Impromptu Study of Scale in the Style of James Abbott McNeill Whistler

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Impromptu Study of Scale in the Style of James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Impromptu Study of Scale in the Style of James Abbott McNeill Whistler

My dear husband gave me a gift of several lovely musical instruments and a set of chairs to go with them. My plan has been to create individual sculptures to which I can add the head of lps petite Blythes. I finally came up with a reasonable armature out of 3mm craft wire and disassembled a few Polly Pocket dolls for moveable limbs.

Since I already had the beginnings of a seated model, I chose the James McNeil Whistler painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's mother," aka Whistler's Mother.

Of course there will always be issues with scale with Blythe dolls because of the big heads, but in this case I had another issue to contend with as Whistler himself took liberties with his mother's proportions. One critic suggested that she would have to be built like an NBA player. I had to give my model a leg extension to give me the lap I needed. A pair of Polly Pocket boots are mounted to the free standing foot stool.

I wasn't too worried about fabric or sewing as this was going to be a temporary setup. The music room dolls will have nice black skirts with shiny green tops. For this doll I used a black knee high compression stocking and did more sculpting than sewing. I had a nice selection of lace to play with but the shape of her head and hair were a bit awkward.

The biggest problem was that my armature had not allowed for any neck room, a problem that will need to be addressed for the musicians. I didn't have time to do any major adjusting and worked with what I had. The same with my other materials.

The drapes were fun. I used a piece of tissue from a floral bouquet and pleated it. After pleating and figuring out what would be needed, I opened it up and did some freehand designs with metallic paint pens using his painting as a guide. Once I let the pleats fall back into place everything hung nicely.

The most fun part of the project was reading about Whistler. He was quite a character and like many artists, quite full of himself. One quote from Oscar Wilde said, “Mr. Whistler always spelt art, and I believe still spells it, with a capital ‘I,'”

When Whistler was asked why he had been born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he replied that he wanted to be close to his mother. :)

You may not be able to see Whistler's ubiquitous signature butterfly with a stinger in the top right corner of his curtains. I decided to add my cryptic signature by spelling my name backwards in the painting on the wall.

He named most of his paintings with musical notatkon, so I have followed suit by naming my portrait Impromptu Study of Scale in the Style of James Abbott McNeill Whistler

In order to get the right light I inverted one nesting table on top of another.

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Taken on: July 11, 2023
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Sets appears in:   • Blythe a Day 2023    • Petite Blythes   
Groups appears in:   • Blythe a Day July 2023 - Celebrating the Arts   
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