At but not necessarily of 3.2.

In a khaki trunk under my bed is a collection of dolls my grandparents brought back from holidays in various parts of Europe. They’re all in national dress and a little faded from being on a shelf somewhere in the house as I was growing up. Yesterday, I took one out and made a pencil drawing on a re-primed canvas.

At this point, I have the shape and some patterns but I’m so inexperienced with human-like figures that I also need a story before I can ‘bring her to life’ without invoking Chucky.

I didn’t like the orange background and the photographs showed me that this buff colour was perfect. Now I have an overwhelming wish to give her a rifle and put something indeterminate under that clog. She’s become a resistance fighter.

29th June. A stick and some smudges made in Procreate last night on my phone. Not ideal but doesn’t that suddenly change the whole image? I cropped it deliberately to leave the small strip of board visible behind the canvas. I think now she looks fierce and ready to take on whatever is lurking in the dust storm.

After a bit of casting around for information about the Dutch resistance in WWII, I found that this was largely non-violent, They hid people, sabotaged communications networks, conducted counter-intelligence operations rather than taking on the Nazis at their own game (see Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_resistance). This woman would not have been wielding a weapon so instead I’ve given her a paintbrush. The landscape is collaged onto the canvas with water.

This (probably) final step draws in a non-specific instrument with watercolour pencil and a line where the collaged terrain stood, although I may put that back. To emphasise the anonymity of the Resistance, I’ve re-established the doll, the universal face, and removed the eyes, reminiscent of the Noh mask. She ‘hears nothing, and sees nothing’, she’s a harmless woman in a traditional frock. I may put the collage back though.

Versions made in PhotoDirector for possible inclusion in the video.

This is the other version which can be switched into the AR as required.

I changed the shape of her face, gave her a hint of neck, and added some thin lines to indicate a stick or staff of some sort. This suddenly gave her stance a different meaning, and blacking out her eyes echoed the dolls of horror films. She’s no longer a chubby-faced toy, she’s a powerful but silent resistance fighter.

Intriguingly, the eyes and the white highlights to the cheeks and chin, along with the way the apron fell, took me to the Samurai which is a totally unexpected cross-over. She looks armoured despite no hint of weaponry. This has become a commentary on the role of women in war.

Final video – now the official AR layer via Artivive.

I’m not sure where this will sit in the coursework stream, or if it has a place at all, but the images and video are on Instagram and Facebook so their provenance should be published too.

SCH 2024