Paper dolls for Paper Saturdays...down the memory lane

As a new year resolution, I joined Paper Saturdays, a group of artists with a passion for paper and all the art form that can be created with it. Creative blogger Manon Visser hosts this lovely initiative.

Ever since my childhood I had a special love for paper. Most of my games involved drawing, cutting, pasting any sort of shapes, animals, homes...then, for the longest time I stopped playing with paper as I rarely had time for drawing. My studies, travels and other activities absorbed me completely. After graduating and settling down, though the passion resurfaced.

Now, every once in a while, I even play with paper dolls. In previous post I mentioned how much I enjoy the beautiful porcelain dolls that Marina Bychkova of Enchanted Dolls make. When I discovered her blog a few years back, I decided to participate in a contest she held. My idea was to make a paper version of one of her dolls (the beloved Edie, in her unfinished incarnation of Cosmos Exploratum Genesis) and to give it a special paper case in the shape of a matrioska. The idea behind it was to show how Marina's art bridges her Russian roots with modern art. Since Cosmos has never been completed as a doll and never received a background story from her creator, I invented a little sci-fi tale to go with the illustration on the matryoshka's surface.

Below, you can see a very early drawing done in watercolor (yes it's terrible...but I was experimenting at the time) and a prototype of the doll I ended up sending her.

The following are images of the final matryoshka. I guess it looks quite rudimentary, but I had a lot of fun making it. It was like being a small child again, plus I tried to measure myself with the depiction of a futuristic landscape...which was quite challenging.

This was the front with a nocturnal view of the city of Cosmo. In my story she was a time traveler...so that explained her nakedness, since, as everybody knows, you cannot take with you your clothes, although she retained the headpiece because it was part of the time machine device! It's too bad I don't recall the whole story I made up for her...:D . To close it, I made 4 small cuts at the top and bottom to allow the passage of a golden ribbon.

This was the back of  the two dimensional matryoshka, a daylight vision of the city, if you want. It shows here we are dealing with a society that had reached a lovely equilibrium between preservation of ancient art and architecture  and of nature itself with the needs of a modern civilization... The lion in the emblem is a reproduction of the famous golden Achaemenid Lion (half the way down in the page)

This is how I packaged the doll. I did not have to cut through the back, because I cut through the paper lining instead! It felt so clever at the time! :D The quality of the scan of the doll is not very good because of the extra bulk of the ribbon...I did not think of using a camera at the time. She had a very dreamy and serene expression and her features were more delicate than the ones of the prototype that I kept for myself...

Paper Saturdays

Anyways, I made more paper dolls ever since, as you can see from this blog. I never published this one before, though. I hope you enjoyed walking with me down memory lane!

Carnevale a Venezia

"Carnevale a Venezia" is my entry for the Enchanted Doll Birthday Contest 2013 (by the way, I have seen some entries from the forum people and they look absolutely gorgeous...so the competition is hard!).

I chose Venice as my ideal destination, because I am enamored with its elegance, ancient history, and innate fragility. It's a dream of gold and lace floating on the water always on the brink of disappearing under the waves. I have traveled a bit and seen lovely places, more exotic and adventurous than Venice, but my heart is in my country and because I live far away I the desire to go back burns particularly strong. Most of all I wish to visit with my little Bella and share with her the pleasure of visiting this jewel of a city.

As for the Carnevale, the costumes and masks are so inventive, opulent, and mysterious that I've always been fashinated and maybe also a bit intimidated by them. So, to me it would be great to return to Venice during the Carnevale.

I wanted to really stick with the traditional postcard design and feel, yet personalize it. 

One issue was that postcards are rather small (4x6, as per the rules of the contest) and this poses a challenge to me, because I like to draw tons of little details, but on such a small canvas this was going to be impossible. My solution was to draw on a regular 9x12 sheet, take a picture of it, send it to Shutterfly or some other printing service and turn it into a pretty neat postcard.

