Abstract Mixed Media Paper Doll Tags - Make your own creative tags for your art journal

Today's episode on the Paper Doll Chronicles is about making abstract paper doll tags for your art journal practice.

Our theme for today is The Radiant Self.

July’s sun invites us to shine without apology.

This doll celebrates the parts of us we’ve grown into, the confidence we’ve earned, and the light we bring to the world—without shrinking.

Paper Doll Idea:

The Sun Queen / Solar Sister / The Bold One

Journal Prompts:

What parts of me am I ready to let shine more fully?

Where have I been hiding my light?

What wisdom or confidence has ripened in me in midlife?

You might choose to do this with old photos or found magazine images - use what you have on hand.

*Suggested supplies*

• A manila tag, cardstock or recycled manila folder
• Glue stick
• Matte medium Gesso
• Acrylic paint
• Magazine images or old photos
• Brushes
• water
• paper towels
• Craft dryer
• Stencils, stamps and other mark making tools
• A collection of words cut from magazines

Transcript

Video title: Abstract Mixed Media Paper Doll Tags - Make your own creative tags for your art journal
    
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/live/QnLm6L2iWhQ
    
Video language: English (auto-generated)
    
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[0:01] : Good morning, my creative friends, and welcome to another episode of the Paperd
[0:06] : Doll Chronicles here on Painting in Your PJs with Manette. I'm Dr. Manette Ryarden. Super excited to be here live
[0:14] : with all of you and with some summer allergies and I took about the last
[0:19] : month off and I'm really happy to be back reinspired and with some new themes
[0:24] : to keep us entertained over the month. If you're brand new to painting in your PJs or you just stumbled across my
[0:31] : channel, this is all about using art as a creative process for
[0:38] : personal growth and self-discovery. And this year we're doing that on an almost
[0:43] : weekly basis through the format of making paper dolls of all kinds, every
[0:50] : shape, size, and form. And this month we are going to be focusing in on four
[0:58] : paper doll tags that you can use in your art journal. I've created some new faces
[1:04] : for those which are available if you're subscribed to the Paperd Doll Chronicles email list. The link is in the
[1:11] : description of this video. And we're gonna focus on some themes
[1:18] : this month that are all related to summer. I'm super excited about this
[1:23] : process and doing something a little bit different. Excited to be back live this
[1:30] : month as well. Been missing my people in community. I was off and uh got back to
[1:38] : teaching yesterday, so it feels like it's time to jump in with some fresh
[1:43] : summer energy for today. So, I'm going to go ahead
[1:49] : and change my screen and kind of talk you through where I'm at, where I think I'm going. And where I think I'm going
[1:57] : is often, you know, I end up someplace completely different than I thought I
[2:05] : would. So, I'm excited to try something new. You know, this channel for me is
[2:11] : always all about experimentation, seeing what works, being imperfect,
[2:18] : making mistakes, and all the aspects of being an artist and a creative. So, for
[2:26] : those of you that are on the email list or would like to get added to the email list, I sent out some black and white
[2:33] : faces and a couple of different sizes. And I'm going to talk about how we're
[2:39] : going to use those. Welcome back. Thank you. Thank you for being here live, KatieB. Super excited to be back. And so
[2:48] : we're going to talk about how we're going to use these faces as inspiration for creating our own dolls. So last
[2:55] : night while watching TV with the hubby, I had some fun playing with these. And
[3:02] : the faces are going to be a little bit more realistic. But the doll bodies are going to be
[3:09] : abstract. And I played with do I want the faces to
[3:14] : be separate from the bodies or do I want them to be all part of the same. So
[3:21] : we're just going to continue to explore this idea. But I want to integrate what
[3:28] : I call my creative discovery cycle into the process. This is what I do with just
[3:36] : about everything I create, even when I'm painting on a large surface. So, I have
[3:42] : some journal prompts that I want to share with you. Let me cut and paste
[3:48] : those. And I'm going to they're in the description of the video if you're watching the replay. And if you're
[3:54] : joining me here live, I'm going to pop those right into our chat this morning
[4:00] : as well. They might look kind of funny in there, but I'm going to start as I love to do
[4:09] : with the a little bit of journaling on my tag. So, I'm working here on quite a
[4:15] : large tag. I think this was a 4x8 size.
[4:21] : Any size tag will do. And this larger tag obviously would work best in a
[4:28] : larger journal. So, yes, this is a a 4x8. I ordered a stack of these on
