Doll heads for day seven and eight, catching up!

 

Yesterday I did finish the doll head for the day before and started another one. The first was a baby head, also, like the previous one, representing a joyful mood. Here it is.

Baby doll head, interesting how similar it really looks to the old man head from the previous day

And then, I started another one, but she took some time. I struggled with her teeth, haven't completely resolved that. And I made cornrows for her hair. I am showing you the back too so you can see the corn rows. I think they came out pretty well!

Here she is from the front

And here are her corn rows!

I still want to make a doll head for today. Let's see if I can.

Started with pencil, then added pentel marker. 

Here is the self portrait for yesterday.

Quick post, self portrait yesterday, today more doll heads coming!!

Again with pentel pens. I took longer with this one. 

Here is my self portrait from yesterday. I took a longer time with this one and it helped to have the light coming from one side to make the dramatic shadows. Today is Monday and I will be back to making doll heads.

Day 6 challenge

Yesterday was a day off. I had made this doll head the day before and I hope to make another one today. I am trying a new tack. Focusing on images of joy. This doll head was inspired by a wonderful face of an old man with a huge, infectious smile that I found on Pintarest. I took a photo of him in our tiny backyard, in amongst the herb garden.

This photo is of my daughter talking to my husband on our way back from yeterday's excursion, a sailing trip. Beautiful day.

Instead of a self portrait, this is my daughter talking to my husband yesterday on the way back from a sailing trip

day 6 doll head-Joy

Day Five: Doll Head challenge

again, from a photo of my daughter. This time a little older.

Here is the doll head for Day five. This one has sort of a quizzical expression. She is going to think it over before saying yes. This sort of fits with my daughter. She was about 10 at the time of the photo that this comes from.

Two different widths of Pentel pens, hybrid Technica and Sign pen. 

Still looking strained. Hopefully I will ease through this process as I continue to draw. Today I also looked at some diagrams of facial muscles for review. Do you know that we have 43 muscles in the face? Many of the are around the mouth. 

I am mulling over how I am going to make the bodies for these dolls. I don't want them to be too complicated. I haven't told you yet, but they are going to be intention dolls. At first they were all going to be about positive, hopeful attentions but seeing their faces, I think some of them will be gremlins as well. Sometimes it helps to get those negative thoughts out there so we can see them. 

Feeling quite vulnerable sharing my process of reconnecting with self portraits in this very public way. But hopefully it is worth it if I inspire some of you to try your own. It is a good way to see things in yourself that you didn't know were there, to be surprised. There is such a truth in self portraits.

Day Three for doll head challenge

Tomorrow is July 4th and I doubted I would get to this then, so I did two doll heads today. Here they are:

Little one was from a baby photo of my daughter and the big one was from a baby photo of my son

The one of my son was the biggest head yet. The smaller one was from a different photograph but they both have that wistful sort of baby look. 

Here is my portrait for today. I didn't do two. I used pentel oil pastels this time.  Kind of intense looking. It's good to get back in practice with portraits. 

Me wearing a new hat I got in Annapolis the other weekend

That's it for today, short and sweet. Happy 4th!! Back on Friday for doll head number 5.

Doll (head) number two, since it is July 2nd

Doll head number two

Here's doll head number two. She is based on a photo of my daughter, aged two at the time. When she was little she had red hair, which has now changed to a dark blond. It was never this red but this face does capture something of the impishness and determination in her spirit, even (especially?) at that age.

Self portrait number two

These portraits are quick sketches. This one captures a pensive mood. I had to draw it in the basement where I have a mirror that I can set up. The basement is out last frontier after this move, which tomorrow will be exactly a year ago. The basement is stacked with boxes, blankets, assorted items that belie description. We are determined to get to it this summer!

This has been an interesting process so far. It is interesting to see how the doll heads have a life of their own. I need to learn to just go with it. Sometimes frustrating, always intriguing. 

I wanted also to mention that Barb Kobe is my doll making mentor. She has a website that shows her wonderful medicine dolls. I am in the process of completing the last of the four dolls in the medicine doll series: guardian, scapegoat, talisman and healer. I will share that last doll when I finish it.

Doll (head) number one for my July challenge.

First doll head this month. He doesn't have a name yet. The background is a chess board, just so you get the scale.

I am taking on the challenge of making a doll head a day this month. Here is my first one. Somehow he wanted to be a male doll so I let him be. Let's see what comes out each day. 

I am also challenging myself to do a self portrait each day and I will share those too. I am noticing faces much more as I make these doll heads. 

A little gloomy looking but it was late at night and I was tired!

The techniques used is sculptural needle felting which I learned over the last year from Kay Petal at her Felt Alive website. I recommend that to you too, if you are interested. 

Please bear with me too as I learn how to design this blog.