The plan was pretty straight forward. The implementation... not so much. 

Here is the pencil sketch, which I started mid January...I had a lot of fun drawing San Marco's Cathedral.

 

 ...but it was a lot of work inking it!

Here I am at the end of January with still most of the difficult parts still to tackle.

 

In order to give the impression of distance, instead of using my usual black Copic Multiliner (0.03), I switched to one of the newer Multiliners in grey (with a 0.05) to ink the church. I think it worked well, especially when I added the colors.

Coloring was quick and fun...so here is the final drawing:

At this point (around Valentine's Day), I took a nice picture of the drawing and tried to send it to print...too bad I did not account for the fact that it takes at least a week for the actual printing job to be completed and then a couple of days to get it back home for the finishing touches. The contest deadline was February 28th! Bottom line, with this course of action, I would never have made the deadline...How could I have neglected these details!!!

In the end, I sent the picture to be printed at the local Walgreen's...where they actually butchered the color depth, in my opinion, but I had no time to be picky, so I settled for it.

I then attached the drawing to a same size piece of watercolor paper, and decorated the back of the card to make it look like an actual Italian postcard.

 

This is actually a reproduction of an actual stamp issued in 1973 that in turn used a painting by the Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio (1465 – 1525/1526)...see below:

I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Well, I got it out just on time! For a while it was stuck at the post office in Vancouver (oh nooo!), but the ED team picked it up a few days ago and Marina also gave an extension to the contest deadline (March 3) so all is well.

The 2013 Enchanted Doll Contest

Hello, dolls lovers out there! I am sure you are more than familiar with Marina Bychkova's spectacular works! If not, take a look at her website: you'll fall in love! Enchanted dolls are collector's dream and pretty hard to come by, but every year Marina gives a chance to all her fans to win one of them by participating to her Birthday contest!

This year the prize is one of her resin dolls fully painted and customed. Yummy, no?

The 2013's theme is travel. People were asked to send in a postcard of a favorite destination...
Postacards can be new, old, bought, home-made, of real places or fantastic places...
Recently, Marina posted that she has already received more than 100 postcards and they keep coming!

Looking forward to seeing everybody's entry. I made my own (and it was a rather complicated business, because I didn't plan ahead very smartly...usual me...) and sent it yesterday afternoon. It will make it to Canada barely on time.

I am also very curious to see which mold she'll pick to be the prize and how she will dress her up...

Good luck to all the participants!

Monika Viktoria's gifts

They are here! Monika Viktoria (also known as Mayple) of The Long Lost Woods has sent me a beautiful watercolor gift, one of her ethereal, gentle ladies. Seen "live" her artwork is even more charming than in photo.I am in love with the sweet tentative expression of this character and the delicate shadowing of her features.

  

 The details are also exquisite but discreet. Look how beautiful the little flowers in her hair, the pearls, and the lace on the dress are!

As if this was not enough, Monika also added a hand-made moo business card (another original!) and 3 lovely postcards.

This young lady on the chair is one of my favorite: she looks mysterious, what is she up to?

Watercolor and card by Monika Victoria. Enchanted doll by Marina Bychkova. Dress by AnneUK

My Enchanted Doll Sophie "modeled" the third card. Somehow the girl who is studying the butterfly collection makes me think of the way I imagined  Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series.

Well, I am so glad Monika chose to send me these wonderful gifts and relieved that they did not get lost in the mail. Thank you so much, dear!

Monika, who grew up in Australia and lived there until spring 2011, is currently based in Hungary and in less than a week will have a show in Győr, titled "A Mese Három Arca" January 20th, 2:30pm, Richter Terem Győr. If you happen to be in town I highly recommend it! If you cannot make it there, you can admire more of her art on her website, blog, and Flickr pages.

Happy Holidays! Buon Natale!

Hi everybody!

