Virginia Greaves

I haven’t made an art doll in a couple of years. I made several in ’07 to sell at an art fair and I still have a few in my studio that my youngest still loves to show off to her friends. She typically tells them that she can “have one” — just pick one out — and they usually pick Sophie, my first doll. Well, I usually explain very nicely that that isn’t going to happen — and that Sophie isn’t going anywhere since she was my first doll. I tend to be fairly territorial over them because — even though they look like a child’s toy — they are ART dolls and they take some time to make.

Technically, they are mermaids. I haven’t ventured into legs — but I’ve been reading Susanna Oroyan’s Anatomy of a Doll, and I’m beginning to think that anything is possible. I suppose that anything new is scary, but she breaks it down into steps so that it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

I did break my rule and make a mermaid for the daughter of a friend of mine. She has been the queen bee of the house for a long time, and now she has a new baby in the house that is getting a lot of attention. I had intended to have this doll finished for her before the baby came — but the baby was a couple of weeks early. C’est la vie. But she is ready now. My daughters each picked out a doll for themselves a couple of years ago — although only one took it to her room to keep. I did find it in a toy bin once and reconfiscated it, but she has recently reclaimed it. I have always retained rights to put the dolls back in the studio if they aren’t properly taken care of. But this one, Elisabeth, is on her own. Hopefully, she will help teach her owner that art dolls and babies are fragile and need to be specially cared for.

I have been doodling a lot in my drawing notebook with a Sharpie — and it finally occurred to me that I was doing a short version of what is called zentangling. I saw a post about it recently on QuiltArt and was directed to www.zentangle.com. They don’t describe it so much as show you. I started researching and found several videos on YouTube about it — but I am surprised to find that there is currently no Wikipedia entry for zentangle or zentangling.

OK — so what is it? It is a process of doodling that brings about a meditative state. You use heavy white paper and thick & thin black markers — although I’ve seen someone online use black paper with a white marker. If you’ve read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain — the author talks about reaching the meditative state in drawing that is needed to tap into your best creative energies. Zentangling is an easy way to do this.

So I went to Dick Blick the other day & bought some 80 lb. bright white drawing paper and a couple of Sharpies. That is really all you need — and some time. I had to sit by the pool for a couple of hours yesterday — and it was a perfect activity to keep me occupied. There is a lot of detail in each piece so it takes quite a while to fill one out — but it is also a lot of fun. It seems to take away the pressure of the blank page and lets you experiment with drawing in a non-threatening way.

My first piece is around a circle — so it is technically a mandala — which also helps with the meditation. I had several people who saw it tell me that they would love to see it silk screened onto T-shirts. I’ll have to ask someone if you can create a screen from a Sharpie drawing.

I used a plate to draw my circle — and then used wavy lines to divide it into sections that I then filled with circles, dots, lines, squares, diamonds, whatever. It uses repeating patterns to give a sense of rhythm. It is not dissimilar to the process of coming up with quilting patterns to cover background areas.