new stuff + opening night (zombies, pigtails and scarves – oh my)

i meant to post right after opening night of my show at radio room but i’ve been a busy bee. the night was fantastic! i had so much fun getting out, visiting with friends and yes, selling art. it was quite a success, at least to me, with six paintings sold plus eight prints. should i not be sharing that? i have no knowledge of what’s proper and what isn’t in this area so i’m sharing. i’m kinda proud of myself. until i haven’t been the “get our there” type and i’m really quite enjoying the transformations this year has brought.

i’m currently working on several larger pieces which is totally atypical for me, mostly 12×24 plus an 18×18 and 12×16 commission. in the spirit of october, i’ll share my “zombie girl with a brain balloon”. she’s still a work in progress but i’m certainly enjoying working on her! i’ve since fixed the balloon more so it doesn’t look so flat and made her eyes a little better (still slightly askew, of course! my favorite!). i’m loving how the string of the balloon turned out, all tangled in her hair. i’m considering doing a small zombie series — maybe three. sounds too fun not to do and if nothing else, my little zombie-loving-eleven-year-old would be thrilled to have them in his room.

another one i’m working on (that also isn’t done) is this… unnamed as of yet. i’m not sure if i’m going to list her or hang her in my bedroom (we’re in the process of painting and remolding it and i think she might look pretty fantastic in there).  like the zombie girl, she’s 12×24. she’ll have some ravens (or at least one) flying over head i think. i’ll share once she’s done either way.

as for the show, one of my favorite paintings that will soon be off to her new home is entitled “with music and with song” (i took that title for the little piece of antique sheet music used in the piece). short story: i usually arrive about a half to full hour early pick my son up from school so i can walk around the park, get a little exercise and breathe some fresh air, enjoy the trees, etc. every day i see this stunningly gorgeous indian lady in her beautiful black scarf. she just radiates beauty and love! one day she was wearing a red scarf instead of the black one i’d always seen her in and i just had to paint her. one of my favorite gals from shaman class snatched her right up and i couldn’t be more thrilled.

another one that i sold, is one of five more abstract pieces i had in the show. sometimes i need a little break from faces, although they are still one of my artistic obsessions right now. this is called “breathing holes” and measures 12×24. it will be flying off to new york at the end of the month to live with its new owner. it’s funny — i only like painting portraits and specific things in the summer, but this kind of work i love to do year round. i always wonder why art is so cyclic for me (for example i pretty much only make books in the autumn and winter). hmm. something to ponder.

this is my super favorite piece in the show and it’s still available. she’s entitled “nothing really bothers her, she just wants to love herself” and is 16×30. i know i shared a partial photo of her before but here she is straight on. you know i love anatomical hearts and redheads so that’s why she’s my fave.

over the next couple of weeks i’ll be posting the remaining pieces on my site… which brings me to more news. unless it’s made from the products i’m selling, i’m no longer putting my art (such as paintings) up on the altered bits site. i’m going to instead put it on my new art website (which i literally threw together in half a day and isn’t done yet so don’t judge): http://aliciacaudle.com/art. eventually the site will have all of my art, my shamanic and healing services, my farm blog and a gluten-free/non-gmo wholesome food blog ’cause that’s another one of my passions.

and i’m off… i have a bit commission to complete of a big painting with three girls in it. it’s for a friend who i used to do spiritual and light work with and cross-overs and such (i’ve probably never really shared that side of myself much, huh?). what are you working on today?

p.s. i’m having a one time only 25% off art sale from today through saturday for all remaining pieces from show. i have a sudden and unexpected car repair and outdoor school for my sweet boy all coming at once. i’ll be listing them on my site but in the meantime you can see photos (of not the highest quality) on the altered bits’ facebook page here.

a mid-life crisis and the pulse tell all

holy cow.  i was totally abducted by aliens and what felt like three days “up there” was actually, roughly, 3.33 months here on earth for the rest of you.  funny how strange time is from dimension to dimension.  upon my return, i had a bit of a mid-life crisis (that is mathematically accurate if i live to be precisely 76)…

i realized that i’ve not been 110% happy, and i do think everyone should be at least THAT happy in life.  what’s to be unhappy about when you’re the mother of the best boy on earth and the wife of the hottest and kindest [younger] man in the world?  it took a wee bit to realize that my problem is that i’ve wanted to have a farm for as long as i can remember.  i want to be an artist farmer… or a farmer artist.  over the past two decades i’ve outgrown web design.  i LOVE design.  but i HATE coding.  i’m too old school for all the new school technologies.  the fam and i have been looking for a new house with room for me to have a wee farm for over a year and a half but to no avail, which has been borderline crushing.  it’s really sad to fall in love with, for example, a 1920s 7 bedroom farmhouse on 9 acres only to find out at the last minute that it’s on a flood plain and flooded the year previous.  no thanks.

