The Broken Doll Project

#2 - Allostatic Overload

The image here is the reference I used comprised of photographs of two different dolls.

Again, this was to be a work based in gel plate monotype printing, so I used some filters to effectively separate all the areas of tone into patches of colour to use as a reference for creating the mylar template.

This time, I used my large homemade plate for the body and a smaller gel plate I purchased for the head and therefore needed two separate mylar templates to piece together the composition.

The image to the left shows the two mylar templates in position and the photo below shows the completed body stencil in situ over the collaged background image with the head template on its perspex sheet, waiting to be added to the composition.

At this stage, the outcome of the final 'pull' was as precarious as it was in the first one as there were no guarantees that the paint would have adhered to the collaged surface well enough.

The image below shows the eventuality in the outcome of both the head and body prints. As you can see, there was an equal degree of success and failure as parts of the paint peeled away during the pull.

As the feature of the large crack in the dolls face was an important element to the work, I set about working over the printed areas with acrylic paint and medium to describe the finer details without totally losing the integrity of the print. At least, that was my aim.

The images below show the various stages of progress as I developed the image which resulted in it becoming more of a mixed media painting than a bona fide monotype print. However, I felt that the substance of the work was strong and engaging enough to pursue it and bring it to a state of satisfactory finish, so I pushed on.

The image on the right is a 'split screen' of how I grappled with the tonal range and managed to rescue it from becoming an horror film poster image to a painting depicting an innocent broken doll by re-instating some of the rosy pink flesh tones.

Allostatic Overload  

Painting and Printmaking on mixed media board

Size: 30.5 W x 41.9 H x 0.3 D cm

The outcome of this one is in my opinion, slightly more impactful than the first and in many ways, is a difficult one to look at yet is more layered and realistic due to the attention to the detailing of the cracks on the face and body.

Scroll down to see the large full-scale version of the finished work with a link to purchase the original or order a print.