Still working on this project. My paperclay made some cracks, so I had to put some more diluted paperclay on the doll. After that, I sanded them all down, untill det studio was covered in fine white dust ;-)
After sanding the dolls, I changed my mind aabout the wolf´s fur, and covered his whole body in a very string joint compound and made some structure looking like fur. After sanding them again, I painted the base coat using some cheap acryliv paint.
Tip: I have a lot of acrylic paint, and I usually use the cheap quality for priming and basecoats. I like to paint with very expensive paint, so I am not using that for that.
Tomorrow I will sand the paint again and perhaps give it another layer. Then I´m going to start painting the faces.
I had an idea today. I was thinking about hair and accessories as eg a crown. How to make then stay ontop of the head? I think I want to try to drill a hole in the head, and make wigs that have a stick that fits the hole. Small crowns can also fit in the hole. I must think about how to make that. It really could work, because these dolls are going to be moved, and I don´t want to worry about things falling of the doll. That kinda ruins the magic, don´t you think?
Now, I´m off to bed. I must get up early tomorrow, because I have an very early appointment with a speech therapist ;-) I need to learn how to breath properly ;-) I´ll tell you more about it later...;-)
I still paint themes from my inner world of whimsical dreamscapes. I can´t really help it, it´s just the way my feelings and emotions wants to be expressed. Some people find my paintings dark and a bit scary, but to me they are full of love, light and hope. The scary part is just the inner shadow part, feeling alone and melancholic, but never without hope and trust.
This one tells the story of a tree, growing out on a cliff, singing odes for it´s beloved, the silent moon. Does she hear his songs of love? The painting isn´t finished yet, there are lots of work to do with it, but I thought I could show you some work in progress photos:
Just a quick update! I´m painting the medicin doll. I am trying to keep her pale, feminin look. I´m trying to create a celestial look, but not some pale vampire look ;-) I´ll add some hair tomorrow. Sometimes the doll changes completely when it gets hair. I´m thinking long purple hair. What do you think?
Good evening! I´m back, after a couple of busy days, filled with family visits, a trip to an annual medieval festival in Horsens (where I bought a slingshot, and I am going to learn how to shoot/throw with it!!), a Sunday in sleepwear and studying. After a couple of years of working in the kindergarden, I am going back to school part time to take a degree in art and aesthetics. It is very fun, but also a bit exhausting. I need to remember to retreat to my studio, just to breath and let my thoughts run free, without having to relate to anyone. This is how I generate energy.
Tonight I´m back to working with my medicin doll: The Guardian. She is really starting to grow on me! It feels like something inside is communicating itself out to me. I have no idea if this doll making process is nothing more than my imagination running freely, making everything up along the way, making me believe a little, that there really are universal benign forces, looking down on me, encouraging me to keep on working with her. And does it really matter?
I have problems with my perfectionism. I tell my self all the time that this is NOT an art doll, but a medicin doll. I don´t know why I keep on remembering myself that there is a difference, because in fact, there are no rules when it comes to dollmaking. I can do what I want. But to me, it feels safer to work in this manner, because the art doll is made for display, but the medicin doll is made from the heart. In order to work with the heart, I try to keep my focus on the doll´s feeling, and not so much how it looks. But it is rather diffecult. I like perfectionism.
I realized that in my last post I made a mistake. I wrote that the human hands are the same size as the distance from the chin to the top of the head, but this is off course wrong. The hands would be to big. I´m sorry about that. It has been too long since I made a doll. The correct size is from the chin to the forehead hairline. See this link
I decided to paint her body a beautiful dark Prussian Blue. This color symbolizes in my opinion pure femininity and it symbolises feminine power rising. I will paint swirling waves in silver on her body. This will symbolize the waves of creation.
I like her white pale face, but somehow that look also make her a bit distant. I will start the painting process tomorrow evening. Right now I am working with a image of her much like a snow queen. As I am writing this, I am listening to one of my female muses and great heroines in life: Clarissa Pinkola Estés. She is talking about the story: "The Snow Queen" (The Joyous Body). Isn´t that fascinating? Is that synchronicity, or what? My nightly dreams also show different aspects of both my feminin shadow and power.
