Oh my!

I wonder....

It is said that you should trust that somethings happens for a reason. The last two weeks have been more of "oh my" than "hurray". We had a lovely stay at my mother-in-law and came home rested. Oldest daughter went to school and youngest daughter started her internship at the local flower store. I had plans for having fun with photography, dolls and painting. Well, nothing of this happened.

First we thought it was mosquito bites. Then that it was allergies. But then it was chicken pox. On a teenager. Surprise, surprise! Youngest daughter got the spots first and some days later the fever and other symptoms came. I phoned the nurse at the local health care centre and she was totally sure that it was chicken pox and said that we should keep her home at least for 7-10 days. There was nothing to do about this. And now our oldest daughter has it and are home, with spots and fever. 

"Missne and Robin - a story about the woods"

This gave us some extra work to contact schools, theatre, church and let others know, so that they can be prepared. Chicken pox is highly a contagious disease, so it is best to inform about it. We were a bit nervous about our youngest daughter - she had rehearsals at the theatre and premiere on the weekend that week. But she recovered fine and could stand on stage doing her three roles together with the group she is in, in a fantasy story about this world and another world, how these meet. At school there has been two calm weeks with not so much to catch up on, so that is nice and both girls will be healthy for the trip to Poland in the beginning of May, with their confirmation group. So, we can breathe out. 

Ghoulia Yelps, not in the best of lights and focus.

It was rather tough on us all. I got so tired and started to wonder if I was going to get sick too. Have not had chicken pox as a kid. I had just some moments to socialize with my dolls and the outer world. Took some photos of Ghoulia Yelps. Hope to do better this week. But, that is life. And we had good weather! Always something!

Spring has sprung in the city of Örebro, nearest big city.

Meet 真珠 - Shinju

One painting by (c) Juri Ueda
"dia de los muertos in red"

When I search for inspiration I usually take the highway to art - galleries, internet and social media. I have my favorites in Rudy Fig, Kelly Vivanco, Juri Ueda and Jasmine Becket-Griffith, just to mention some. Do you have some artists (painters, musicians, actors and so on) as inspiration?

This time I turned to Juri Ueda, a watercolor painter from Osaka, in Japan, who has been creating these wonderful paintings with a tiny bit of fantasy worlds since 2007. On paper.

First thin lines, just to see if it works.

When it comes to repaints and OOAK-dolls, I am no master at it, but I think it is fun to try new things, new techniques and I see the face of a doll as a tabula rasa, a blank slate. More accurate though, as an erased slate. I looked at my Madeline Hatter, an Ever After High doll and felt that she was rather dull and I wanted to do something about that. 

A little bit closer

So I cleaned her for the second time and stared at her, all naked. I got my inspiration from the painting above. In the beginning I felt that her face was a little bit small for this kind of art project, but the roundness she has made it work. I first tested to have the eyes with white acrylic dots, but that looked rather crazy, so I used my Derwent coloursoft white for that. Do you do repaints? What materials do you use?

Some steps more...

Shinju, in Apple White's sweater

Her white dots in the eyes look like pearls, so I gave her the name Shinju, 真珠, pronounced sheen-joo. It means "Pearl". I need to make her some clothes and in a later entry tell you her story. How do you name your dolls, figures and so on?

Easter was and went

Back home again, since two days. The Easter holidays went by really fast and I would have loved to stay for some more days, but ordinary days are here and the girls have their school on Monday - so, it is just to go with the flow. But soon it will be summer and we can enjoy our vacation in Blekinge for a longer time than just some days. I took some photos while we took a trip to the cottage. Hope that you had a marvellous time during Easter! What did you do?

Some of my collected cars.
I placed them on the gravel road to
our cottage and to the lake.

The workers in the forest got some
help from the storm. But that did not end well.
We had some obstacles on our walk down to the lake.
Jump! 

Story takes a rest on my younger daughter's shoulder.
My daughter found the ears from the Ariana Grande
concert from last year. The ears was at the cottage and
was easiest carried on the head. Both of them, even sisters.

Down by the lake. Had some Sonny Angels along too.
And of course a LPS Deer.
Story holds her skirt tight in the wind. Not enough with
hands, who will keep my hair in place!
Help!

Well, maybe it was a bit fun to see the woods, lake and
enjoy the nature. Maybe. These raindrops are wet
and cold. They make me look crazy.
I need a towel!