[4:34] : Amazon. You can make your own very easily using recycled manila folders,
[4:40] : but I like having them precut with the hole punched and the nice little, you
[4:46] : know, um I forget what these little thingies are called. Maybe somebody else remembers that uh the hole protectors
[4:53] : right on there for the strength of the page. And I love to sort of plant the
[4:59] : seeds of my thoughts right into my page
[5:04] : so that and then paint and create over it so that I'm putting the energy of
[5:10] : what I'm working on. I'm starting to already think visually about where we're going. And the creative discovery cycle
[5:17] : always starts with some type of a prompt. And that prompt could be a
[5:22] : question. It could be a story. It could be an image. Then I like to do some
[5:29] : journaling. Then I like to make some art. And then usually there's more journaling to come at the at the end.
[5:36] : I've got an Ident pen here. I love these pens. And I'm just going to put a few
[5:42] : words on there. And I think it's very appropriate. So, the theme for the doll that we're making today is the radiant
[5:50] : self. And July, it's really hot here in Colorado this
[5:56] : week. It was over a hundred yesterday. And it's typical of July sun. And that
[6:02] : sun really invites us to shine without apology. So, we're creating a doll today
[6:07] : that celebrates the parts of us we've grown into, the confidence that you've
[6:12] : earned, and the light that you bring to the world without shrinking or hiding.
[6:18] : And sometimes it can be really challenging to hide these parts of
[6:23] : ourselves. So, our prompts today are to help us step into that confidence. And
[6:28] : then we'll create a lovely paper doll that will visually hold the energy of
[6:37] : the radiant self that will mirror back to us our own light. So that's the intention,
[6:45] : the design, and the direction. And we'll see where the journey takes me today. And hopefully you'll play along and
[6:52] : create your own dolls as well. So the first prompt is what parts of me am I
[6:59] : ready to let shine more fully? So for me I would say that has everything to do
[7:07] : with talking more openly about my
[7:12] : spirituality. Um continuing and growing being more
[7:18] : vulnerable. One of the things I'm learning and practicing this year is
[7:24] : really um practicing being embodied in the form that I'm in.
[7:32] : Like loving the body that I'm in is another one. And you can see I'm writing
[7:37] : really big. If I were journaling quietly by myself, I would probably do a little more writing but sharing more about my
[7:45] : journey, my own healing journey with my physical self as well as my spiritual self. And where have I been hiding my
[7:54] : light? I think again it's talking about my spiritual life, how my creative life
[8:00] : and my spiritual life are integrated. What does that practice look like? What is it that I believe? And part of it is
[8:06] : that I'm still getting clear about that as a woman in midlife who is looking to
[8:14] : establish new rituals, new practices that really support me in
[8:20] : connecting to my definition of the divine. And then the final prompt is what wisdom
[8:27] : or confidence has ripened me in wid in midlife? Well, there has been a lot of
[8:34] : wisdom earned over the decades as a 60year-old woman.
[8:40] : So, I think the wisdom right again is in that really
[8:46] : self-love, self-rust. The confidence comes a lot from
[8:52] : consistency in my practices, in my self-t talk, in
[8:59] : letting go of people pleasing, and letting go of overwork,
[9:05] : letting go of not making time for play. So I think a lot of that wisdom and
[9:12] : confidence has come just as much from letting go of old patterns as it has
[9:18] : been from learning new things. Right? So the idea here is just to plant the seeds
[9:26] : of who is that radiant self that I want to see mirrored back at me every time
[9:33] : that I look at this doll. So, now that I have those words on there, I'm going to
[9:39] : grab some gesso. And I'm going to put some gesso on this tag. If I can get my
[9:45] : gesso open. Bear with me just a second.
[9:52] : This one tends to always be tough to open.
[9:59] : Grab a brush. It's a tiny brush for this big tag, but it's what I have in front
[10:05] : of me. Oh, here. This is better.
[10:10] : Little key card. I'm just gonna get a little gesso on here. So, I'm
[10:16] : putting this gesso onto the tag for two reasons. One, to cover up that writing,
[10:25] : and I'm going to move this paper out of the way for just a second because I'm going to use that to draw on in a minute.
[10:32] : one to just get that base layer down to cover up that writing. You can see this gesso is still pretty transparent and I
[10:40] : can see some of that coming through. It's totally fine. By the time I'm done, no one will be
[10:46] : able to see this but me. But also, when we add gesso
[10:54] : to a substrate like a tag, it helps to strengthen the substrate. By substrate,
