Jenny Bird Alcantara recreates, through her paintings, the dark side of fairy tales. Her whimsical paintings and inks reminds me a cross between Ray Caesar, Mark Ryden and the Grimm's Fairy Tales with influences of surrealism: marvellous and creepy. Her colourful universe full of details is populated by girls with big eyes, fabulous animals and symbols. The heart (an the broken heart) and all it's meanings is a constant in her works.

She also have a very personal work of hand unique made dolls. They aren't dolls for little girls; they are dark dolls, mysterious dolls, dolls with sad eyes. The "Bleeding Heart Gang" series of dolls is a good example: the name talks for itself. Take a look at Sleep, from that series: the dolls reminds me sleepwalking Cesare.

Annie Owens, from Hi Fructose Magazine, wrote about Alcantara's dolls at the magazine's premier issue:

Their hand painted faces with large expressive eyes and small rosebud mouths each reflect a different personality, all painstakingly rendered in careful detail. Some of the dolls have multiple limbs, be they of the spider, human or furry woodland creature variety, while their more unfortunate cousins have only two arms and two legs. [...] Some come with poems, some come with detachable parts and appendages but each bear the evidence of a loving hand and Jenny's definitive style.

(via IWR Art)