"The Queen of Air & Darkness"

So my art doll club issued a fun challenge for March, with the results to be displayed at the local library in April. It was to make a doll based on a work of art. I didn't even know where to begin with this one! One of the ladies made one inspired by the work of Erte' and dang, I wish I had thought of that because I love that style. You can see it by clicking on the link above.

I went to the library and browsed some fantasy art books and found something I thought would be quick and simple to do. I talked about this in a previous post.

 Here is a picture of the drawing by Charles Vess.

And here is my depiction in cloth. Remember, the doll only has to be "based" on a piece of art, not look like it exactly! Admittedly, this picture is photoshopped a tad - just a tad, for background effect. The colors are great and the doll looks just like you see it here. I just blacked out the background.

I used the Angie pattern by Di McDonald for the body; the head & arms are derived from Cindee Moyer's pattern, The Raven. I didn't sculpt the face, just used colored pencil & chalks for shading.

Here is a different view, looking down. I used a bit of plum chalk on the mohair also, for shading.The hair is stiffened with spray fabric stiffener.

Let me be clear - I'm not into darkness, magic, or any occultish thing. That's just the title of Vess' piece. I serve the "Father of Lights, from whom all good things flow." The starry sweep of her hand on my work is actually skulls on the original piece.

I made a background with sheets of blue and black glittered scrapbook paper sprayed with a bit of black glossy paint to tone it down a bit. This was an enjoyable doll to make and I loved experimenting with chalk shading. All the dolls will be on display at Hardesty Library starting April 1.