Take one glance around nearly any room in my home and you'll probably meet eyes with a doll of some sort. Many are without bodies, some are big, some are tiny, and one even has the body of a bunny...this happens to be my favorite one of all. I see the dolls as muses and they figure big in anything I design. I feel like I need a face to go with the look...whether it's the look of a room in my home or the look of a painting that I'm working on. The dolls sorta represent the ideal character behind an esthetic.
So, as the story goes with characters, you've got your stars and you've got your supporting roles. But in any story my heart always goes out to the outcast, the misfit. The characters who don't seem to fit into any of the easily recognizable molds.
So, I wanted to share what I call my "bowl full of misfits". It sits right in the center of my mantle and all day long I'll catch these little ones sneaking glances at me over the rim of the bowl.
First there's Goldie, with her adorable little gold spit curls. She was a gift from last year's Art is You so she holds an extra special place in my heart. I love objects that I can directly connect with a nice time and place in my life. And since she came naked I figured I'd keep her that way! : )
Next up is one that Aaron and I refer to as "Jenny in the morning". For ever I had platinum blonde hair and braids...and I have to admit...this is what I looked like in the morning! Not so much anymore since the pink hair though. She was a surprise gift that I received in the mail one day from a blog reader.
This plastic aqua colored little girl also evokes a special time and place. When me and Aaron were instructors at Kim Caldwell's Moulin Rouge themed art retreat, the whole big bunch of us at the event took a charter bus ride from Los Angeles to San Diego. Along the way we did the flea market in Pasadena, and stopped off at some amazing shops before our final destination, Paper Tales. Well, this one cluster of shops was right on the Pacific in Solana Beach. The sweetest little seaside village! Me and Aaron were so over tired at that point of the trip but we managed to shop a tiny bit. I picked this little girl up in a shop that hosted a whole bunch of great vendors. She's a popular French doll, known as a Clonette, that originated in Ghana. You can find Clonettes in some really fun colors...and they squeak!
I absolutely adore Junker Jane's "Monsters". This little one is like the misfit of the misfits. Tea stained to a perfect patina and constructed from the odd bits and baubles at the bottom of your sewing basket. You can call him a ragamuffin, a hobo, a monster...but there's something so charming about the off kilter expression on his face.
Lastly there's this blue eyed beauty. Her gold flaxen hair, bee stung lips, and a "dress" that you can barely call a dress. It's really just a swatch of pleated fabric and some torn ribbon that someone fastened around her neck with a single pin! Somewhere in her long travels she lost her arms but this doesn't seem to bother her much.
Well that's it for my "bowl full of misfits". I hope you enjoyed meeting each and every one.
I'll see you tomorrow for our weekly Art Journaling class!
xo, Jenny
