Inspiration Monday: Wonder Woman

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People who are familiar with my art already know that I love Wonder Woman. I have painted her several times, and even turned my sister into her during one of my recent paper doll shoots.

If there is anyone I wanted to be when I was younger, it was Linda Carter from the 70's Wonder Woman tv series. (Why? I have two words for you: Invisible jet)

And, I find comic book art in itself pretty fascinating to look at, so I spent a little time recently studying the origins of Wonder Woman. She was initially created by William Moulton Marston in 1941. His reason, he said, for creating Wonder Woman was:

 Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype 

lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they

 don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good 

women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised 

because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a 

feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the

 allure of a good and beautiful woman.^[7]

The thing I found most interesting about Marston was that he was also the inventor of the polygraph (perhaps the source of his idea for Wonder Woman's lasso of truth?).

I will leave you, appropriately enough, as the Republican candidates for president are currently in my state, with one of my favorite Wonder Woman covers, and my candidate for our next president.

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Defining a type

"Flapper"— the notorious character type who bobbed her hair, smoked cigarettes, drank gin, sported short skirts, and passed her evenings in steamy jazz clubs, where she danced in a shockingly immodest fashion with a revolving cast of male suitors.”
― Joshua Zeitz, Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern


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The Game of Life

Did any of you play "The Barbie Game" when you were little? It was a game that came out in the 1960's, and it was subtitled "Queen of the Prom." My grandmother had the game at her house, and it was a favorite of my sisters, my cousin, and myself. The object of the game was to become the queen of the prom, but before you got there, you had to have a boyfriend, a dress, and be president of a club. (In barbie world there are much stricter standards for attending the prom than there were at my high school. All we had to have was a ticket.)

We each had dresses that we coveted the most, boyfriends we preferred (God forbid you ended up with Poindexter!), and the drama club was the best. You had to work for allowance to pay for your dress, and the rest of the girls better not get caught at the soda shop with your boyfriend.

The game (with real life appeal for all girls!) was one of the things I remember most fondly from growing up. Sadly, the game was thrown out or given away years ago after my grandparents passed away. But a few years ago, I discovered a reproduction of the game in a toy store in downtown Greenville. I can't remember being that excited about a game before, as I happily bought it for my sister for Christmas.

The busyness of adult life keeps us from playing the Barbie Game for hours like we used to do, but my sister and I still sometimes like to get it out and play a round. If any of you are up for a cutthroat game of "Queen of the Prom," let me know and I will get the game board ready.

What were your favorite games to play as a child?

A Formal Affair

Available in my new cake topper store http://toastdanceandcake.etsy.com

Revealing the surprise

I was reminded yesterday that since Christmas is over I am allowed to share the pieces I did as gifts. These two paintings were for my sister and brother-in-law, and depict my two nephews. I could just paint these two little guys over and over!

The Meaning of Cool

I am starting to really love 1920's fashion. There is something so cool, and yet comfortable about it. For the first time women weren't corseted and covered from head to toe. The loose, boxy clothing was often a bit masculine, but it seemed to emphasize the femininity of the woman underneath. I would wear this outfit right now and feel amazingly cool.

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Open for business

I feel like I have been thinking and talking about it for a while, but I finally got my wedding cake topper store up and running. These little pieces are just a lot of fun to make, and I hope they bring some fun and whimsy to a lot of weddings. There are a few pieces up in the shop, with more to be added in the coming months.

Interested in a custom piece? Just send me a message. Please help me spread the word by letting all your soon-to-be-married friends know about my cake toppers!

Visit my new shop at http://ToastDanceandCake.etsy.com. And, you can still find my smaller paintings in my original Etsy shop, http://EmilyClarkeStudio.etsy.com.

Inspiration Monday: Haddon Sundblom

I spend a lot of time looking at vintage illustrations for inspiration for my work, both in terms of the subject matter and technique. There is something about how commercial illustrators of the 1930's through about the 50's applied the paint to their images that gives them a very classic vintage look. I have spent a lot of time studying these images and trying to replicate the look in my work.

