About Emma, a repainted, rewigged Kish doll . . .

The artisan painting done in China creates a lovely doll to the specifications of Helen Kish. In my painting, I aim only for less doll-like and more life-like, to see how much illusion of life I can achieve. Some painting work I do is of such delicacy, in transparent layers, with such time involved, that it would probably be cost-prohibitive to do it within a doll factory setting.

After removing all factory paint, I am using artist-grade alkyd-oil paints (in thin translucent glazes) with the addition of alkyd resin to make the paint surface become as flexible as the doll’s vinyl skin and to make it adhere well. I finely sand (Q-tip and finest pumice) the surface before painting it for better adhesion.