Erte Liver

The Liver is the last of the 5 Vital Organs I wanted to show in Erté form before moving onto other parts of the Human Body. This particular organ proved something of a challenge b/c its shape doesn't exactly conform well to an outfit on a 2-D doll.

So I made it look like a wrap on the doll's dress. I also couldn't find a red-brown color tone in the palette for the Erté Elegance game, so I used dark red instead. When remembering other important blood vessels for the liver, I had fun putting boots, sashes, jewelry, & a detached sleeve on the doll to represent those.

When reading on digestion, I think the most fun organ to learn about was the Liver. It's nowhere near as gross as, say, the intestines.

It's the 2nd-heaviest organ in the Human Body after the skin, & one of the largest as well. The liver is the only organ in the body that receives blood from 2 different sources.

Most organs receive oxygen/nutrient-rich blood from a main artery and have their own main vein to take away the blood carrying carbon-dioxide & wastes. The liver gets oxygen-rich blood from one artery, but the 2nd source of blood comes from the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, & spleen & meets up in a special vessel called the Portal Vein. The blood is mostly heavy with nutrients from a digested meal, various chemicals, & old red blood cells, and comes to the liver for filtration, processing, & storage.

I remember watching a science show that told a story about some Japanese engineers that wanted to build a waterworks plant with a filtration system modeled after the human liver. Only problem was, they had to scrap the project b/c the liver is an EXTREMELY complex organ, too complex for man-made technology to imitate for now.

If you look closely, you can see a little green diamond representing the gall-bladder peeking out from under the doll's legs.