This process is fascinating. Medicin dolls are fascinating ;-)
Some pics:
It has been a while since I´ve updated this blog. I haven´t had much time for creative projects lately, but now I am back with new adventures!
As many of you know, I just love dolls. I have always love to make them, and I also spend a lot of time admire other artists work. There are so many talented artists out there, and many, many collectors of their beautiful art.
I´m not quite like that. I don´t particularly like having them displayed in my house just as nice decor. To me, they are personal and part of myself. It looks like, that I just have a hard time making dolls, or other kind of art projects, if it is not deeply personal. I can´t change that. Perhaps it´s just not who I am. Perhaps I am doomed in this way, because it means that every piece of art I produce is made with blood, sweat and tears.
Sometimes it feels like a birth-giving process. I get an idea (fertilized), I work with the idea in my imagination and collect materials for making it (pregnancy), I create the character with a lot of hassle (labor and finally birth, if I´m lucky). At first, I feel very attached to the the doll, like a mother with her newborn child.
I fall in love with it, and want to have it close to me all the time. Silly, I know, but it it´s true. I also have a hard time parting with it. It feels like I am parting with a piece of my own heart. It can also feel very intimate to discuss my art with people. They are talking about a nice piece of creative art, but I´m talking about my inner feelings like stress, love, anger, hate, sorrow, longings and more.
Sometimes I´d wish I could make lots and lots of art and just sell everything fast and easy, without hesitation. That would be so easy. Just to have fun making it.
My art is not like that at all. Like I said, it´s blood, sweat and tears.
During the proces of making a e.g. doll, I travel inside and explore often unknown aspects of myself. Sometimes something shows up, and I don´t know where it comes from. Did I really make that? Who am I really, if I can make this? Questions like that.
At the beginnning, I often get carried away by old stories, myths, fairytales, old paintings, music and lyrics, poems and so much more. Very often lyrics actually. The first time I heard "Princess of China" by Coldplay, my head just exploded with ideas for painting, just after hearing the line "You stole my star".
I had like 10 paintings in mind just like that in 10 seconds! Music often do that to me.
The hard part is to actually go downstairs to my studio, sit down in front of my easel and get started.....
I have had this idea, that dollmaking could be a like a therapeutic process, but I didn´t know how to find a tutor, or any litterature to guide my process. Untill I found it it ;-) I found a tutorial by Barb Kobe, purchased it, and now I am making dolls again. Barb Kobe calls it medicin dolls. I couldn´t believe my luck!
In her tutorial, besides a lot of exercises in unlocking the creativity, she teaches how to make 4 different medicin dolls. The first one I am making is "The Guardian". This is a doll that will protect me while I am going deeper into my shadowself. I have had a hard time making her. I have an endless amount of excuses. I´m the queen of procrastination! I have soo much resistance, even though I really, really want to make her. Do you sometimes feel like that too?
One of my problems, is to choose how to make her. I have a tendancy of being a perfectionist, and it is really a terrible drag! I have it all in my head, but I would like to just sit down and make the god dammed doll with any crafting materials I have lying around, but no, not this person. I will sit and look at the sketch, long for the feeling of clay in my hands, jump around cheering, because I love some fabric or whatever, but keep on hesitating instead of just go ahead and do it.
This Guardian doll has kept me on my toes for some time now. I learn så much about my self during this process.
So, now I am in labor. I am to give birth to my medicin doll. She is a universal protector from another dimension. A beautiful blend of mother earth, a galactic warrior, vulnerable as a butterfly but brave as a raging tiger. She stands with her eyes closed, dwelling into the Infinite Light, but still alert, in case I need her. I welcome her wholeheartedly into my artistic process and life.
2 years ago, I attended a course in puppetry, at a very famous puppet theatre here in Denmark, called Teater Refleksion.