I know I am kind of late for the season greetings. I was hoping to show you new drawings, but with all the preparations, the extra-errands, the cooking, and the tired evenings, I was not able to finish anything. So today, at the very last minute, let me send you all my best wishes for wonderful Holidays and a very happy and prosperous 2012.
Hugs,
Astera

PS: in my picture folder from last year I found an image of beauty to help conveying my greetings...my sweet Sophie and her Christmas tree....Buon Natale!

Old picture of my ED Sophie (Ruby mold). As most of you know, this one of the amazing creations by Marina Bychkova  (see also one of my first posts on this blog). I was lucky enough to acquire this beauty last year around Christmas time. She is gorgeous isn't she? On my to-do list there are also new photoshoots of this lady...

ED Contest Prize

It's here! Actually, it's been here for a few days now, but I haven't had the opportunity to take pictures until today. Marina Bychkova of Enchanted Doll (see my previous post...) sent me the marvelous prize for the 2011 Birthday ED contest (here are my entries for the contest): a silver doll hand pendant of exquisite beauty and uniqueness.

The hand came in an elegant white box. The picture at the bottom of the box depicts Necrophilia, one of Marina's earliest projects and her interpretation of the Snow White tale. I always loved that doll for the sweetness of her expression. This same picture happens also to be my avatar in the  ED forum...and I suspect this didn't happen by chance. I really appreciate it. ;)

My poor photographs don't make it justice, but you can find far better ones on her blog here
The tiny lines of the palm are delightful.... I can't stop admiring them!

I am beyond happy and feel very privileged to own such a lovely piece of art. Thanks a million Marina!

PS: I bought the silver necklace at a local jewelry and the sale person was really impressed by it too...asked me lots of questions about Marina and her works. ;)

The 2011 ED contest...

As I was saying last time, I am a fan of Marina Bychkova's work and I participated in her annual contest. I have been following Marina's progress for a few years now and have been inspired by her dolls. Indeed, the possibility of winning one of these precious creations has always been very exciting. For a while I had been thinking I should start drawing more and better. But I am kind of lazy (unfortunately!)....so... the extra incentive of the contest was exactly what I needed to spruce up my skills, practice and be more creative...

After last year's contest, won by the talented and wonderful Amarilli with her great piece Ermallina, I tried to come prepared for this year's challenge.

We were supposed to come up with an idea for a new doll, describe it in no more than 200 words and provide illustrations for our project. Each participant could submit up to 3 entries.

These are my 3 attempts:

I worked for weeks in planning and realizing the first one, "The love of Gods: Daphne". It was my husband's big favorite...

What is it like to be loved by the Gods? What if your prayers were listened and answered? One has to wonder if the mysterious ways of the Gods would conform to our desires and if their intervention would really bring the help we hope for.
This doll is inspired by the myth of the nymph Daphne. The Gods indeed loved her.
Apollo burned with passion for her. Cupid had seen to it in revenge for Apollo’s mockery of the power of love. When pursued by her divine suitor, Daphne realized that she could not escape his unwanted attentions. She prayed to the Gods for mercy. They listened. They intervened. She was transformed into a beautiful bay leaf tree. Apollo, finally reaching her, wept on her breast as it turned into wood and swore that she would become his symbol: the symbol of triumph for generations to come.
Was she gifted with eternal beauty and glory for her virtue? Or was she forever deprived of her freedom and form? Was this the only way she could be saved?
This doll comes with bay leaf branches bracelets and headdress, root-shaped boot, and a bark-like tattoo on half of her body.

For the second piece called "The love of Kings: Anne Boleyn" things came a bit more easily, although I got stuck on deciding the color of the gown for at least a week! This is the one I had my best hopes on....



