I’ve been simultaneously struggling with, and enjoying the process of turning my favourite doll photographs from the last decade into fine art prints. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for years, while also avoiding doing it for years for some reason. Well, last year I decided to finally set aside enough time to see it through and make some beautiful prints, so for the last few months we’ve been colour proofing various images and testing different papers and canvas sizes.
“ It actually feels like I’m learning a whole new art form”
Of course it’s taking a lot longer than I thought to create a line of beautiful Enchanted Prints, but things are starting to come together, one colour test at a time. I decided not to rush it, and let myself get comfortable with the new medium and acquire a new set of skills. It actually feels like I’m learning a whole new art form and it’s really taking me out of my comfort zone, which is strange, because I’m working with the photographs I took, of the dolls I made, and I thought this process would have been more fluent than it’s turning out to be. Instead it feels like I’m learning a whole new language.
I suppose it doesn’t help that instead of starting with paper prints, I decided to jump straight into making stretched canvas prints with custom gel texturing for realistic ‘oil painting’ effect. So, I made a lot of mistakes, wasted a lot of canvas, learned a lot and finally made my first successful canvas print Dynastinae.
Dynastinae is the inaugural print of my canvas line. It was inspired by an Entomologist’s shadow box taxidermy display of Eupatorus gracilicornis Dynastini (Rhino Beetle) and I’m just delighted with how lovely it turned out. These are now available for sale for $350 USD.
The frames are not included, and I’m not even sure which one I like more; The white frame creates a luscious Baroque aesthetic, while the brown frame with wood grain makes it look like a specimen display from the museum of natural history.
Which aesthetic do you prefer: Baroque or Natural History?
If you are interested in ordering a print, send me an email at inquiries@enchanteddoll.com. There will be a store coming soon but we are processing orders by hand in the meantime.
UPDATE: The print is now available in the store (along with other prints) and can be seen here