Progress

That little green head that I posted about a few days ago now looks more human!

First coat of flesh-colour

Features blocked in

Shading added

Finished!

What's All This Then?

No, I'm not planning to start making Martian dolls...............this is a new doll I'm working on and this green look is the underpainting. I often do this to prepare a doll head (or a piece of sculpture) before painting. It looks odd, but underpainting is a time-honoured practice among artists. You might have seen an example of an unfinished painting from the Renaissance, where it was widely practiced - the underpainting might be in some kind of sienna colour, but figures were often underpainted in green. The idea is that the underpainting will show through the final layers of paint very subtly and will impart a depth to the painting that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Cool tones work well - blue, green or purple, but I have also used red in certain cases and I often use dark brown. I will post more pictures of this head as I finish it, to hopefully show how this idea works. The key is subtlety - if too much of the green is evident, this doll will just look sick!

Announcement: New Sculpting PDF Available

For some time people have been asking me to publish something on sculpting - at long last, here it is! I have just finished writing up this PDF which is available in my ETSY store as a download. It is as clearly explained as I can make it and copiously illustrated with photographs of the process step-by-step from making the armature to the final sanding. Here are a few sample pictures:

 When I finish making the complete doll using the example head in the PDF, I will post a picture to my Art Gallery, which you can access by clicking on the button under the header.

Still time to enter my OWOH giveaway!

A Quiet Corner

Here is a quiet little corner of my dining room - beautiful Spring flowers!

And the next little head taken from the silicone mould I made last week - interesting how different it looks from the first one I made from the mould.

New Doll Head - Update

I've done a bit more work on this new head - here are a couple of new photos. I have added a cloth layer and sized the surface ready for painting. I've included a close-up of the face with pencilled-in features to show the textured cloth surface. I won't smooth this back too much prior to painting as I want this texture to show on the completed head. I'm pretty happy with this so far - she has just the expression I was aiming for. Hope I don't mess it up too much when I paint!

What I'm working on........

Having recently completed a couple of pressing commissions, I am indulging myself a little with this new piece. I'm aiming for nuances of expression - apprehension, tentativeness - in this child's face, so I'm working on a slighlt larger scale than I normally do to make achieving that a little easier. Not quite sure where this is going next, but I have a few ideas gestating and will keep you posted!

You Might Be Interested...............

I have listed some new stuff in my Etsy store, including something that is a new idea: I have decided to offer some sculpted paperclay doll heads just like the ones I make when I am creating a new doll - each one unique and slightly different like all "siblings" - I thought some of you might like the opportunity to have a head to finish off yourself. Each one will be sold with a body pattern and instructions as well as a few other things to help with the finishing-off. If you are interested, go to my Etsy store for full details (http://www.susiemcmahon.etsy.com/)