Black Widows and Boudoir Dolls

The other year my dear friend Lindy Lou was bitten by a Black Widow spider.
She is fine and is still the crazy Olde Broad she has always been.
I am slightly sad that she hasn't become a Superhero though...
(Or has she, I mean, they have to keep their secret identity, well, secret don't they? mmmm)

So, I had this idea floating around my head, (usually in bed when I'm really trying to sleep), of creating a Boudoir Doll who was also a Victorian Mourning Doll.
Then after this horrific encounter with an arachnid (he he) I thought maybe I could also add Black Widow to the list of ideas.
After all, to the Victorians, more was most certainly...more.

So here she is in all her Gothic glory.
Mistress Charlotte (see what I did there?).
I thought that rather than make a 'spider' I would use the colours of the Black Widow instead. I also thought she would look nice with velvet and lace, who doesn't ?
She has big spider eyes which also look like she has been weeping, even spider widows cry.
'My my Charlotte, what big eyes you have...'
'Well, my dear, I am a Spider'

I love Mourning Dolls and the idea of a Victorian Spider Widow is just so absurd that I think she could get away with anything.
Hence, the hair...wild and pouffy...(my children think her hair is like Helena Bonham Carter's).
I have added a very soft veil, it's so soft to stroke...
I like being able to see through the veil to the world beyond, sorry I'm getting lost in metaphysical things again. :o)

She has really big feet, no idea why, I just love big feet (mine are not big, maybe I'm overcompensating?).
Maybe I just like my big dolls to be much bigger than my teeny dolls, so everything is bigger?
Who can say...

I hope Lindy Lou will not mind me using her encounter with the Black Widow in this way, but I'm sure that when she climbs down from the web in the corner of the ceiling, she will let me know :o)

So now comes the part any creative person has learned to love...
What will the next thing be?
We never know where or when that odd thought will prod us and the Muses will wake us from our dreams and demand we do something to satisfy their desires.
I'm not complaining though, I love the Muses.
How else could we turn something so nasty as a spider bite into a doll? :o)

I think it's time for some tea...

Bobbing Along...

I have been swimming with mermaids, you don't believe me?
Okay then, I will show you a little proof...
Well, I didn't have a camera so I couldn't take a real photo of them but I did have a sketchbook and pencils and scribbled a few pictures, that still counts doesn't it?
So then I wanted to paint one of them, as she was so cute, so that you can swim with her too...come on in, the water is lovely and warm :o)
I thought I would show some of the actual painting and how it changes as I work.
This is also proves how often I change my mind!

Here is the first scribbly dauby part, getting her on the canvas with acrylic paints.

This tail is horrid please paint me a different one!

That tail just had to go!
So, with a dib and and a swipe she was given a nice new one, and also a couple of chums would be nice don't you think? Thank you...

Much better, and someone to wrap my pink hair around too :o)

I've decided she should be part Seahorse so gave her a curly tail, I'm still working things out here, not too much detail, in case anything needs moving.

Have you forgotten about the yellow seahorse?

Deepening the colours and stated to add bubbles...lots of bubbles.
Also, more pink hair.
I then paint the second seahorse and add a few more bubbles, because there weren't enough.

Do I look a little dreamy-eyed now?

So there they are, bobbing along at the bottom of the sea.
It shows how much you can change your mind about a painting as the ideas filter through.
I like her tail much more this way and her friends are just so adorable, who doesn't love little seahorses?

The finished painting, now off the easel and scanned in.
It measures 12 x 16 inches.

'If Wishes Were Horses'

Bye for now
Cee :o)