Happy Halloween!

New Doodles This Week!

These are from my Doodle-A-Day series. So far it's been working out well and it keeps me inspired and motivated. Sometimes big ideas come from small doodles, like these.

Inspired

Last night I was inspired to use more color and step outside of my box.

Bottle Caps, Bar Codes & Dollywood

I love to collect things. Right now I am collecting bottlecaps. I want to make something like this basket
except I want it to be a round bowl. I know I could easily buy this basket (I love everything about it, especially that it is recycled) but I really want to have a big bowl for my fruit.

Once I made an entire dress out of supermarket bar code tags for a show at the Jaffe Arts Center. I actually wore the dress and shopped in it. They had to scan me at check out!

On another occasion (The 19th Anniversary of Dollywood) I created a 10' billboard entirely out of images I collected of Dolly Parton. I submitted it to the Whitney Biennial, but unfortunately, it was not chosen......

Elephant on Ice Skates

I had fun making this one today!

Bird with a Boombox

Bird with a Boombox is today's illustration. Hmmmm... I'm thinking it might make a cute Holiday Greeting card.

Pinecone Beehive

Today's doodle is a lovely girl with a pinecone-beehive-hairdo. I like how this turned out and may add it to the shop. Click it on to enlarge for a closer look!

Political Mural

I was digging through some old photos and found these of the last mural that I painted in Santa Cruz. I've only painted 3 and would love to do another sometime.

My friend Roberta and I painted this one right after the Los Angeles race riots. Notice my George Bush as Rambo! (But please don't ask what I'm wearing!)

Unfortunately I was unable to find any photos of the finished mural.

So artists, (once again) be sure to document all your work! Take it from me, I wish I had.

Elections are only a few days away and I hope that everyone follows their "better nature" when voting. We definitely don't want to elect another Bush into office, now do we?!!!!

Gusty

This morning's doodle is ink on paper and digitally colored. A reflection of today's mood.......

El Vez & El Ponk

Some time ago, my Butterfly, Beehives and Beards illustration was featured in one of El Ponk's blog posts and since then I have been hooked to reading her exciting, fun blog. It makes me wish that I was living in LA again....... and I will be moving back.... next summer!

In her October 9th post, she has a cool video of El Vez "En el Barrio." I LOVE El Vez and will be sad to miss his fun Christmas show this year. But next year, look out! I will be right up front and center.
El Vez runs an art gallery in LA called La Luz de Jesus and every Spring he has a giant group show with lots of fresh and inspiring new artists. This year "Everything but the Kitschen Sync" featured an artist Misato Otake whose work I would really love to see. Unfortunately I've been unable to find her site to see more of her work and find out more about her....
Dame Darcy (from my last posting) will have a book signing at La Luz de Jesus on October 24th from 6-9.
Ha! I dug up this awesome old poster of El Vez that I saved from the wall of my NY apartment (note the pinholes in the corners)
This gorgeous purse is one of El Ponk's many creations. She sells her wares online in her shop and also at the super cool Needles and Pens in San Francisco.

Right now Needles and Pens is featuring Nikki McClure (from my Oct. 13th post)in their gallery through November 10th. So if you're in the Bay area, be sure to check it out!

Apple Heads & Carrot Bodies

I love to read cool blogs and spend way too much time doing it, but I was excited to see some apple heads forming in Mylittlebighead's October 18th post and in more detail here. I will be watching to see the the dolls when they are completed.

It reminded me some time ago of a project I did while living in NY and it had me searching in the attic to find anything I may have kept from back then. I created a number of dolls with dried apples for heads and dried carrot stick bodies. I used elastic for the joints to position them in different ways and later made clothing for each character. They turned out quite sinister looking as you can see in the polaroids!

I displayed them in a group show with the infamous Dame Darcy, Rachel Amodeo, Greer Lankton, and Judi Rosen.

The devil doll sold and I gave the others away as gifts and trades. I wish now that I had saved/documented the images from the show and from each doll and kept at least one for myself.

This is a lesson for all artists everywhere: "always save and document your work and remember to keep a copy just for yourself."

Here is the card from the opening that Dame Darcy illustrated. Her art is wonderfully creepy and so perfect for this time of the year. If you live in LA, you should definately check in to one of Dame's October events.

Mushroom Glasses

Steve's friends from highschool came to visit us and babysit while I was away in Portland. They were highschool sweethearts and Steve's mom threw them a big wedding at their house in New Jersey in the 70's. They brought us a set of these mushroom cups that belonged to Steve's family and he remembers them as a child.When I first saw them I thought they were a little bit dated and tacky but last night while I was putting some dishes away, I realized that I really like them. They have a sweet bell shape which makes them nice to hold and they also go well with the modern yet earthy Eva Zeisel dishes. I love mushrooms!

Rainy Day Cookies

Saturday we were planning to go to the Stockley Gardens Art Festival but it was windy, cold and pouring rain so we stayed inside nd made these cookies.

Scherenschnitte

I have always been a Kara Walker fan. She has taken the old fashioned paper cut-out "scherenschnitte" silhouette to a whole new level. I remember seeing her work for the first time at the Whitney Museum and feeling awestruck.

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from my mother who had included a French book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes "Rimes De La Mere Oie" rendered by Ormonde de Kay Jr. The book was published in 1971 and not only includes rainbow illustrations of Peter Max style art but several wonderful scherenschnitte animal figures (by Push Pin Studios). This was my inspiration to try my hand at it.

Armed with nail clippers, watercolor paper, paint and glue....this is what I came up with. It was lots of fun, but next time I think I'll try thinner paper and an exacto blade....at least that's how Nikki Mcclure does it and she ROCKS!!! (aka 90's Riot Grrrl musician).

Me and Stinky

Lately I've been inspired by skunks. For some reason it keeps popping up in my art and it's ironic that yesterday my husband picked out this cute skunk suit for C!

I told my friend Emily about my skunk infatuation and also that it's strange because I've never actually seen a real live skunk. She told me that she has and that they roll when they walk. Sounds cute! We also both agree that the skunk is a creature that is badly misrepresented. I would like to change that image...

could be a new children's picture book idea!