I especially love the old Coke advertisements. Not only did they serve their purpose- depicting beautiful people enjoying the delights of a refreshing beverage- but they are really beautiful works of art in themselves.

In doing some research into the major illustrators for Coke, I came across the work of Haddon Sundblom. Most of you have seen his work, although you may not have realized it. He is responsible for the image of the "Coke Santa" that we still see in use today, as well as the Sprite elf, and the Quaker Oats guy. Many illustrators working in mid-century America, both for Coke and other companies, learned their techniques from Sundblom. He also painted pin-up girls and scenes of classic American life.

Sundblom subscribed to a type of painting adapted from the Impressionists called "first stroke," which involved using the fewest number of strokes possible to describe one's subject.

I came across the two pieces below just today. I love the loose brushstrokes and the bright sunlight that seems to wash over the figures. They make life during this time seem quite idyllic, don't they?

The coke ads in this post were emailed to me several years ago by a very kind visitor to my studio. The two Sundblom paintings at the bottom of this post are courtesy of the blog Today's Inspiration.

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In the Name of Style

Luckily Alice had remembered her bathing cap. The last thing she wanted was for the water to ruin her new Marcell wave.

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Going for a dip

Betty felt glorious in her new bathing suit. Once Donald saw how athletic and tan she was, he was sure to come a runnin'.


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Scholastic Apptitude

I don't know why, but for a while now I have wanted a vintage letterman sweater. You know what I am talking about. With the right skirt you are suddently transformed into the captain of the cheerleading squad, or maybe dating the captain of the football team. The problem is that actual vintage letterman sweaters are fairly expensive.

So, of course I did the next best thing: I decided to make my own. I happen to have my own letter from high school, although I never had a jacket to put it on. Although my letter was for band and not for sports (yep, woodwind captain actually) I figured it would work. The only other thing I needed was one of those giant v-neck cardigan sweaters we all had in the 80's, and I would be set.

One of our local Goodwill stores happened to have this little beauty.

I dug out my letter from mom and dad's house over the holidays. I love that it says "woodwinds." There is absolutly no hiding the fact that I was a band nerd and not a cheerleader or a track star. I am, however, glad that my high school colors were pretty. Go Broncos!

I then just ran the sweater and letter through the sewing machine, and voila, a brand new "vintage" letterman sweater!

I think the only thing that might make this any better is if it said "math club."

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Slice of cake

I know it isn't exactly a paper doll, but this is another of my wedding cake toppers. There is something so glamorous about a Gibson girl. What man wouldn't want to marry her?

Only up from here

So, 2012 hasn't started out quite as I intended it to. After a fun few days spending Christmas with the family, we all ended up with a mysterious lingering sickness that knocked us all flat and left us drinking copious amounts of cold medicine and tea. Now that I am starting to feel human again, I decided that it is time for an update, and to let you all know about some of the things I have planned for the new year.

As I mentioned several weeks ago, I am currently working on a couple of book versions of my paper dolls. Some of the drawings you have been seeing over the past few weeks are going to be turned into a series of paper doll coloring books. Next, I will be doing a full color paper doll book, hopefully finished before the end of the year.

Next, for you hands on types, I am going to be offering some classes and workshops out of the studio. Soon I will be offering a paper doll workshop, for those of you that want to create your own paper dolls. And, because I hear from people all the time that they can't even draw a stick figure, I will be doing a stick figure class to teach you all the refined art of stick figure drawing.

And, as always, I am available to teach individual or group lessons in painting or drawing. Just email me for rates.

Finally, those of you who are on my mailing list know that up to this point my "monthly" mailings are far from regular. But, I have some new articles and ideas planned that I think you all will enjoy. It will no longer be just a list of show announcements, but will be packed with tips, stories, historical information, fun stuff, and things available only to newsletter subscribers. Plus, it will actually come out monthly! So, if you want to be a part of my mailing list, just click the link over in the right hand column.

Thank you all for your patience with me over the past couple of weeks. I hope your New Years was nothing like mine. I know it can only go up from here!
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