Tonight, my puppet is all finished! Can you believe that? After I finished the construktion of the doll, I left it for a very long time....I guess I was a bit scared of finishing it alone, because I was worried that I would destroy my perfect puppet ;-)
Here are some photos of the process:
This was my idea. I wanted a puppet, that would look like a little boy.
The head was sculpted with treemass, and glass eyes.
The torso was carved in balsawood
He is looking soo cute!
Legwork. You wouldn´t believe the amount of work involved with that....
Here he is! I liked him like this too!
Puppets like to hang out with famous people too. This he is with Boxy Georg.
More photos and poses:
I call him "Garnet". It is danish for "the yarn", and is a nickname because of his hair ;-)
I will use him in the kindergarden, as a puppet interacting closely with the children. I have this very old antique suitcase, as will be his "home". I can´t wait to start telling stories and playing with him infront of the children. He is very mobile and have so beautiful movements!!!
This is my new acrylic painting from the series "Songs from Anneland, title: "The Price of Solitude". The painying measure 50x70 cm (20"x28"). It is painted black on the sides, so no framing is necessary. As always, the sky is adorned with beautiful Swarovski crystals, wich make the painting sparkle just like real stars in the night.
In this painting I´m trying to express the feeling of solitude, when you feel like screaming out loud, but there is noone there to listen. The only one listening is the silent full moon, always reflecting your own image of your soul, but never sharing, just showing nothing but your self.
The tree is screaming in eternal silence, because the mouth is nothing but a great big hole - it´s speechless.
As every painting I make, there must be hope though. Perhaps just a little one, but it must be in there. I am thinking about something like a bright star, a butterfly or a beautiful bird. Must ponder a bit on that.
The moon became quite huge ;-) Perhaps it was better before, when it was smaller. Too late to change it now though!
Jeg nærmer mig slutningen af arbejdet med min animationsfigur. Det har været svært at få den til at blive som jeg havde tænkt, men jeg tror resultatet er brugbart.
Her kan man se hvordan kroppen er bygget op af træ.
Fødderne er lavet af Magic Sculpt, som giver tyngde og stabilitet.
Så kom der hoved og hænder på. Hovedet er lavet i papirler, med acryl øjne. Hænderne er lavet i Magic Sculpt.
"Oh, jeg er jo kønsløs!!!"
Hovedet er sat fast på kroppen med en kraftig fjeder, som tillader, at det kan vendes og drejes og bøjes.
Han mangler farve og tøj. Det kommer i løbet af weekenden.
Jeg har også købt en kuffert, som han skal bo i:
Jeg fandt den på nettet, og den kostede den fornemme pris af kr. 50,-.
Jeg skal lave en animationsdukke, men det er ikke hvilken som helst dukke. Det skal blive en dukke, som både kan føres fra nakken og hånd, samtidigt med, at den skal kunne bruges som en almindelig hånddukke...
Forvirret? Forklaring følger hermed: Jeg skal bruge en figur til pædagogisk dukketeater/fortælling, og har derfor brug for en figur, som kan føres på et bord, og hvor jeg selv står bagved. Samtidig skal den kunne have en funktion som en mere intim dukketeaterfigur, hvor jeg kan føre den indefra med håndstillinger, når jeg sidder sammen med børnene.
Jeg bliver nødt til at tænke figuren færdig inden jeg går i gang, da der er mange dele som skal kunne arbejde sammen.
Jeg skal lave en hoved, som både har indvendig hul, og udvendig fingerkrog.
Kroppen skal både ligne en figur, samtidig med at der er forberedt til en hånd.
Figuren skal være meget stabil og kunne holde til lidt hårdhændet behandling. Jeg ved ikke om det skal være cernit, Super Sculpy, Træmoddellermasse eller papirler.
Det bliver spændende at se den i proces.
Jeg mangler desuden en god gammeldags kuffert. Hvis du ligger inde med sådan en, så mail lige.
Jeg gik i 2002 på daghøjskole på AOF- Kunstlinjen. Det var på mange måder et vendepunkt for mig. Vi havde forskellige fag som billedkunst, stenhugning, syning, rakubrænding etc., men det der gjorde det største indtryk på mig var et 5 dagers kursus på Dukkemagergaarden udenfor Sejling, mellem Viborg og Silkeborg.
