Paper Dolls Just for the Fun of It

On the First Thursday of each month, some of my friends meet in my Nest with the soul purpose of "making art" and having FUN! And, we certainly do have lots of FUN.

Each month, we choose something neat to do. One month it was abstract painting, one month it was Inchies, another month it was journal pages and this month, it was paperdolls. We don't kid ourselves....this stuff is very loosely translated when we say "art." But, what we are serious about is the therapeutic value of what we are doing, plus the sheer enjoyment we have of getting together and trying to make art. I think we do pretty well, considering how much talking and laughing we do. What we do accomplish, I think, is to get each other really enthused about what we individually want to do when we are alone in our respective studios. It's a fun group, anxious to try things together we might not tackle alone. And, when we leave each time...we feel good. That's important.

We didn't start out with any grand ideas of making THE paperdoll of all time. We knew we were "playing" paper dolls. And, just in case our "paper doll wells" went dry, I bought some cute little balsa wood dolls for kids, which we could paint. You'll see some of them mixed in here. We just thought they were too cute not to "color" and play with.

The first photo is of the dolls Brenda made. She was really determined to make several dolls. The smallest one is a "self-portrait." Our friend, Jim, sent us all a small paperdoll body upon which he had placed photocopies of each of our heads. Kind of weird, but funny. We were to dress them, which we did.

My sister-in-law's paper doll is in progress in the next photo. She is new to our group and I believe she is having a great time. Of course, one of the things she is learning is that her sister-in-law is more odd than she ever believed. Sandy is really talented and not having ever made a paper doll before didn't stop her...this one is just beautiful. We enjoy seeing her get excited too.

Bibi is cutting out her doll in the next photo...this one is articulated....and dainty. Bibi always makes tiny little things just perfectly.

Another photo of Sandy's doll. I love her feet!!!

The last photo needs some explaining. The doll on the back row, left is the one I made. Next are two dolls made by our friend Jim, who didn't come to the meeting, but loaned two of his paperdolls to "show." As I've said before, Jim is our resident "over-achiever" so even though he couldn't be here...he felt obligated to send paperdolls. His are really nice and dressed "to the nines" as only a doll made by Jim could be. The next doll is me, but made by Brenda. On the first row is a small "me" made by my friend, Jean, isn't this one a hoot? The smallest one is "me" again...and made by me also. (These are kind of freaky if you ask me!!!!)

So, some paperdolls just for FUN. Great FUN. With a great group. You never know what we will do and neither do we, but, therapy....boy, have we got lots of that!!! Take care til next time! Pat