One of the nicest things about custom doll-making is when someone asks me to make a gift for their loved one. There is something so lovely about people I've never met trusting me enough to send me their personal photos and turn them into something they will give to their amant (I use the French for lover, because 'lover' sounds a bit seamy in English). I've had a few requests recently for anniversary portraits, one of which was my first custom order for a wall hanging. This is an adorable couple, Gino and Rocelia, whom I recently had a lot of fun sculpting:
Gino's hat looks a bit wonky, because it's not yet permanently affixed, but this gives an idea of how it will turn out. I plan to do more portraits soon, and maybe a few that are painted a bit more abstractly, just for fun. Now how gorgeous are these two?
Other than the six custom orders I plan to finish this weekend (eek! hands, don't fail me now!) I am getting in bed with Henry James. I just finished reading The Turn of the Screw, a great, turn-of-the-century ghost story. I'm giving a seminar on it this weekfor my American Gothic course, and so feel I have to read it once more to really grapple with the formal aspects of the book. It's quite spooky, and much shorter than my last recommendation, The House of the Seven Gables, which apparently a lot of the people in my class found tedious and overwrought, so my apologies if anyone has sought it out and felt the same. I confess I have a weakness for useless beauty...
...but then I would argue beauty is never useless....