Muse n. The source of an artist’s inspiration. In Greek and Roman mythology nine sister goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne were muses who presided over the arts and sciences.

Muse v.  To think or meditate on a subject thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ponder, contemplate, ruminate.

About myself

Hi and thank you for taking a look at my site, my name is Marina and I am a painter and textile artist.
Drawing, sewing and doll making have been interests of mine since childhood. At seven years old I was given my first Singer sewing machine and I was eager to experiment and create.
At the time my mum was teaching fashion at St Martins School of Art and I was given off -cuts and interesting scraps of fabric, always in dazzling colours and modern prints. I was captivated by the process of creating all types of dolls, clowns, and animals with my continuous supply of cottons, felts and slinky fabrics. It was the start of a consuming passion which would always compete with my love of batik and making art.

As a teenager I was making rag dolls to commission, alongside batik and pencil portraits, enabling me to earn my own money.
After my degree at Goldsmiths I worked as an illustrator, choosing batik as my medium. My enjoyment of fabrics continued in dressmaking and soft sculpture and is now finding a new direction in my art muses.

Having been a professional artist for over thirty years, working as an illustrator and a fine artist, I have found myself wanting to return to the “doll” and re-interpret the idea as an artform.

Working in three dimensions is providing a new way to explore the themes I am inspired by, it is an exciting and challenging  pursuit. Creating art muses will combine my love of art, portraiture, symbolism and textiles. Each muse is an intricately detailed artwork, a collectible, not a toy.

The artist, art and life stories of each muse will be recorded in detail on my blog, which I hope you’ll find interesting. Followers are welcome and comments are sincerely appreciated, so please feel free to write in the box at the very bottom of the page.

The idea

Looking at paintings I am often drawn to the female subjects, the muses or models who imbue the artwork with their persona, and I wonder at how important they are in expressing the ideas of the painter; or is the artist imposing his story and ‘modelling’ her in his colours, his ideas? I think the relationship probably works in two ways, the model inspires the artist and becomes his muse: and she is then portrayed in ways that tell his or her story.
This can be seen especially in the works of Rossetti of the Pre-Raphaelites, also Burne- Jones, Waterhouse, Modigliani and Klimt.

With my figurine muses I am exploring the artist and his or her art via the muse.

Combining my interest in art with my love of doll construction and dress making seems a natural progression. The process of studying artists and their work is enjoyable research and allows me the pleasure of examining some of my favourite painters and their paintings in detail.

                                                                            First Steps

Inspiration and construction involve two very different thought processes; the first is exciting and can lead anywhere, the second needs careful consideration, trial and error.
I was excited by my initial idea, but to make it a success I had to work through several procedures; from sketching visuals, to drawing pattern shapes and making body prototypes.

Sketches for Pre-Raphaelite muses.

Sketches for Klimt Muse, various designs and faces.

Sketches for Chagall bride Muse.

After numerous revisions in my pattern cutting I came to a standard pattern. This all took time, but when I understood what was needed to make the body shape function, I knew I could tweak and alter it to make each muse doll individual.

Followers and Comments

Followers of my blog are welcome and comments are sincerely appreciated, so please feel free to write in the box at the very bottom of the page. You will have to give your email address to be notified of a new post (a new muse) but this is a secure site and new muses take a good six weeks to complete !