[11:00] : I simply mean the paper, the tag, the canvas, the fabric, whatever it is that you're painting on. We want that to to
[11:08] : to seal it in. So, gesso is a primer, just like you would prime a wall in your
[11:13] : house before you paint. That's what gesso is. And it's going to help
[11:19] : strengthen this tag as I continue to add more painty layers to the tag. So, if I
[11:27] : were to paint just with straight acrylic paint on the tag, it would be okay, but
[11:33] : eventually the surface might start to rip or tear. Matte medium is another
[11:40] : good supply that you can use to seal a surface as well. But I'm going to start
[11:46] : with that gesso. You can see it's got some marks and some texture in there. It's not super
[11:52] : consistent or super flat. It's totally fine. And I'm going to set that aside to
[11:57] : dry. Bring back this stack of paper.
[12:04] : Clean off my little scraper here. A hotel key card is really one of my most
[12:10] : favorite supplies. Get a little more light happening here
[12:17] : in the studio because I can get really beautiful thin layers of paint on things.
[12:23] : So, let's talk about these paper dolls for a minute. So, I created these faces
[12:30] : using an artificial intelligence tool called MidJourney to design faces that were radiant was
[12:40] : what I asked it for. And I loved some of the the different looks that it came up
[12:46] : with. and I wasn't sure which size of face would be best. So, I made a couple
[12:54] : of different sizes. These felt like these fun sort of different outlines to
[13:00] : try. And because I'm working on these large tags,
[13:07] : this larger doll might work pretty well. So, I'll
[13:14] : try a larger one. But what I like about
[13:21] : some of these smaller ones, and I would probably extend her dress here, is that
[13:30] : I can see more of the tag itself, which gives me more room for making a fun
[13:37] : abstract painty background. So, why am I calling these abstract paper dolls?
[13:42] : Because the body is abstract. There's no arms, there's no legs, there's no feet.
[13:48] : We've made dolls that had all the right parts. But for this one, I wanted to focus in on a couple of things. One,
[13:55] : that radiant self, that beautiful radiant face that I want to mirror my
[14:02] : radiant self and then have this sort of blank canvas for maybe putting in some
[14:09] : joyful symbols or designs or patterns.
[14:14] : Might do some collage. Might even do some stitching on her to really get that
[14:21] : in. Hey Lorraine, welcome. Welcome. So glad you're here. Thanks for being live.
[14:26] : If you're here live, I really love it when you pop into the comments and just say hi. Don't be a stalker. Let me know
[14:32] : you're here. Like it totally feeds me to know you guys are live. So Katie and Lorraine, thanks for being here. And if
[14:39] : you're catching the replay, thank you also for catching the replay. drop a note in the comments and let me know
[14:45] : that you stopped by to say hello. So, what I have done here is to use these
[14:53] : black and white printouts. They're black and white on purpose as a template for creating some of my
[15:01] : own faces. And I have simply made my own graphite paper and traced
[15:09] : the p the face on just a piece of this is just plain white mixed media paper
[15:15] : and then added the body to that. I really loved um all of these faces
[15:23] : that I did last night. I love how they came out, but I want to show you the whole
[15:29] : step by-step process of where we're going. And I think I want one of the
[15:35] : smaller faces. So, let me do one that I haven't done. And what's really
[15:41] : interesting about the two different pages, notice that these are mostly
[15:47] : mouth closed. These are mouth wide open laughing which is actually trickier to
[15:55] : draw. So, it's nice to have this template and I like both. I'm feeling
[16:01] : particularly drawn and when we smile, our eyes close naturally. So, you also
[16:08] : in these, you don't see a lot of the eye, but I'm feeling really drawn to
[16:13] : this woman today that has her head thrown back,
[16:19] : laughing out loud. And one of the things over the years I've had to learn how to
[16:24] : do is have more fun and laugh more and laugh out loud. So, I'm simply going to
[16:32] : take a plain old number two pencil.
[16:37] : Any graphite pencil will work, but just a plain old number two pencil. And I'm
[16:44] : going to load it up. Just color both ways over that face.
[16:51] : I'm sure I've shown this technique before that I'm going to grab a ballpoint pen
[16:58] : and I like to do this with blue or a colored one simply because then I can
[17:05] : see the lines that I've traced. And I'm going to get her up here at the
[17:12] : top of the page. And again, you can use any size of paper. This just happened to be some
[17:19] : extra bits that I had around of a just inexpensive mixed media paper.