Jeg lærte at lave en figur med ståltrådsarmature af træmodellermasse, og læderrester. Det var 5 dage i eventyrland, og jeg tror aldrig helt jeg blev mig selv igen. Jeg havde opdaget noget nyt og ufatteligt fascinerende, og det var, at dukkemageri kan indbefatte alle mulige sanseoplevelser fordi man arbejder med så mange forskellige materialer, samt at der var nye måder at fortælle historier på.
Min baggrund var, at jeg kom fra en familie, hvor man vægtede kunst højt, men det var måske primært billed og skulpturkunst som havde real værdi. Jeg opdagede dukkemageri, og fandt således mine egne veje til at fortælle historier på. Senere kom jeg ind på seminaret, og læste på det som hed Animationslinjen, hvor man brugte dukker som dukketeater, og siden hen er det gået slag i slag. Jeg elsker at arbejde med alle de forskellige materialer, og har en masse ideér til en masse figurer.
Nå, men tilbage til Fille Frants. Undr de 5 dage på kurset, fik han mere og mere personlighed, og hans livshistorie var lang og sørgelig. Han var uægte barn af en nobel herre og en prostitueret. Han levede i rendestenen, hvor han spiller på fløjte for småpenge til at købe sprut for. Han er forslået og radmager, men underlig nok, så er han ved godt humør :-)
Hvilken historie fortæller det om mig så ? hahahahaah
Clarissa Pinkola Estés: Stories instantaneously bypass the ego. The ego cannot absorb the entire pith of story. The ego hears the story as a form of entertainment. While the ego is kept happy, thinking it is being entertained, the soul and the spirit are listening deeply. The flow of images in stories is medicine—similar medicine to listening to the ocean or gazing at sunrises. No direct interaction has occurred—the ocean did not jump into your body and fill you. But there is something about seeing, hearing, and smelling the ocean that has bypassed the ego, and straightened out many things that were in disarray within the psyche. Some people are remedied by thunderstorms, some by music, some by the voice of a person they love.
Story has the same kind of influence. It flows where it is needed, and applies itself there—like an antibiotic that finds the source of the infection and concentrates there. The story helps to make that part of the psyche clear and strong again.
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Jeg læste "Kvinder der løber med ulve" i 80erne, og var optaget af den stemning og visdom, som der lå i de gamle historier. Os der er i min generation, har ikke en gammel bedstemor, som kunne indvie os i kvindemysterierne, eller det som Clarissa kalder "Vild-kvinden som arketype".n
Det er historier fra folkeeventyrene, kunsteventyrene, myter og religion etc. som hun fortæller, og jeg har købt audiofiler på 13 timer, hvor hun fortæller historierne og kommenterer på dem med ægte livserfaring.
Jeg er vild med den måde Clarissa forklarer hvordan medicinen virker.
Når jeg lytter til disse historier imens jeg maler eller skulpturerer, og som bliver fortalt af Clarissa selv, så oplever jeg et dybere flow og fordybelse i de processer, som jeg er i gang med. Det er selvfølgelig ikke kun Clarissa som fortæller historier, men den mundtlige fortælle-tradition som samlet hele. Det lyder dejligt, at historierne skulle gå udenom egoet, og direkte kommunikerer med ens sjæl og ånd. Den tanke er jeg ret vild med.
