March 29, 2008

Vincent Van Gogh in Miniature!



I finally received my miniature figure of Vincent Van Gogh made by dollmaker Bonnie Glazier! The 1" scale doll is about 6" tall (1/12th - 1 inch scale is 1"=1').


He is fashioned after the self-portrait Van Gogh completed in early 1888 in Paris, which is now at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.



I think he looks like him, don't you? I was absolutely thrilled with the results!

A Miniature Van Gogh Scene

I am going to make an attic studio scene featuring the Vincent Van Gogh figure and his paintings. I hope to display it at book events as a unique conversation piece. It seemed the perfect project to do since my book, SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT, focuses on the hunt for a missing miniature replica of Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Decorating the Van Gogh Scene

I already have an easel. (Ok, I cheated; I decided it was something I didn't want to tackle, so I bought a nice wood one. Some things are best bought instead of made, at least by me. ha!)



As described in an earlier post (see the 1/12 entry for details), I do have a fantastic miniature oil painting of Van Gogh's (The) Starry Night and his famous Sunflowers painting, done by miniaturist Lucie Winsky.

Another fantastic accessory is the great paint palette, brushes and paint supply set made by my Dutch friend, Kitty Balke. She, too, added some incredible details.



(Note: More of Kitty's work can be seen in the story I wrote on her, our miniature tea shops and our long-distance friendship, in DollsHouse and Miniature Scene Magazine, April '08, #166. She made most of the teapots in my Teapot Shoppe featured and also seen on my website, click Miniatures Gallery.

Usually I do make most of the things I put in my miniature scenes and houses, but with writing and as the book promotion tasks multiply, I knew I might not have time to do much. I thought it best to leave the doll dressing and painting to the experts. (The painting is something I have not mastered or tried and I have not dressed any male dolls yet; I started one, but the jacket is still unfinished.) The paint supplies were a much appreciated surprise gift.

I will post soon on the progress of the miniature art studio, so check back!

I'd love to hear your comments!

5 comments:

Mary Cunningham said...

Amazing, Chris!! Can't wait to see a photo of the completed "studio!"

Cre8 said...

I really love the doll. The completed studio is going to be amazing, I can't wait!

Anonymous said...

A true work of art! I really love the paintings, kudos to Lucie and the pallet and paints and brushes are wonderful. Thanks for the lovely compliments on the doll, he was my third male doll to do. The other two were Santa's and the first really looked like he might be a homeless Santa :. I have kept him to remind me what firsts look like.
Can't wait to see the room complete!
Mini hugs,
Bonnie

Anonymous said...

The Vincent doll is wonderful and the art studio will be fabulous. I love Lucie's picture-it my favorite painting of all time so I had to buy one of hers too. She does a wonderful job. Can't wait to see your completed scene!

hugs,
Fern

marcella aka milo said...

Hi Chris, it took me a while but I eventually found your blog :) Thanks again so much for your visit and congrats on your Van Gogh scene - I am with you, the details you added are amazing and I can't wait to see more work in progress!

also congrats on your book, I'm going to take a looooong tour of your blog and read everything, including the book's 1st chapter!