[17:25] : And I'm just going to loosely draw her hair. I just kind of want to get that outline of that hair.
[17:33] : I'm going to get the outline of her neck. I'm not worried about all the
[17:38] : shading and hash marks and details because I want to
[17:44] : make this face my own. So, we'll get her face in there. Make
[17:50] : sure that's working. It works great. I love this is such an easy technique for
[17:58] : capturing things on the page.
[18:03] : Get her nose going.
[18:10] : And I can see on here, you know, she has some nice smile lines.
[18:16] : I asked it to give me, you know, older faces,
[18:24] : not 20some faces. I want a representation of my radiant self now,
[18:31] : not my radiant laughing self when I was in my 20s. So, it's such a simple way to
[18:39] : get a face down on the page.
[18:44] : I got some graphite off of one of the other ones on there.
[18:51] : And then I was trying to decide if I wanted that face and the body to be
[18:57] : separate, but I kind of like because then you could make a template that you
[19:03] : could use over and over again for the different faces. But I kind of liked
[19:09] : each of them sort of having a little bit of their own personality, right? I also
[19:17] : really love this space. I love all of these. So, I'm excited to make a whole series of dolls that represent this
[19:25] : aspect of my radiant self. So, I'm simply going to come in here. We've got
[19:32] : her shoulder line already.
[19:42] : And that one feels she feels like she's a little more slender.
[19:48] : I can grab that tag. I want her below the hole, right? Because I know I'm
[19:54] : going to want to add some ribbon and fun things to the hole. So that just kind of gives me a target if I want her to go
[20:03] : all the way down the tag. Then I'm going to give her on this one
[20:09] : maybe a little scoop neck neckline. And if I wanted her to have arms,
[20:17] : right, we could totally give her some arms
[20:24] : and a really simple hand and maybe even some really simple feet, right? But my
[20:31] : sense for these was that I wanted them to be as simple as possible. So then I'm
[20:38] : simply gonna take my scissors.
[20:51] : All right, I'm going to set these clean sheets of paper aside.
[20:59] : I'm gonna check on my painty tag.
[21:06] : So, it's still got some wet spots on it, but it's drying up on there.
[21:12] : And so, I think what I want to do is I'm going to decorate her
[21:21] : first. See who she tells me she wants to be.
[21:27] : And then the background will come second.
[21:40] : And I'm going to color her face and hair. But then I'm thinking I might
[21:45] : start her body with some collage. So I'm thinking here that this is going to be,
[21:52] : you know, a very spiritual being. She's probably gonna be off to the side.
[21:58] : So, it's sort of feeling like
[22:03] : maybe some found word poetry or some an inspirational saying or
[22:10] : affirmation might be a really nice thing to finish off this tag since it's a nice big tag.
[22:16] : So, I'm kind of just thinking about where do I want to go with this as I go
[22:22] : down the process. And I decided I would play with my car ash neocolors, which
[22:32] : are often a favorite tool for painting up my faces.
[22:40] : Zoom in on that face. Bear with me. I'm going to focus here for a second.
[22:47] : We can get that a little clearer. All right.
[22:58] : So, I'm going to start to come in. And if you've never worked with the Neo Colors, they are such a beautiful
[23:07] : water-soluble crayon. They are so much fun to work with.
[23:13] : They blend really nicely. And one of the tricks is definitely to
[23:20] : for working on something this size is to make sure you have small enough brushes
[23:26] : to get in there and capture the details. And sometimes I like also a really stiff
[23:32] : brush that I can really blend with. I don't
[23:38] : want too much water. If I overwork this, it is going to
[23:46] : make this paper pill because it's an inexpensive paper.
[24:00] : And again, we're not going for perfection. We're just looking to get some color
[24:07] : down on this page. Give her a little color in her cheeks
[24:15] : there. And I'm going to come back to my
[24:22] : actual wrong one. Drawing of her. So now
[24:28] : I'm going to come in with a black marker. I have a little bit of color on that page
[24:37] : and I can see where I've lost, you know, some of those lines
[24:43] : of her face. So, I'm just going to kind of make it up as I go.
[25:04] : And we're not looking to have these faces be perfect. We're looking to just
[25:11] : have them really sort of, you know, capture this essence of this beautiful
[25:17] : smiling, radiant aspect of our self.
[25:28] : And notice when you're smiling and your teeth are showing that your lips
[25:35] : get also really thin.
[25:40] : And in this one, we can actually, you know, see almost right down her
[25:46] : throat, right?
[26:06] : I'm going to go ahead and outline her face
[26:12] : because it's the look that I like are those, you know, bold black lines.
