A few years ago, my eye was drawn to a newspaper article about an iconic Melbourne artist. Her name is Mirka Mora. My knowledge of Melbourne culture was a somewhat limited (I'm still learning), so this was the first I'd heard of her. And I was fascinated (How could I not?).
In addition to being an artist, Mirka, along with her family ran cafes and restaurants in Melbourne. An entertaining woman, Mirka was known to sometimes do things to catch her patrons by surprise.
Mirka's paintings are innocent, and whimsical. There is a freedom of the ocean in the way she fills the canvas. Objects and creatures overlapping. There is no particular pattern that I can see.
My thoughts returned to Mirka, when the owner of Blue Dog Gallery shared with me a photo of Mirka sitting amongst her handmade art dolls. Well, blow me down! I didn't know that Mirka also made dolls( Or maybe I had simply forgotten).
I had the inspired notion to design and make an art doll inspired by Mirka Mora. And so I did. I made a brand new pattern just for this doll, and she is sewn, and hand painted. I gave the doll wings, because I saw wings and ducks appearing in photos of her artwork. Studying a few happy snaps of Mirka's paintings, I went ahead and painted the skirt in my own interpretation of her style (It was fun, letting myself be unrestricted). And of course the finishing touch – a paint brush in hand for this angel artist.
