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Artist Bio
Charlie Willis
Graphite Pencil Portraiture
Reborn Art Dolls
Artist Bio: Bio
Charlie Willis was born in Lincolnshire in April 1986. During her childhood, it was a rare sight to find Charlie without a pencil in her hand as art has always been her preferred method of communication and expression. One of Charlie’s primary school teachers recalls fond memories of tasking the class of 7-year olds with drawing a taxidermied barn owl:
“I just remember [Charlie] took the whole afternoon and had only done the feathers on one wing! Some of the class had finished in 10 minutes!! Obviously, they didn’t have the artistic skills [Charlie] showed even at that age. I was very envious!” P.H.
Artist Bio: Bio
Navigating secondary school with undiagnosed autism and other traumatic life events and ill health contributed to Charlie’s mental health issues. Illustrating book reviews and meticulously drawing and labelling experimental diagrams made non-art related lessons easier to endure but it was her art classes which were a welcomed respite from sensorily overwhelming classrooms and frustration:
“Art has always been therapeutic for me. I struggle to label and verbally describe emotions, but I can express and understand them through art. I can draw the things that I just cannot speak about. I ‘feel’ colours so strongly that a 30-minute timer, blank canvas and tubes of paint can often avert an autistic meltdown much more effectively than concepts of CBT that I understand but cannot implement under pressure.”
Artist Bio: Bio
Charlie, her husband, and their two children relocated to Derbyshire in 2011 where she completed her BSc Psychology with 1st Class Honors and received the British Psychological Society’s Undergraduate Award, before they eventually settled in South Staffordshire.
“Psychology fed my fascination with the human mind and behaviour. I began my undergraduate degree with the aspiration of becoming an Art Therapist and graduated with more questions about myself.”
Artist Bio: Bio
A late diagnosis of Autism answered many of these questions. It made sense of lifelong difficulties and misunderstandings but also her precocious talent for art, her extensive knowledge of and passion for The Carpenters, and is what eventually led her to Jax, her assistance dog (in training):
“Jax is a lifeline for me – he is an extension of myself. He pushes me out of my comfort zone at the same time as supporting me through it. He helps me to maintain daily routines, interrupts unhealthy behaviours, and keeps my toes warm while I draw.”
Artist Bio: Bio
When she was younger, Charlie would often draw animals or aspects of the human figure without facial details because, like many autistic individuals, Charlie finds eye contact painfully overwhelming. Through avoidance, those features were never really processed:
“I’m much more likely to recognize someone by their perfume, shoes, or voice rather than their facial features. For a long time, facial expressions were alien to me and can still be somewhat bewildering in a social encounter, but I came to realise my passion for studying photographs and capturing a subject’s character, emotion, and fine details in my graphite portraiture. I love the smell and texture of paper and the cold, hard pressure of a mechanical pencil in my hand. I connect with my portraits on a level that clients don’t necessarily see.”
Artist Bio: Bio
Charlie’s graphite pencil portraits are an insight into how she sees and processes the world around her. Her autistic traits are what feed her perfectionistic approach, the photorealistic results, and her hyper-focus and attention to detail required in order to create each graphite portrait.
“Even though I have been creating all my life, I feel like I’m only at the beginning of my artistic journey. There is so much more I want to draw, express, explore and share, which is how my Lived Experience Project and Bluebird Nursery began. Whether I'm working on a project or a commission, they are more than just ‘subjects’ or dolls: With each portrait and reborn art doll, I grow and learn as I try to capture the Art of Life.”
Charlie established Bluebird Nursery in 2019 after discovering reborn art dolls. What began as a side project to paint keepsake portrait dolls of her children, rapidly grew into an exciting new venture. Lockdowns due to the pandemic meant that there were no live doll shows or reborning classes, so her initial research began with Youtube videos, forums, and studying photographs of other artists' work.
Through trial and error with different techniques and materials, Charlie began to develop her own approach to the reborning process using a combination of both heat-set and air-dry paints and mediums. After reborning only 13 art dolls, she was offered her first reborn prototype painting opportunity in 2021. Charlie joined the International Reborn Doll Artists (IRDA) in 2020 and Authentic Reborn Artists (A.R.A.) in 2022.
"I'm still in awe of my reborn journey - I am constantly learning and refining my skills with each reborn art doll. Although unexpected change is a challenge for me, I'm embracing the discontinuation of Genesis products as an exciting opportunity to explore the new paints and mediums entering the market. A little piece of my soul goes into each doll, so it is an absolute privilege and quite emotional for me when somebody makes the decision to invest in my work."
Artist Bio: Bio
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