Sneak Peek...& Art for your dollhouse dioramas

With the ups and downs recently in my life, my routine is all out of whack...Just yesterday was I only able to get the decorations off of my Christmas trees! Today I thought I would get back on track with some sneak peak photos of what I am working on as well as a tutorial and some art photo files for you to copy to make your own elegant art for your dollhouse &/or diorama.
Here is what I have been working on, this is by no means finished, just set up and held together. 

It is a simple curtained aclove, done in the French manner. I am nuts and fascinated by all things French, especially from the 18th century- Rococco and from the era of Louis XVl & Marie Antoinette. I sewed the curtains out of some taupe satin I had, and the pouf drapes are out of a green satin and the same taupe satin. I still have alot of work to do on those curtains, such as cording and tassels. 
The photo is of Marie Antoinette when she was a young Dauphine, the photo frame is an ornament frame from Michael's dollar bins. I was not happy with the glitter on it but it does add a bit of pop to this project, however it is difficult to photograph. I copied the photo from google image search and put it in a special folder on my computer. Cut to fit your frame- and voila! art for your dollhouse! I have wanted to do an art gallery scene for my doll town with a story I have in mind, but have never got around to it since doing research on this project, which will be indepth this year. 
So here are some of my photo files of beautiful Art I have found on the web in my google searches. I love American Primitive as well, but that would not fit into this scene...I admit to a fondness for allegory art with the Greek gods and goddesses- it is interesting how they used these paintings in the 17th and 18th century.

Feel free to right click on the photos and save them to your computer for your usage. If you post them on your own blog, please link back to my blog to give me the credit, is all I ask.

18th century portrait by Jacques Louis David- I think after he was exiled from France. of a young man

 Queen Marie Antoinette, in her later 30's when she did away with the fripperies of her dress, and became more serious

18th century allegory art, of Venus & Cupid? I think

Portrait of a Countess? 

                   One of my favorites of fruit, and wine..

                               flowers and fruit

          18th century lady in a chemise a la anglaise

                lady in dress of the Directoire /Napoleonic period 

                        Two travelers, from the Napoleonic ll era by their gowns

                             Marie Antoinette's two children, Marie Therese, and the Dauphin, Louis Charles

           Bernadotte, a semit relation of Napoleon l, who became King of Sweden

                             18th century gentleman in hunting costume

I hope some of these will help for your focal art points in your dioramas. As you can tell, my style tends towards traditional colonial/ French than towards modern. So many dioramas are done in modern motif and it can be well, boring and uncomfortable looking. I think it is a result growing up in the Southern Region of the East Coast (Virginia) and being around antiques and large old houses which heavily influenced my taste in decor. My dolls have my taste- lol so they are a little snobby as most Fashion Royalty dolls are!

As I get and find more art pieces, I will post them here so you too can make or create your own art. One tip is if you are creating an art studio, is to take these cutouts and modge podge them onto small canvases that you can buy in packs at Michael's in the art department. Frames can be purchased also at miniature shops or in the dollar frame sections of walmart, Target, Michael's and Hobby Lobby. It all depends on your idea of your scene or diorama and how much detail you want. 
Enjoy!