Will You Be My Dolly?

There was a little girl, with a room full of dolls. Though, unlike most dolls, these were all life-sized with quite realistic features. When I ask her why they were all like this, she told me, "When a person dies, their soul can be coaxed into another vessel. The more the vessel resembles their previous body, the easier it is to trap them in it. Once trapped, their soul is tied to the vessel, much like a bird tethered to a cage." While I stared curiously at the girl, she smiled softly and pulled aside a curtain hanging in the corner. There sat a doll that could have been my twin and clothed in my favorite dress. Then the girl whispered in my ear, "Will you be my dolly?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Finally! Here's my entry for 's Urban Legends contest [link] . This painting was actually finished back in April, but it took me almost another 2 months to post it. I need to stop doing things like that and just put things up when they're done...

Anyway, this legend I sort of made up. It's heavily inspired by the second story in Kaori Yuki's Godchild, "The Little Crooked House", in which a little girl drugs people, kills them, and then puts their remains into life-sized dolls. It's a wonderful series, by the way. I highly recommend it, especially if you like dark stories, Victorian styles, and nursery rhymes. And Kaori Yuki's art is just beautiful.

Anyway, I had to photograph the painting to get a digital copy of it, (the original is 18x24"), so the colors came out not as vibrant as they should be. Also, I used iridescent and interference paints, so when viewed in real-life the painting shimmers a bit. Ooo! And I used my garnet gel in the floor (ground-up garnet mixed with acrylic media). <s>I'll add a couple close-ups in a minute...</s>


Close-ups:
[link]
[link]


Stock References:
Bird: [link] by

Girl: [link] by

Chair: [link] by


Painted in Acrylics.

- Ari