Four Doll Chair

These American Girl Dolls have lived full lives.

What I like most about my daughters’ American Girl dolls are the narratives that they create when they play with them. Each doll develops their own personality, likes and dislikes, friends and family.

My daughters used to spend hours dressing the dolls, mumbling and telling themselves stories, like a waking dream. I have vague memories of play-dreaming like that myself.

Then at a certain age, the ability to play just stops. And while the dolls still come out every once in a while for nostalgia sake, their voices have been silenced.

The painting captures their inner thoughts.

I really like this painting because it returns some inner life to the dolls. From afar, it’s four dolls on a chair, but if you look closely, each of them has an inner life and is aware of the others.

These are famous dolls.

For those of you who follow American Girls, we have Kanani Akina (2011 Girl of the Year), a Truly Me doll for one of my daughters, Rebecca Rubin (2014 Girl of the Year), and Marisol Luna (2005 Girl of the Year). Marisol is rocking my daughter’s version of the Evening Dress by Paco Rabanne from 1965 that is in the Metropolitan Museum Collection.

The actual print is drop-dead gorgeous.

I print this using a top-of-the-line Epson printer on archival quality Hahnemühle German Etching 310 g/mA Paper. I use pigment based inks that are certified to last over 200 years. It's really uncanny how much the print looks like the original.

The paper has a subtle texture on it that feels warm. Everyone that has seen the prints is amazed at just how beautiful they are.

I am so excited to be able to offer something this beautiful for a reasonable price.

The print fits in standard frames.

The original painting is 10" x 14" but I print it with a 1" border on each side so the final size is 12” x 16”.

It's a fantastic gift.

When I was working on this painting, I was thinking how nice these would be in a playroom or a girl's bedroom. I think it's important to have real art in your room when you're a child, because real art can start internal narratives, just like the American Dolls do.

I grew up with an oil painting by a relatively well-known artist in my room. The painting was of a circus, and it had three clowns and horses and a horse-trainer with a whip. I often had dreams of that painting and it started numerous imaginary stories.

I hope this print serves to inspire you or your children.

Limited edition prints of this quality typically cost $150 or much more.

Because I paint, scan, print, market, and ship these myself, I can keep the costs down. I'm not doing this to make money. My goal is to make great art and get it into the hands of collectors who will really appreciate it.