When Art Meets Man

I have to confess I was a little upset when I received the photo references for this set. There will be four dolls featuring the outrageous costumes of a drag queen. Normally I LOVE painting drag queens because I get to dig through my collection of glitter and feathers and metallic paints and go to town with the wigs and accessories. But this was more installation art on a human body…no pretty gowns in sight. But the more I studied the photos, the more excited I became because when was the last time I got to paint real art on a human form? I don’t think I have ever done such a thing.

The whole endeavour was surprisingly easy and fun despite the complicity of the abstract designs originated by the creator. I thought long and hard about how to recreate the tiny Troll dolls for several months and decided that I won’t just paint it on, but to simply print them out on card stock, put on a coat of matte gel coating, and then emboss it to give it a little 3D effect. Over the years I have amassed a huge assortment of fibre and was able to construct the hair for them, the smallest one about 2mm!

The only glittering I got to do for this set are for the earrings.

These are some of the photos I was given as reference. You can definitely see more of Kurt Fowl’s outrageous costumes on Instagram under the same handle.

Boobies Boobies Boobies!

My god was this set ever fun to paint, and it was great to finally get my hands on it and really crank it out (albeit in the dead of night when the world is asleep. I’ve been the proverbial night owl for months now and I love it!).

This Valley of the Dolls set features the three ladies in the film:

Jennifer North (Sharon Tate), Anne Wells (Barbara Perkins), and of course Neely O’Hara (Patty Duke)

And, just for fun, this set also comes with two “dolls” which the women had become dependent on, like so many in the show biz.

I am slightly concerned that the pills would be too tempting for some, so I found the  biggest capsule imaginable that would give people pause should they decide popping these dolls are a good idea. It is filled with non-edible decorative sprinkles to further discourage consumption. It does look quite fun, though, I’ll give you that!

Freddie Mercury

I got a little high and dizzy while making the crown for the Freddie Mercury set and recalled an old Stephen Sondheim musical “Sunday in the Park with George.” When Sondheim wrote “Art Isn’t Easy,” I’m sure he hadn’t meant that an artist would pass out from all the toxic fumes emitting from the materials used to create a work of art. Granted, I did start most of it outdoors, but had to move it inside when the night closed in. But I’d rather suffer for my art than do anything else in the world!

This set had taken me months and months to complete. I actually started it before knowing the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a thing! It wasn’t the execution itself that took ages to get it made, but the fact that I first had to experiment with the new kind of paint for the crown, how to construct the velvety layer inside and finding the right type of velvet to use. Then I couldn’t find first, the time, then the inspiration. But then it came rushing fourth and I built the crown in about 6 hours’. It had been one of the final steps to finishing the set, which, coincidentally, had also brought to mind anothe number from the same Sondheim musical: “Finishing the Hat.”

I always have a ton of fun making crowns and tiaras, and this one was no exception. All the materials needed had been foraged from my vast collection of baubles and bits and that in itself had been one of the best experiences of “finishing the hat.”

David Lynch’s Ladies of Twin Peaks

For years now I’ve been asked to paint sets of dolls as gifts to others, which is really heartwarming in two folds: That these people are so immensely thoughtful to seek out something unique and let’s face it, with a somewhat serious price tag and also that they trusted me enough to make this happen.

It is also not that unusual for me to paint a family member or friend into a set of dolls featuring the cast from a TV show or a movie. But this was the first time I was asked to paint a favorite waitress from a favorite restaurant to gift her at the end of my customers’ temporary homestead. It made me wonder, just how amazing a waitress is she and how come there aren’t more like her out there? This request in itself made me want to be a better human being not because of the material rewards it might yield in the end, but to be THAT amazing that people will remember you for your fabulousness.

This set of Twin Peaks is headed by the creator himself. As always, I had fun making the Dead Laura Palmer doll. It means I have to purchase a certain foodstuff that my husband hates just so I can get my hands on the blue plastic sheet that is eerily similar to actual body bags. We have Mel the waitress added into the cast and I hope I did her justice, as the two photos given to me were taken on the sly since this set is meant to be a surprise. There’s Audrey, one of my favorite ladies to paint, and Shelly the actual waitress as well as the Log Lady.

Well, I’m off to meditate on how I can be as fantastic a human as Mel!

The Ultimate Lisa Kudrow Set

Who doesn’t love Lisa Kudrow? She’s quirky, she’s funny, and she was on the wildly popular sitcom of all time! I was really happy to have been asked to paint a set of dolls featuring Lisa Kudrow in some of her more memorable roles: Phoebe from Friends, Michele from Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, and of course Valerie Cherish from The Comeback.

It was quite unfortunate that this set was proposed right before Christmas with no time limit, which meant I had to put it on the back burner for a month before I could get back to it again. As with projects that are not time sensitive, I usually work on it after 1 or 2 AM, which meant I have very little recollection of its process. This sometimes work out in my favor because I’m usually genuinely surprised by the amount of work already put into it after a long hiatus!

Some details:

Here is Phoebe from Friends dressed in the outfit from the opening sequence.

Michele from Romy and Michele in her Revenge High School Reunion outfit.

Valerie Cherish from “The Comeback” with her clutching her script.

Michele again in her Serious Business Woman attire and the flash back scene in high school where the mean girl placed some magnets on her scoliosis brace.

Here’s Phoebe singing Smelly Cat with the said cat, and Valerie Cherish with an Emmy and also in a cupcake costume.

