Progress: Suzanne

Here's Suzanne on her project:

I got some pix of my entry for this year. Barbie at 50. These are paparazzi style photos, the first being blurred and the other only partial, since her publicist was there. What a Diva!

[Editor's note: Very funny! The three pictures have been combined into one for this blog post. Click on the picture for a larger view.]

I only did the under painting technique on the "Barbie" logo, and wished I had also followed your advice on her suit. She's supposed to be turned at a slight angle at the waist, but instead it looks a bit like a sloppy swimsuit at this point. I may go in a do "seed over lay" or "double seeding" for better coverage.

This crop art! You give yourself ample time, and then perhaps nitpick vs. rushing in the 11th hour. A bit stressful no matter what, but either way, so exhilarating! I will also follow your advice and use painted vs/ sprayed lacquer.

[Note: If we did this year-round, we would be really good at it, but as it is, we seem to relearn stuff every year and only get good at it when we're almost done.]

Also new technique I learned:

To color the flax seed for fingernails, I was having trouble using a sharpie, since flax is so slippery, but I need that shape for the nails. So I ended up gluing seeds on paper, coloring them when they were well glued down and then removed and put on the piece. Good idea, huh?

[Note: Flax is difficult to work with, that's for sure! It is a good idea to paint it separately.]