cards. I tried it first in the altered book and liked it. It involves applying gesso to an art project then utilizing the underlying pattern and colors as a template for the piece.

Here are the results so far. They aren't quite finished, but I kind of like how they are starting out. (I think if you click on them you'll get a bigger image which will show greater detail... as Alicia used to say, "I think, but I don't know.")

Everything on these pieces is hand drawn in ink, which feels risky and can be nerve wracking when a wiener dog is bouncing your arm around. That is why it is so important to realize that perfection is a myth for us human doings.

I'm hoping to complete a set of these dolls to incorporate into greeting cards.

Do you like them or do you just think they are weird? I think they are kind of fantastical... they remind me of my favorite mantra: In our dreams we are able to fly. And that is a remembering of how we were meant to be.

Hope your week started well! d.

5 comments:

AR said...

I like them all, but especially the one in the top picture on the left. It's hard to believe everything is hand drawn!

Donna Roberts said...

It's really easy to do! The hard part is not losing your nerve with the pen. Thank you thank you!

Sierra said...

wow...I love the color too. The color adds spunk..the black and white ones are more "high maintenance" but the colored girls are more flashy and classy and just plain awesome! :) I guess what I'm trying to say is that they "pop"!

Sierra said...

also, I love fantastical things..they're my favorite! and colors and details and busy-ness!

Donna Roberts said...

Me too, Sierra! Me too! I like everything real busy and noisy and wild. I like things that might fly (I wish I could). I think I like the colored ones too. I didn't print them in color because it's cheaper to do black and white. Maybe the next cards should be in color???