but…. i’m 98% happy now!  we have decided to buy a parcel of land instead and build our own little farm house — that way the house will be perfect and not mediocre (we have picky tastes).  we’re actually looking at 60 acres in douglas county, oregon (about 3 or 4 hours south of where we currently live in portland) and another 160 acre parcel a little ways farther down the road.  yes!  i have already morphed into a temporary architect and designed our house (a real architect said my designs were fantastic — apparently i have a knack for home design).  we’re building a straw bale home, complete with solar and wind power, and hydro as well if we have a good water source, and recycled rain water system (perfect in oregon) for bathrooms and laundry, a well for drinking… totally not quite off the grid.  we’ll have internet and cell phones, of course.  heat: a huge masonry stove.  passive solar.  all the good green stuff i love.  i totally should have been born in the pioneer days ’cause that’s really my cuppa tea for some reason.

to crank the happiness notch up a bit more, we’ve decided that since it will be a couple/few years before we can buy our land/sell this house, there is no reason we can’t have a mico-farm here.  we already have a 1919 farm house… so now our entire yard is a huge garden, complete with greenhouse, cloche and all sorts of goodness.  i’ll share more about this soon for my gardening friends (have several hundred veggie starts already inside, in the greenhouse and in the cloche).  we got a little farm pup named modoc… a 10 week old lab/border collie mix and 6 chicks hatching in a couple weeks (huge chicken coop/run done and ready to go).  i’m elated!  i now get to play in the dirt (we have about 1500 square feet of garden beds which is no “farm” but it’s a fantastic start), grow things and paint every day, along with the whole home school adventure, dog potty training/stop chewing that/let’s go on a walk, etc.  it all makes me so happy!  so, for the moment, i’m an artist and an urban farm girl.  woohooo!  if you’re in the area and need some organic tomato starts let me know ’cause i have 72.  i now realize that’s far too many.

despite my silence, i’ve been arting a lot as you can see above and below.  some of the pieces are still available on my website: http://alteredbits.com/alicia-caudle-art.php.  i’m working on some assemblages next which anyone who knows me knows i loveloveLOVE (1374% out of 100).  due to limited space at the moment (gearing up to do lots of remodeling around here) i have to work cyclically: paint/collage for awhile, then put that away to do some assemblage for a wee bit, then put that away to work on books, etc..

  

i have some other new stuff but i’ll save that for another post. this is already so long!

now, to save the best for last, i got an email from seth apter this evening to inform me that i will be featured in his tell all portion of the pulse next sunday. cruise on over to the altered page and have a look and a read.  you don’t have to wait until next sunday — go over there now.  he always has such amazing posts… i could spend half my life there and would be elated to do so.  (thank you so much, seth, for all that you do!!)  i will post a reminder on sunday morning in case you forget.

p.s. here is a photo of our new baby.  my second son, the canine:

back in action

after many weeks of the lead paint drama, we are back home.  we had been evacuated with very short notice so an abatement company could come in and clean the interior of our home.  now, everything is good except the stupid hole in the damn roof that we didn’t realize existed until now (thanks to the painter’s harness post thingy).  so, a new round of drama just in time for the holidays.

but all of that boring negative stuff aside.

i’ve finally been able to start arting again.  omg, i’ve felt like a crack addict without the means to get more… or something.  artless days suck!  (you can quote me on that!)  i’ve had a small handful of custom orders for the holidays and such as just finished a two piece set.  they are each 6″ x 12″.

my camera is out of batteries so it’s a crappy phone shot with glare.  you can maybe see the texture and less muddied colors in the side-view:

well, that’s not very good either but ah well.  today my guys are at a movie for some “pop and boy time” so i’m working on my zine submission for the “cabinet of curiosities” section.  i’m super excited!

i’ve been getting lots of great submissions for the altered bits zine and will be posting about it in the next few days.  be on the look out!  also, i’ll be doing an update on the tallest book in the world project.

in the meantime, go check out last week’s issue of the pulse by seth apter of the altered page.  i was featured in it with lots of other phenominal artists while i was living in a crappy two-bedroom hotel.  i’m off to catch up on his blog now too — this is like christmas and winter solstice and hanukkah and kwanzza and diwali and ramadan and all kinds of holidays all bundled up into one huge ball of yummy.

charity (squared) and tallest book request

i have some ideas and questions about the tallest book in the world project that i wanted to run by all of you lovely participants… but first i have some thank yous!

first, thank you immensely to all of you that have emailed me and/or commented and wish to participate in this project.  i’m hugely behind in emails (this is nothing new) but wish to get back to you all by the end of the week if i haven’t done so already.  thank you so much for participating in this project!  it warms my heart to know that there are so many like-minded and charitable people artists out there!  (okay, yes, artists are people too, but we’re a special kind of people.)

thank you also to miss maggie mannwieler for sending me a spool of binding thread.  you rock, lady, and i thank you so much!

i wanted some input from all participants on the charity in which this book will benefit.  my suggestions seemed well received by so many and no one has (as of yet) made any other suggestions but i welcome all thoughts and ideas.  as a recap, my ideas were something having to do with any or all of the following as they are daily aspects of my life as a mother and an artist: kids, art, aspergers/autism.  along the vein, i have researched a few non-profit organizations but have some more work to do and contacts to make before i list them out.

in the meantime, i’m working away on my pages.  here is a start that pretty much shows you nothing but a door on the front of my “page one”:

i promise to share more later and snap-shots of other’s pages as they come in.  i know it currently looks like a cover but i’m mystery girl — it will have a photo and other bits on top, and lots of secrets inside once i share it.