[26:28] : and her ears are going to kind of disappear up into her hair.
[26:38] : So, we're going to want a little bit of color here.
[26:46] : And then with that pencil, we're going to come in and just kind of gently give
[26:51] : that little suggestion of teeth in there. So, we have that sense of that
[26:59] : radiant smiling face. And she's got all this gorgeous curly
[27:06] : hair. I always wanted to have super curly
[27:13] : hair.
[27:23] : And she's not young, so there's probably some gray in that hair.
[27:29] : I'm going to see what happens when we just sort of start to blend all this
[27:35] : together.
[27:44] : And in the drawing, she has earrings on. So once this is dry, I might want to
[27:49] : come in with a little gel pen or paint marker,
[27:55] : give her some happy earrings.
[28:02] : So there we have our super super simple way to get a face on to our tag. And now
[28:13] : I want to start working on
[28:18] : her outfit here. And I've had a lot of fun lately making some hand dyed and
[28:27] : printed scribbled peepers. So, and this is a manila folder that I
[28:34] : painted up. So, I'm looking for things that feel like radiant to me, right? The
[28:41] : the colors, the texture. I mean, this one almost looks like wings. I kind of like this purple and orange.
[28:52] : Some luscious greens. There's a little bit of gold shimmer
[28:58] : paint in there. My radiant self might need a little
[29:03] : shimmer, a little glitter.
[29:11] : Some more gold. Oh, this one is really pretty.
[29:18] : Thank you. Yeah, I love uh this one. They're all
[29:23] : the these all came out beautifully. So, I am in fodder school for this year. And
[29:29] : this was inspired by one of the lessons in
[29:35] : fodder school.
[29:43] : I did one set that was all more earthy tones.
[29:49] : Always love spirals but not feeling those colors.
[29:56] : You know, you got to flip through all of the pages. Some little painty tea bags.
[30:07] : That was a hand painted one. Okay, I think I have plenty to choose
[30:15] : from. And maybe that one.
[30:22] : And I'm just looking for what the base layer of my doll is going to be here.
[30:29] : I'm not looking for this to be the finished piece. And over in my stash, I
[30:37] : might have to go grab them. I have a bunch of really shimmery, shiny
[30:43] : stickers that might be perfect for her.
[30:50] : So, I kind of like this one. And I'm wondering if my read itself might need
[30:57] : some wings.
[31:02] : Oh, this one has You turn them over and they have a little more pattern. So, looking at
[31:11] : those colors. So these that have the gold and the shimmer might just add some
[31:17] : little bit of accents. So when I think of radiance, I think of the sun shining.
[31:24] : I think of really bright, bold colors.
[31:30] : Definitely like I love this sun, but I'm kind of feeling this
[31:37] : purple up here, too.
[31:42] : And what if we went this way?
[31:50] : I don't really want to cut the, you know, a hole right out of the center of that piece of paper. I would if I was,
[31:58] : you know, really attached to it. And then I'm just going to use that abstract
[32:04] : shape to draw this out. We're gonna cut it out and see
[32:10] : what happens.
[32:19] : And as I'm looking at these colors and then it gets me thinking about the
[32:25] : background as well of, you know, what would start to go with this. So now I'm
[32:32] : thinking, oh, maybe one of those pieces that was
[32:39] : Oh, well that's pretty. I was looking at that backside.
[32:46] : I don't think this one is going to have enough
[32:51] : contrast unless I darken the edges of her.
[32:56] : But that's really beautiful with all that feels more radiant. So maybe I'm
[33:02] : gonna change my mind here. Changing your mind is always allowed.
[33:08] : So, I'm going to go ahead and cut both of these out. And if I don't use them
[33:14] : for her, they'll get used somewhere. But it feels like definitely want a more
[33:21] : stark contrast on the background part of the doll.
[33:38] : And again, I'm holding loosely in my mind that idea of this radiant self and
[33:47] : what will fill feel most radiant.
[33:56] : Just nip off that little edge there.
[34:02] : Yeah, that one feels better than the purple one.
[34:09] : And then what about the beautiful butterfly? So that might
[34:16] : be the contrast that we're looking for there on the tag.
[34:26] : or maybe some of this purple with a little bit of gold here.
[34:35] : And what I love about collage and having a stack of collage fodder on hand is
[34:44] : things come together really quickly. So, I need to cut out the neck here
[34:53] : and decide where to go next with our radiant self doll.
[35:03] : Do I want to go get some stickers? Do I want to
[35:09] : draw or paint symbols on her? I'm kind of feeling like
[35:14] : maybe a little some handdrawn elements on her would be lovely.
[35:24] : I'm just going to take a glue stick.
[35:34] : Get it loaded up because I want that paper to stick and it's a heavy paper.
