"The Guardian of Hope!"

In the still of the night

on the far side of the slope...

shrouded by the darkness

stands the Guardian of Hope...

Waiting in the shadows

watching and seeing all...

cloaked in autumnal splendor

not a single nest can fall...

I have finished all of the details

(including the addition of this original poem)

on this gourd doll... for the 

Art Doll Quarterly Gourd Doll Challenge.

She will be mailed off to California on Tuesday!

The poem is my feeble attempt to help "explain" 

the whole idea of this guardian, the nest, 

and of course:  "hope!"

Her head is a photo transfer on fabric
with a bit of paper clay underneath the nose 
to give her face a little depth and dimension. 
(she looks like my grandma!)

Enjoy... Daryle

Gourd Doll Challenge!

Art Doll Quarterly will be publishing the Gourd Challenge Dolls in their Fall 2011 issue... I am hoping to finish "The Guardian of Hope" in time for the entry deadline (coming up quick!)

"The Guardian of Hope" is made from a photo transfer on cotton knit fabric, using a vintage photograph from my stash of long forgotten souls!  I stretched the fabric over a basic paper clay form that I built up, intentionally trying to form the "smile lines" on either side of her mouth. Then I hand colored the details.  Her paper clay hands STILL need to be painted and distressed.  She looks like she's wearing white gloves at the moment! Tsk, Tsk!

Her body is a "birdhouse" gourd that is hollowed out, cleaned, and then I layered it (the inside) with paper-toweling using a white glue & water mixture for added texture. I still need to add a wash of color to the inside...

 

The outside of the gourd is covered with a paper napkin, using the same white glue & water mixture.  The natural finish of the gourd shows through the translucent single-ply napkin nicely.  I cut the little bird from a piece of pine, added wooden dowel legs, and placed him on the wire & wood perch.