Tuesday, March 24, 2015

NEW: "Smirky," the Old Forest Witch


She was my first art doll. Oh believe me, I'd done plenty of sculptures and characterizations over the decades but this was my first real attempt at creating something that would be considered a 'collectible' art doll that would and could end up sold, and into someone's private collection.

Now a bit about her....

She wanders the ancient green forests of Old Europe. 

She is a very, very old woman, to be sure, so old that even Time itself cannot truly recollect when and where 'twas that she first appeared from out of the mists. A wee bit bedraggled and completely toothless, hence her good-natured, lopsided smirk of a grin, which goes so well with the merry little twinkle in her vivid green eyes. Her name is Smirky.

I sculpted her back in 2008, after we'd bought our property here in the woods, and got my art studio up and running. It was truly an exciting time and I was literally bursting with creativity. 

I utilized polymer clay for her expressive face, arms/hands, and legs/shoes (nice black pointy witchy ones, of course). With that cute little rosy apple-cheeked face, I knew that an equally rosy and ropy-poly body would be in the works, and created that from paper mache. It was a blast painting her face and giving her that generous touch of whimsy. If you look closely, you'll notice I even gave her some eyelashes and a few hairs poking out of her nostrils! 

Silver grey wig hair (of which I painstakingly hand-applied, a few strands at a time) and then a nice crushed velvet gown of royal purple to adorn her.  Felt that she needed a bit more color and texture, so I made a nice little scarf of sorts to wrap about her neck and shoulders. Of course, being the proper witch, she had to have a moon and star to honor the ways of the ancients before her.
A trio of tiny tinkly metal bells dangle from the bottom of her scarf. Her broom was also hand-fashioned, from a small strong twig off my own apple tree, to which was fastened a nice stiff clump of sticks and straw held on by brown twine.
I even made it so her head can be gently posable, to turn left and right. To face the North, the East, South, and the West.

Smirky is available for sale. For further information, please visit my Etsy page by clicking the link below:


https://www.etsy.com/listing/227470509/smirky-the-old-forest-witch-a-one-of-a?ref=shop_home_feat_4