[35:45] : really put some pressure on that glue stick. Warm it up so we make sure all those edges stick down the whole thing.
[35:53] : Make it matte medium over the top to to seal it.
[35:58] : But I definitely like where it's going.
[36:06] : And now I'm thinking back to where I had this sort of almost like a sun
[36:15] : design right in the center here.
[36:41] : Maybe she needs a little radiance behind her.
[36:48] : And I'm just gonna go for it on here. Like it feels like
[36:55] : she needs some little blooms around her collar.
[37:08] : And I may grab my stash of gel pens later and color her up
[37:16] : with a few more details.
[37:34] : And maybe we'll just have fun adding
[37:39] : some more bits of collage to give her a little bit of color.
[37:49] : So I think what I'm noticing as I'm working on this is that this radiant
[37:56] : self here is also simple. Doesn't need
[38:01] : to be super cluttered
[38:08] : with a ton of details and images. She loves color.
[38:21] : And it is a full moon today. And somewhere I have the cutest little full
[38:26] : moon stamps and stencils, but her energy is more about the rays of the sun. And
[38:35] : I'm feeling like it wants to have maybe a butterfly, that transformation, that
[38:41] : opening. So maybe a butterfly sticker on
[38:46] : her would be good. Yeah. So I might have to grab some more
[38:54] : pieces to kind of get her finished up in some of those other details added. I
[39:01] : thought I was going to paint this, but it's definitely feeling like it's just going to be
[39:08] : collagey. I'm thinking the more purple part.
[39:15] : And so the way that I'm going to do this, I'm using a glue stick. You could do this with matte medium.
[39:22] : I'm not going to cut the paper first because it's hard to get it right. I
[39:28] : don't care about all that writing under there. Right. I know what I wrote.
[39:33] : People get upset about covering up their writing. It's always optional.
[39:39] : but they're just the seeds of my intentions that are planted into
[39:47] : this beautiful radiant self. And I'm thinking the writing here is just going
[39:53] : to be some affirmations. So once we have that stuck down, then
[40:00] : it's really easy to come in with your scissors
[40:07] : and trim around the tag.
[40:29] : And it's always fine to have things also sort of hanging over the edges of the
[40:34] : tag, right? You know, things don't have to fit neatly or perfectly onto a tag.
[40:42] : But absolutely love that beautiful piece of paper. I would then
[40:49] : just take my all or your scissors and just poke through
[40:56] : so I remember where that hole is
[41:02] : because this one definitely is going to want some ribbon.
[41:07] : All right, now I'm thinking does she need a little bit of more blue on her to
[41:14] : match? Don't know. Making sure I'm not covering up that hole.
[41:21] : or if I do cover it up that, you know, that hole will go all the way through both. Okay, that doesn't match once I
[41:28] : put it down there. I like the idea of the radiant sun and it needs to be
[41:36] : a more uh bright yellow piece.
[41:45] : So, looking through my scraps again,
[41:52] : I'm sort of feeling drawn to this kind of complimentary piece with the gold
[41:57] : here.
[42:06] : Yeah, she needs something a little shimmery there. And then I'm looking around to see what do I have that's
[42:12] : circles shaped. I can trace around to get a circle. And
[42:19] : I am going to cut that gold just right out of the center because it's that shiny gold that I want.
[42:30] : And it's round. It could be a moon. It could be the sun.
[42:45] : It just needed something up here to sort of brighten it up a little bit.
[42:52] : And actually, maybe we'll just put it down there. So, I'm still being mindful of where I want to string that ribbon. I
[43:00] : might trim her up a little bit. And I think I'm going to use matte
[43:06] : medium to put all these heavier pieces down so it all feels like it stays
[43:13] : together. And I'm looking at this and I'm laughing hilarious to myself because it has a very 70s
[43:20] : vibe with all the really vibrant colors on it. You know, the colors of the
[43:27] : dress. Now I'm feeling like this needs Oh, look. Here's a fun
[43:36] : neon pink. Let's see if this one's still working.
[43:46] : I have so many old paint markers around
[43:54] : and this one is telling me it's empty.
[44:01] : Okay, that's not going to happen. But I want to get some more. It feels like she needs some little pops of pink on her
[44:08] : here. So maybe come in just with a another
[44:17] : little bit of our crayon here. Now it feels more like the bottom of a
[44:24] : dress, but also it's starting to feel a little landscapy. And now I'm feeling
[44:30] : like, oh, maybe she just needs some fun flowers on her
[44:40] : dress. So, what if I simply came in? We went for a walk this morning and
[44:47] : there was beautiful echynia blooming in the park by our house.
[45:04] : And there's so much color behind, right, that it doesn't
