How Much More Personalized Can You Get?

I’ve had some interesting requests before for personalized portrait dolls, but I think by far this is my ultimate favorite.

Here we have the two main cast members of a unit, Pob, a children’s puppet, and of course, Van Morrison. You gotta have Van Morrison in your nesting doll portrait set.

I originally made a little hat for another doll, but it never made it onto it. I’m glad it was waiting for Van Morrison all along!

Workaholics

Although I’ve never had a job which required me to sit all day in a cubicle, I can definitely identify with these guys. One of my first jobs was making signs at Kate’s Paperie in the sub-basement level of the now defunct flagship store and it’s actually a lot worse than working in a cubicle. For one thing, my office mates included a family of rats that would make off with my sandwiches before I could say “scat!”

This outrageous comedy show features (clockwise from bottom) Adam, Der, and Blake, who is my favorite due to the fact that we have basically the same sort of hair and that he owns a bear coat.

Seriously, will you mess with someone who shows up to work in that get up?

Speaking of workaholics, I’ve been putting in some insane hours at the ol’ sweatshop for the past few months. I suppose giving people unique gifts this year for the holidays is all the rage. I’m glad to be a part of their Christmas surprise, but I do like a little time off to catch up on some sleep or eat a proper cooked meal. I watched my neighbor tasking her son with errands while she sat with a refreshing beverage in her hand and rued the fact that I don’t have children/minions of my own to relieve some of my workload. She very nicely volunteered her son to work for me—which is turning out to be the best idea ever to arise during an alcohol-fueled afternoon!

Look at this kid go prepping my dolls for painting. My own workspace is nowhere as tidy or innovative.

Girls and the Ladies Who Brunch

Can you believe it was the Hubs who got me into watching “Girls?” Sometimes he laments that I never watch any rom-coms with him, but we both enjoyed this gritty portrayal of 20-something year olds trying to make it on the mean streets of Brooklyn. I used to hang out with my friend in Greenpoint, which is supposed to be where “Girls” are filmed. Watching it makes me feel a bit homesick so I thought I cure myself of that by painting Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and of course, Shoshana.

Now, I’ve known women who told me that they moved to the Big Apple because of “Sex and the City.” As a pseudo-native, I was always quick to point out that the Big Apple is more like Law and Order: SVU than SATC. “Girls” portray the grimmer aspect of living in NYC. For one thing, none of them are able to afford an apartment in Manhattan…that’s realistic enough!

In any case, I thought I ought to balance this set with SATC gals. Just for fun.

Here we have (left to right): Samantha on the phone, Miranda being funky with her jewelry despite her corporate attire, Charlotte in that pretty pink Chanel dress after discovering she’d miscarried, and of course, the queen of fashion, Carrie holding a cosmo, a Fendi purse, and a Manolo Blahnik carrier bag.

I always liked that episode where Samantha pretended to buy a Birkin on behalf of Lucy Liu.

Since these dolls are meant to be sets of 5s, I’m thinking about planting a mini accessory inside the smallest doll. And I’ve got just the perfect thing…a miniature high heel shoe charm.

Isn’t it fitting that the 300th set of dolls I’ve painted happened to pay homage to the Big Apple? I couldn’t have planned it better!

“Girls” will be featured at the Pygmy Hippo Shoppe in time for Christmas! If you’re in the LA area pop in for a look-see!

Super Ultra Mini Pocket Moonrise Kingdom

You wouldn’t think the matryoshka dolls get smaller than this!

 Babushka Girl of Sydney sent me some teeny weeny sets a while back. I already had something in mind for them. But when I saw that the two sets are nearly identical (they never are, since they are basically all turned by hand), it’s clear that they need to represent the Moonrise Kingdom Sam and Suzy sets again!

 

The Moonrise sets are a bit of a trial for me to paint due to the minute details on the scout uniforms and Walter Bishop’s madras pants. Luckily I was able to find some mixed plaid washi tape that helps tremendously. But until the Hubs can do something about my color printer, I’ll still have to continue painting the merit badges by hand!

Have you heard there’s a new Wes Anderson movie coming out? Color me pleased! Much as I adore painting Mr. Fox and cohorts as well as the characters from his few movies, I’m anxious to try my hand at something new. The Grand Budapest Hotel looks promising. Best of all, I’ll get to paint Ralph Fiennes as a mere mortal, not a nose-less warlock!