Hvordan det mon virker for børn, når de får fortalt historier? Der er forskel på arketypiske historier, og de fortællinger vi skaber i dag. Det virker lidt som om, at de pædagogiske børnebøger der bliver udgivet, taler mere til egoet, en til det ubevidste og sjælen. Jeg er vild med eventyr og arketyper! Link til interviewet som citatet var taget fra med Clarissa
Jeg har længe haft lyst til at lave en dukke ud af stof. Jeg har været fascineret af amerikanske dukke-kunstnere, som laver de flotteste dukker i farvestrålende mønstre og dekoreret med perler og masse andet. Her er et link til en god side: http://dollmakersjourney.com/. Jeg kan selvfølgelig ikke skabe så komplicerede ting (endnu), men fandt et mønster, som så meget nemt ud: http://www.tante-andante.dk/images/Dukke%20moenstre/DSCN1109.JPG. Jeg fandt et gammel lærredsgardin frem, og begyndte at klippe og sy. Jeg opdagede, at jeg kunne finde ud af det! Fantastisk følelse! Min dukke er en engel, som skal have de farver tøj som man kan se på det ene billede. I morgen skal hun males, så hun ser sød ud, og så begynder jeg at sy! Det som også er skønt ved denne dukke er, at de små fejl og uligheder, ikke synes ret meget på dukken! Det ser bare lidt sødt og rustikt ud. Det er en helt anden følelse at lave en stofdukke, end at lave en håndmodellerer. En helt anden æstetisk proces, som har andre sanseoplevelser. Dejligt! Jeg opdagede også, at denne type dukke kan bruges til at spille animationsteater med. De er enkle, men stadig meget mobile, og kan derfor nemt animeres. Ah - jg føler mig så inspireret.
Jeg er uddannet pædagog, i Thisted, på linjen som kaltes: "med særlig henblik på animation". Det var en linje som kun blev oprettet en eneste gang, og vi var ca 11 som dimenterede.
Under mit studie arbejdede jeg med animation, drama, fortælling og dukketeater + figurfremstilling. Jeg havde lavet en smule figurer tidligere på bl.a. kursus med Astrid Berndt, men eller var jeg grøn og parat til at lære. Det blev en fantastisk rejse ind i en verden af figurer, fortællinger og teater. Ingen af delene havde jeg haft interesse for tidligere. Jeg elskede at lave figurer, og den første problemstilling jeg skulle over var, at der er stor forskel på, at lave en kunstfigur, og på at lave en animationsfigur. Jeg skulle efterhånden lære at elske de enkle figurer, som kunne spille alle roller. Det var fascinerende at opleve, at en figur kunne være fuldstendig enkel og udetaljeret, og gennem animationen, så blev den levende og fik sit helt eget liv !
Kunstfiguren er et skulpturelt objekt, og har kun en eneste funktion, som er, at blive set og studeret. En animationsfigur derimod, har et helt andet fokus. For det første, så skal den ofte ses meget langt fra, ofte 2-10 meter, så derfor er det vigtigt at alle betydningsfulde ansigtstræk og resten af figurens fremtoning, er overdrevne og tydelige. Det er også meget vigtigt at den kun har de ting, som er relevante for historien. F. eks. så er der ingen grund til at give en animationsfigur øjenvipper, da de ikke kan ses af et publikum, med mindre det er en ordentlig diva, hvor øjenvipperne er meget vigtige for fortællingen. En dukkemager har sagt, at en animationsfigur skal ikke have ører, med mindre den spiller en døv person! Tøjet skal heller ikke være for detaljeret, da publikum ikke lægger mærke til det. Man følger figurens livagtige bevægelserne og opfatter personen mere subtilt og på et indre plan. Nedenunder kan du se et eksempel på en meget enkel figur, lavet af en af mine yndlings dukkemagere, Ole Bruun Rasmussen.
Jeg kan godt lide at skifte mellem de to variationer. Jeg elsker at fordybe mig i ting som f.eks. farveblandingen i øjets iris, for bagefter at nyde enkeltheden i en anden figur.
Jeg spiller ikke selv figurteater, men jeg nyder at fremstille figurene. I børnehaven hvor jeg arbejder, spiller jeg dog bordteater, som er en meget forenklet form for dukketeater, og hvor det er fortællingen som bærer historien, i stedet for figurenes livagtighed. Heksen man kan se på billedet er en såkaldt bordteaterfigur. Hun er rå, ikke detaljeret og stiv. Hun kunne muligvis være en mellemting mellem kunstfigur og animationsfigur.
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