Painting Russian Dolls 2

I've made a start on these as planned. They are based loosely on the card I made when my daughter had her first baby last year - I did a cartoon of the small family as Russian dolls and it suddenly occurred to me last week that it would be fun to paint some 3D ones for Christmas. I found some blank, unpainted wooden dolls on ebay and they arrived a couple of days ago from Russia.


Painting Russian Dolls - one down and 3 to go :>)
and before it was coloured
Thank you Sarah for the great tips on how you would tackle these :>) - I liked the idea of a felt pen, something I rarely use as it's too graphic for most of my work, but for these, perfect.
I decided not to prime them to start with as I really wanted the wood to come through in places - I like wood :>)
I sketched it out roughly in pale coloured pencil - it was to hand! and rather liked the way it worked on the wood. It can also be erased. Then I outlined freely in the felt pen and filled some of the hair in.
At that point I decided that rather than go for paint or ink, I'd continue in coloured pencil, building layers of different colours to add interest. It was possible to build quite intense colour.

I will finish it off with spray varnish after using fixative - I think that should keep it ok.
As you can see I'm not a planner! I have a rough idea (lots of sketches of different ideas) of where I'm going, options and possibilites and things evolve. I think partly because my left brain is probably atrophied and I'm totally right brained and partly because if I know exactly where I'm going ....... there's almost no point bothering, the journey to completion just isn't as interesting and can become a chore rather than a challenge and a pleasure.

Also, working in 3D has extra problems to solve. like back and side views.




what do you think?
..

Comments

Rose Welty said…
Very clever! Those are a treasure!
Gesa said…
He's looking good - all the way round :) very nice!
vivien said…
thank you both!

hope they like them!
annie said…
Ooh, what fun! And how interesting to see how your mind works. Probably some of the rest of us are also
strongly Right Brained, too. Much
rather explore and try This'n That rather than go through precise routine directions toward a cut'n dried goal.
Anita said…
What fun! I have a friend who while living in Moscow had a set of Russian dolls made and each one uses his face as the face of the doll - really interesting!
Robyn Sinclair said…
I think he's very cute! The coloured pencils are a great choice because they preserve the handmade charm. You're probably going to start a fad with these.
vivien said…
thanks Anita, Annie and Robyn :>)

My son-in-law (politically minded) has a set of Russian president ones :>)
Lindsay said…
These are so cute!! What a thougthful and personal gift. Your daughter is going to love them. I also appreciate learning about your process.

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