Found three sets of Russian dolls in Marian Street, Enmore a few weekends ago.
One set was NZ birds, but the other two were traditional russian dolls.
This set takes Dior fashions from the 1950s (as included in Five Frocks), combines them with some earth colours, moving away from the primary colours that are normally Russian Dolls. I had such fun making them – the most complex part was choosing the design.
I began with a layer of white acrylic (i should have used gesso). Then I started with Sharpies, which gave me a pleasing rough texture, which you can still see on Doll 1A – gives me a sense of a hand-driawn. It doesn’t perpetuate through the series though.
The Sharpies weren’t smooth enough for me, so I switch to acrylic paint markers – both the ones I recently picked up at kmart and some posca markers – i love posca markers.
Then the trick was putting them back together again, which was a long session of colour coding and labelling each doll, because everytime I pulled them apart it was a half hour to know what goes with what. It’s a fun childhood game, and sometimes I wanted to make a quick exit and play with somethging else!
My book friends aren’t as impressed or engaged with the dolls as i am, but that’s ok. I’m very happy with them!
I did want to collage these, but i was worried they would build up too much (as it is they are quite snug).