What is it li to be loved by a king? Anne had caught the eye of Henry VIII. She was strong, willful, indomitable, like the king himself…and beautiful. The king could not help but want her. She did not give in, at first. But you could not deny the king for long. He courted her tenderly and passionately. He overturned the laws of England, defied the temporal and spiritual powers of the age to make their union legal. He asked of her just one thing: an heir to the throne. A male heir. She gave him a girl…a terrible disappointment. Her exquisite features could not keep him enthralled after that, nor could her spirit and fierce intelligence feed his love. In the end, she was discarded, her reputation maimed, his love turned to hatred. He had her head cut off. And all because she gave him a girl. Just a girl…but what a fine girl, her triumphant, her glorious golden Elisabeth!
This doll was inspired by Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elisabeth I. She comes with a fur lined brocade vest, regal jewelry and tattoo representing her daughter, the sovereign that brought to England its golden age.



The third piece was one I really worked on at the last minute but I am pretty happy with. It's title is "The love of the sea: Nautilus"....

Nautilus was an immortal nymph of the waves. Nemo was a young sailor and explorer. Their love was true and passionate, but it could not last. Too strong was for her the pull of the sea and for him the need to live among his people. Nautilus left him a daughter, a precious and delicate mortal, who could not follow her in the depths of the ocean. But Nemo desperately longed for Nautilus. He built a wondrous vessel named after her and with their daughter he traveled the vast aquatic expanses of the world seeking her. He taught the girl the secrets of the sea and the mystery of her birth.
Growing up, the child swore to find her lost mother. In her diving suit, she ventured among the anemones and the morays in the hope of a chance meeting with the elusive creature. And often, as she braved the cold dark waters and walked among schools of fish, she perceived a loving presence, a sweet sound of lullaby in the sloshing of the waves. She had hope.

As it turned out, Marina liked Anne Boleyn too...it made it all the was to the top three, which to me it's a great accomplishment given the high participation and tough competition. I am still incredulous but very happy...thank you very much for everything, Marina! ;)

The winner of the 2011 competition was Amal with her beautiful entry Doppelganger The other top 3 was Karolin Felix with her charming Valentine. Amal won a stunning Lily mold doll...hope to see her pics soon!

What will happen next year? Who knows...the rules of the contest will likely change, but the desire to compete and win will stay the same for the Enchanted Doll fans all over the world.

About Enchanted Doll

This is going to be a long post, so I invite you to find yourself a comfortable armchair with soft pillows, get a nice cup of tea, and relax…or get excited…which is what happened to me when I saw for the first time an Enchanted Doll.

These are the most remarkable, expressive and truly artistic dolls I have ever seen. Enchanted dolls are a creation of the gifted Marina Bychkova, who is originally from Russia, but has grown up, studied and now works in Vancouver, Canada.

I don’t remember feeling so enthralled by a doll since the years of my childhood. I am not a collector and know very little of the ball jointed dolls world. But in this case, it was love at first sight…and I am not the only one! People of all ages and walks of life have fallen under the spell of these porcelain beauties.

Not only Marina has brilliantly engineered her dolls to be perfectly posable, well balanced, and exquisitely proportioned, but she has also mastered the art of painting life into their faces. The observer has often the impression to be in front of a mystical figure or of an ancient spirit trapped in the porcelain and about to burst out of it.

  

Furthermore, she is a wonderfully skilled designer of jewels and costumes. Her costumed dolls are breathtaking for the intricacy and historical accuracy of their gorgeous outfits.

Marina literally invests hundreds of hours in producing gowns, headdresses, crowns and dreamy shoes.

Last and most important of all, Marina’s works are not simple expressions of grace and elegance. Each doll in her collection carries a meaning, has a story that calls our attention to deep and sometime sad or even unpleasant truths of the human condition.

Beside her many artistic accomplishments, Marina is also a very generous individual and once a year, in occasion of her birthday, she holds a contest that awards one of her coveted nude dolls to the winner and other precious tokens of appreciation to the runner ups. This is a fantastical opportunity to be creative and have a chance to become owner of an Enchanted Doll.  

Isn’t she great?

You can see much more on her website, http://www.enchanteddoll.com
All pictures presented in this post belong to Marina Bychkova and appear on her webpage.

PS: As you can guess, I had to participate in the contest…but this is a topic for the next post!