 

Designing Women

There had been a lot of squealing coming from the ol’ sweatshop a month or so ago. A woman I was chatting with casually announced that she knew “someone who worked on Designing Women” might be interested in having a set commissioned. My mind immediately raced through the cast of the show I used to watch religiously after hours when I was trying to finish my myriad projects for class. Who could it be? I decided not to ask the woman who this mysterious potential customer might be and just be pleasantly surprised. But secretly I was hoping for Delta Burke. I loved Suzanne Sugarbaker and had stopped watching after she left the show.

And it was! She was very sweet and knew exactly what she wanted for her set. The icings on the cake? I got to make a wig, a pageant crown, and a pig!

This set was extra special for me because I have been dying to make a pig doll ever since I became a devout follower of numerous piggy Instagram accounts.

 

David Bowie

I was fortunate enough to take a short trip to the East Coast this year when visiting the US. Chief among the things I had to do (stinky tofu in Flushing, mammoth ice cream sunadae at Serendipity…unfortunately both on the same day, great for me but not so good for my aging belly) was to secure a ticket to see the last ever showing of the “David Bowie Is” exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. This event held several layers of excitement for me as I had not been able to do any field studies of the subjects I’ve been painting due to either time constraints and the fact that I am now based in a city devoid of cultural stimulus. Don’t get me wrong, I love where I live since walking out onto my street and seeing dolphins playing just meters down the road in the water is not something you gloss over, but I do miss the days when I would just hop on the subway and then be transported into another world.

The exhibit was sensational. I had to take careful notes, however, since I was to return to Oz and begin one of the most interesting projects I’ve been tasked with since I started this Babushka business 9 years ago. The David Bowie set has always been burning in the back of my mind but I never seem to get it come into the light, as there are just so much to choose from. Fortunately this was taken out of my hands and I only had to make a very tiny suggestion and here we are.

The space ship hadn’t been part of the equation in the beginning, but somehow it ended up in here and I was more than happy to get a few bits and pieces made to turn the first doll into a vehicle.

And here we are, a crew of David Bowies.

 

Life on Mars/ Yamamoto Stripes

 

Aladdin Sane/Thin White Duke

Ashes to AshesSerious Moonlight

 

Earthling/Lazarus

…and finally, The Black Star

 

Ghost World Theme and Variations

Back when I was a studious piano student (albeit not a good one), I was often tasked with learning composers’ many “theme and variation” compositions. At the time I often wondered why anyone would want to do that, write different versions of the same core theme, but now I get it. I’ve been asked to paint a few dozen Ghost World sets, which can get a bit monotonous, but I find that if I paint something slightly different after a long day, my sanity can be saved.

This one features Enid Coleslaw and her friend Rebecca who are attending Seymour’s record party.

And this one is simply all about Enid Coleslaw in a ton of retro vintage thrift shop (I’m assuming) clothes.

Some close ups:

It’s mad to think working on something like this can save my sanity, but it’s true.

This set was painted a few years ago, right around the time when I met Alvin, Buenaventura. He was a giant in the graphic novels/comics publishing and from what I heard about him, he was the force behind a lot of the successful comic book artists out there today (Think BoJack Horseman). I not only had the pleasure of working with him, but I was fortunate enough to break bread with him when the hubs and I were in San Francisco. He had offered to give me a gallery show, which I turned down due to my overwhelming work schedule. It was a gesture I appreciated to no end because it showed how much he believed and supported me. It was why I was really devastated when I found out he has passed away. Ghost World had been our connection and I am dedicating this set to him. May you continue to shine wherever you are, Alvin.

Mean Girls Version 3 (Spring Fling)

Before I got started on this version of Mean Girls, I had to figure out how to rig up Regina George’s spinal halo and make it removable so the dolls nestled inside her can be taken out. It’s a good thing I suffer from a mild case of hoarding so after rummaging around a bit in a huge box of abandoned bits and pieces from the time when I was really into extreme scrapbooking, I managed to cobble together the spinal halo and made it functional.

Here’s the set of Mean Girls all gussied up for their Spring Fling.

Here’s the breakdown of the spinal halo I made, which, in mid-construction, I discovered my pliers were missing AGAIN and had to have a serious talk with the Hubs about returning things to their rightful place after use. It’s really my fault because I didn’t hide my tool box. I’ve already succeeded in hiding my snacks, now I’ll just have to figure out a way to hide my tools.

Mean Girls Version 2 (Halloween)

I have to admit that my high school experience is vastly different from ones portrayed in film, TV and movies. First of all, I had to take the subway to school (which was why “The Princess Diaries,” the books, not the movie, jibed with me), and a bus. Second of all, my high school was located smack dab in Manhattan, but in fact so removed from all the fun parts of the greatest city in the world that it’s pretty boring. If it weren’t for the Forbidden Planet and a few movie theaters nearby, I’d probably transfer to my local high school in Queens and used the time commuting to study for my SATs. No, I’m just playing with you. I wouldn’t be studying. I’d get my own teenage gang together and wreak havoc on the streets of Flushing.

So when movies like “Mean Girls” came out, I couldn’t really relate. There were some cliques here and there in my high school, but not so distinctive that people in those cliques don’t mingle with ones outside their own. I myself bounced from group to group. There weren’t any apparent bullying either, just a bunch of really focused teenagers trying to hone their craft. It might have a lot to do with the fact that I went to an art high school with a special concentration on architecture and commercial arts. From what I gathered, these fine people I graduated with are functional members of society, most of us still pursuing our dreams of being an artist or have attained that near-impossible goal. So, “Mean Girls” is a largely fictional piece of entertainment in my book and I genuinely feel bad for people who DID have to deal with horrible people in terrible situations because I myself have been spared of such trauma. Still, I did have fun painting this version where the girls were all slutted up to go to a Halloween party except for Cady, who didn’t get the memo. And also Janis, the only voice of reason in the high school jungle.