About this commission, a repainted, rewigged Kish Raven Chrysalis 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.

This DOLL: Helen Kish (Kish & Company) introduced in 2007 her Chrysalis Series of 14-inch ball-jointed vinyl dolls. The face sculpts as of 2011 are Grace (smiling), Lark, Piper, Phoenix, Raven, Shea, Song, and Wren. This doll began as Raven Cheeky (the Raven face sculpt in a certain wig and outfit). Each Chrysalis doll has thirteen joints (neck, shoulders, knees, wrists, hips at leg, knees and ankles). Each can stand and balance on her own without a doll stand.

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.

COLORS: Some computer screens may modify the color of the art. Some may make the image lighter or darker than it is. The doll has finer detail and more subtle coloring than a computer-jpeg-photo can show.