Doll Journey, Vision

Whenever I start a large doll, I have a specific vision. I encourage my students to create this way too.

What is a vision?

A vision is something you see, it doens't have to really be there and it doesn't have to really be seen with your  physical eyes. It doesn't even have to be the whole thing- just a part. It can be a hope or a dream that you envision. It could be real or imagined, so long as you "see" it.

My visions usually come from experiences that are unique to me. I may have shared events with others but the links to each event are my own. Hearing a band play a song, seeing the hawks floating on the wind, wanting to free that rooster of his beautiful neck feathers, even finding feathers on the driveway.

Each of these events led to the vision of this doll.

The song started it all.

The lyrics say:

Come be the fire inside of me,

Come be the flame inside my heart,

Until you and I are one.

I see this part of the vision as a pose or a body position- which I have been able to translate to a doll form.

The specific graphics of the issue of the heart have not been translated to a drawing and may not ever, but they are an important part of the vision.

With the inspiration I have been finding thru birds lately, I was drawn to another quote, this one is from the book Art and Fear.

"Notice what you Notice."

I have been noticing alot of birds, and even found some feathers in my driveway from either on of those hawks or a roadrunner. When I bent down to pick them up, that quote came to me. I had just finished adding armatures to the doll form to support the weight of beads. Sitting back at my table I had decided this doll should have wings. Here is the sketch- you can see part of the quote in the bottom left corner.

I had a wing pattern that I liked from a previous project and copied the pattern off to the correct size. It was even the right  shape.

I have begun making the feathers but I will share that in a future post.

Blessings.