[45:09] : need I don't need to add a lot of color to the lines,
[45:19] : but I can just have some fun drawing some different types of flowers.
[45:28] : I was doing this in my sisterhood of wisdom and wonder yesterday, our online
[45:35] : monthly membership program and just having fun with the drawing and
[45:43] : illustration. And when I think about my radiant self, hey Carol, been a while for sure. Totally a tie-dye look. That
[45:50] : is what I said. It was very 70s feeling. Total 70s vibe.
[45:59] : And my radiant self is blooming and growing.
[46:16] : Now she feels a little bit better. She feels a little like she's kind of landed
[46:21] : there. So, she's starting to take on some character and personality.
[46:34] : We're going to want her to stand out.
[46:41] : So, might come in with just a little bit more color.
[46:51] : paint her up a little bit.
[46:57] : And I'm always amazed that the journey that each and every one of these dolls
[47:03] : this year has taken me on, the direction they go. You know, I never really have a
[47:10] : specific idea in mind. And so I love working super intuitively and just being
[47:20] : in that playful curiosity of well what if I try this or what if I try that? So
[47:28] : not being
[47:33] : so specific about it has to look this way or look that way.
[47:44] : or I can't cover up my words or I can't cover up my collage. But just to give
[47:50] : yourself permission to play. Remember, it is just paper
[47:57] : and a little paint and a little crayon. You're not wasting anything. Every time you're willing to experiment and try new
[48:06] : things in your art, the more that you will grow and learn as
[48:13] : an artist. Learn what it is that you like. Learn what it is that you don't
[48:20] : like.
[48:29] : And so much of what I am about is
[48:34] : learning to fall in love with the process itself
[48:39] : rather than being attached to the outcome.
[48:45] : Yes, it's wonderful when we create something we love. But more
[48:51] : often than not, I'm in this because I'm looking to create meaning more than I'm
[48:58] : looking to create a beautiful product.
[49:07] : And I'm just going to add a little white up here so we can have that sun just pop
[49:13] : out from the background a little bit. And I'm using, if you're just joining
[49:19] : us, these are Kon the Ash Neocolor 2 crayons.
[49:31] : Make sure that hole stays open there.
[49:37] : And if that's not white enough, I'll come back in with some of that gesso. Okay. Just needed a little bit more
[49:47] : of that yellow.
[49:52] : It feels like maybe just a little pop of some neon green in here.
[50:17] : Yeah, definitely feels like it needs a little bit more white up there. I'm going to take the end of her off.
[50:25] : So, she's sitting well below that sun. And again, there's going to be some nice
[50:31] : words over here. Oh, a flower in her hair might be a lovely idea. It feels
[50:37] : like it needs um a stick on flower. And I have some lovely paper stickon
[50:44] : flowers somewhere, which I will dig out.
[50:55] : Bring in a little bit more of that. Just feels like it needs a little green
[51:02] : to get the growth going. And
[51:11] : just going to whiten that top up a little bit with just a little bit of white acrylic paint. That was way too
[51:18] : much white acrylic paint. Those big tubes. It definitely comes out
[51:25] : fast. Use that on something else.
[51:31] : Nice dry brush. So, I did not put matte medium over the top of this paper, which
[51:37] : I would often do. So, I have to be mindful of the paper.
[51:56] : And mostly I was just being lazy, but I actually prefer to pete over
[52:02] : matte medium than directly onto the paper. I feel like I get a much
[52:08] : better surface. Was looking for my BB wipes, but I think they're on the other
[52:13] : table. Okay, there we go. Now she's standing out. That sun is feeling nice
[52:20] : and bright. And like Lorraine said, it needs some funded dimensional
[52:27] : bits, which I don't have at hand and we'll have to go dig out over in the
[52:33] : other side of my studio.
[52:38] : But I'm thinking that I want some cut out words on here.
[52:47] : So, I have this scrap of paper from where I cut out my doll. And it feels
[52:54] : like these will make beautiful affirmations.
[52:59] : And so, I'm just going to use my own handwriting.
[53:04] : And I love creating I am statements. And I'm put some space between them
[53:11] : because I'm going to want to cut these out. So I am radiant,
[53:18] : confident,
[53:25] : healthy, like what is defines your radiant self.
[53:33] : Thank you, Carol. I am radiant, confident, healthy.
[53:45] : and growing things that I always want to remember. I
[53:53] : almost wrote creative u and it you know it is a part of that.
[53:59] : So I'm going to cut these out. So maybe we'll add creative as well and we'll see what fits on there.
[54:07] : And what was in my writing underneath the surface
[54:12] : was spiritual. So these are all the things that I feel represent that radiant
