Wonder Woman is the 1000th Set

Nine years ago around this time I ordered two sets of blank nesting dolls—one was to be a gift for my hostess when I was in Japan a few months earlier and the other was a just-in-case-I-messed-up-the-first-one. I’ve never painted nesting dolls before and wasn’t sure how I would feel about repetition. I mean, that’s the reason why I never took children’s book illustration seriously even though that had been my concentration at SVA. The first set went all right and I wanted to paint another one. And another. And another. 1000 sets later and I’m still going at it.

For a few weeks I was low-key anxious, wondering which set would become the 1000th, as I normally work simultaneously on 4-6 sets daily. When it became clear that Wonder Woman, one of my favorite movies last year, was to be the one, I immediately decided to give up my sugar-free diet for the day and made some cake to celebrate. I’m regretting the cake now, but thrilled about how the set had turned out.

I started painting these dolls at the dining table, wondering if I could ever make a living at it. Turns out I can’t, really. But it does provide me an ample opportunity to meet with people from around the world and hone my craft to a very sharp point on a daily basis. To quote the friend who had gotten me on this path: “When you love what you’re doing, you got it all, man.”

Memorial Portrait Doll

My 2017 ended on a sad note. Shortly before Christmas my landlord passed away. I am fortunate enough to be one of the very few people who is actually fond of their landlord and his family. Paul was one of the first people that I’ve met when I moved to Australia who had shown me nothing but kindness. When I informed him that I was trying to make a go at the babushka game, he immediately pulled a few strings and connected me with people he thought might help me. He had been, apart from fixing things when they broke down, exceptionally helpful, which made me think of him as my fairy godfather.

I felt awful that the only reason why I  painted a set of him and his family is under these sad circumstances. It is the one thing I know I can do for his family after all the kindness they’ve shown the Hubs and myself through the years.

He was an incredible man with an exceptional family. Thank you, Paul and Sharon, for everything.

Intergalactic Planetary

Here’s another Beastie Boys set based on “Intergalactic.” Honestly, I can spend at least half a year painting different versions of them, they are that much fun to do.

Just for fun, I decided the last “doll” of this set should be a ghetto blaster…a little Easter egg special if you will!

I used to have one of these back in the day…it was a gift from my parents. They didn’t think people were walking down the street blasting music with it. I would’ve too if I could get my hands on a dozen D cell batteries, but when you’re eight-years-old, they’re a bit hard to come by.