[54:22] : aspect of myself. And then we're just gonna
[54:28] : come in, trim these up.
[54:36] : Apparently I don't write very straight.
[54:49] : And I don't need very much paper here. Right.
[54:57] : So, I'm cutting away a lot of that paper.
[55:03] : I just want the words. This is a great way to
[55:10] : get your own handwriting in there, but using the bits of white paper will make those words stand out more.
[55:29] : I don't need all the pieces of paper to be the same size.
[55:34] : Right. So, this is what I do want is to grunge up the edges of them a little
[55:41] : bit. And normally I would just do that with maybe some distress ink,
[55:48] : which of course is also over on the other side of the studio. So we're going to see this is where you start to kind
[55:56] : of make do with what you have on hand.
[56:02] : And now we're going to play with these and see what do we want to keep? What do I want to let go of? Probably have more
[56:09] : words here than I want.
[56:48] : I think that's what it's going to be.
[57:02] : but they feel like starkly white against the rest of it. So, it definitely feels
[57:07] : like there needs to be some
[57:15] : color added around the edges. But before I do that,
[57:22] : I'm going to get all my pieces glued down.
[57:28] : Going to start with just a glue stick and then I might seal the whole thing with matte medium. We'll see how we do.
[57:45] : Just making sure I load it up with that glue stick. Like getting really in
[57:51] : around the edges. These Elmer's glue sticks are left from
[57:58] : some class or something. They're not my favorite, but they do in a pinch and so I'm trying to use them up. But one trick
[58:06] : about glue stick is if you take the time to really just kind of burnish it a
[58:12] : little bit with your hand or even with a bone folder. Sometimes I like to turn around and do
[58:18] : that on the other side. You can really get that to stick on
[58:25] : there nicely. And then I can see uh where does it need a little more detail?
[58:34] : Right. Like we're gonna probably darken up. Definitely think she needs a little
[58:41] : fun collagey bits which I will track down.
[58:50] : Can even put a little glow here around this.
[59:02] : Maybe even a little glow around her.
[59:15] : And what I love about dolls like this is we can just keep going, keep playing,
[59:20] : keep adding. I love working on tags. So,
[59:25] : this can get tipped into an art journal.
[59:36] : or it could be a fun bookmark or she might just float around on my desk for a
[59:44] : little while um to remind me that I am
[59:50] : that radiant self. So,
[59:56] : let's see. I've got a dark blue here. I'm going to dip my crayon directly into the water.
[1:00:06] : And then just come and do a little edge of color here all the way
[1:00:13] : around.
[1:00:22] : It's okay if it gets a little messy. I've got it on my fingers now. So,
[1:00:27] : getting kind of all over.
[1:00:34] : So that makes me wonder, do I want the whole thing to be
[1:00:40] : a little blue and not white?
[1:00:53] : So, we're going to get them all a little blue and then decide. I can't decide if
[1:00:58] : we like it. And now I'm also thinking, oh, it would be really fun to
[1:01:03] : type this up on my typewriter, which I haven't used in a while. So,
[1:01:12] : this might be the right words.
[1:01:19] : They definitely need that little bit of color,
[1:01:25] : but maybe a little more white. So, I'm not going to glue
[1:01:31] : these down. I'm going to do what I often do. And I'm going to let this sit here on my
[1:01:39] : table for a little while while I decide what's next. Right. So, this is I know
[1:01:47] : the direction that I'm going. I know I might want to add some
[1:01:55] : more shiny bits. Um, love the idea of the flower in her hair. So, it feels
[1:02:02] : like, you know, it's she's not completely done, but she's in a really good place to let her rest for a minute
[1:02:11] : and then decide what's next. So, that is my radiant self for today. Next week,
[1:02:18] : I'll be back with a different theme. And we're still going to continue. We're
[1:02:24] : going to make four of these tag dolls this month. And next month, we're going to talk about sacred summer stories.
[1:02:30] : We're going to talk about nostalgia, memory, summer, like uh a little more
[1:02:38] : childlike, playful. So, it almost might be this beautiful inner child mirror to
[1:02:44] : this adult version of my radiant self. So, as always, thanks everyone for
[1:02:51] : joining me live. Thank you for watching the replay. Thank you for being here
[1:02:57] : today. I appreciate each and every one of you. And give me a like or a comment.
[1:03:04] : Let me know you appreciated this video. It always helps other people know that
[1:03:09] : it's a video worth watching. And I am so glad to be back with you guys after a
[1:03:14] : lovely break. And I will see you next week, same time, 8 a.m. Mountain time,
[1:03:20] : same place. Have a beautiful rest of your day, my friends. Bye bye.