IMPORTANT BOOK INFORMATION:

as of yet, there is no specific deadline.  i’m loosely thinking the end of the year.  i want this to be TALL so don’t want to put a firm date on it until i know how many pages we end up having, etc.

pretty please request: when you mail your page(s) in, please include: name, location in the world, URL to website or blog.  please also send a photo via email with a shot of your page(s) to hi (at) altered bits (dot) com so i can keep it all straight.  it doesn’t have to be a good photo — this will just be for my visual reference so i don’t mess anything up when it comes to giving proper credits.

you are welcome to put your name and url on your page(s) — i have had a lot of questions about this.  but you don’t have to — the last page will have a pocket and i will list the page number, artist, location and url so you will be credited no matter what.

pages will be put into the book in the order received unless there will be a binding issue of some weird sort, though i can’t imagine that will be the case.

just as a reminder (because i was asked again), please use thick paper or whatever you’re using as your base/substrate, like watercolor paper or something else that’s sturdy so that it doesn’t rip when bound with needle and binding thread (see size, folding and other specifics in this post).  fabric is fine as is anything else that won’t tear or break when bound.  🙂

here is the mailing address again (unless you have my physical address — that is fine too, of course):

alicia
altered bits
PO Box 83928
Portland, OR  97283

on another charitable note, i was recently commissioned to do a piece for the cover of a book produced by a local meditation center.  it was to be a collage with buddha on it (thangka buddha, to be precise) and be colorful.  they wanted me to sell the piece when i was done so i could make some extra dollars as they only needed the digital art for the book, but i’ve donated it to them for an auction they are having to benefit an upcoming retreat (actually, both the original and a print).  it was different from my typical style in that it’s so vibrant and colorful but i greatly enjoyed the challenge and they couldn’t have been happier.  here is a shot of it on my shelf:

each flower and little piece is hand cut — it was fun!  ingredients: collage, acrylic, water color pencil, ink, crackle.

i hope you’re all having a fab start to autumn (on this half of the planet) or start to spring (the other side).  i’ve been working away on some serieses (that’s not a word, i know), some commissions and some collaborations and will be sharing those here soon.  happy book page making to all!  i’m off to work on mine right this second.

(oh, and i may be quiet again for the next week as the in-laws are coming in a couple day’s time and i’ve been a busy bee cleaning, organizing and cleaning more for their arrival.)

feeling girly, part one

i really don’t know what my problem is lately, but i have this odd affinity for “girliness” that i’ve failed to possess for most of my life.  i kind of did when i was pregnant with my son (and NO, i’m not re-preg, thank you very much), but not so much before or after… until now.  anyway, painting goofy little girls has been fun as of late and i did these a few weeks ago.  if i wasn’t such a crap-head i would have posted them then — i’ve been a slacker in the communications and  blogging department as of late.  summer is just so insane (most of you can relate, i’m sure, particularly those with offspring running around like wild overly-audible fireballs who demand all of your attention and then some).  and then there are my clients.  wowz!  i went from virtually no work to way too much for one artist-home-school-self-employed-shop-owning-wife-mama.  but it’s good — our bellies are full and the cupboards are no longer totally bare.

first, i did this portrait of miss frida kahlo.  frida with rosy cheeks and nasturtiums in her hair, leaning up against a wall.  i sold her yesterday before being able to post her, and she’s going to a lovely new home here in portland tomorrow where she will be cared for and well-loved.  that makes me happy!

originally her ears were naked and it bothered me, so i added this era-accurate earring which made me happy.  i had been coveting this for YEARS and it felt like the perfect place for it.

her eyes are a little off and her lips could maybe use some color, but i’m pleased enough with it since i really haven’t been able to do better than stick figures until my recent few portraits attempts.  yeah, yeah, her brows are off but i’m a quirky girl who likes things “off” sometimes.  (did i post the girl with the way too long i painted for my mum?  will have to see.)

this actually started as a doodle on art matte board and ended up way better than i had anticipated.  it didn’t feel right not on canvas or something better so i white washed a piece of 10×10 wood, drilled holes to run one of lisa jurist‘s amazing fantastically beautiful pieces of sari silk ribbon through the top and popped her onto it.  i like it much better now.  (in this photo it’s not glued down yet, thus the shadows)

next i did a little girl in a cute skull dress with skully hair-clips.  i call her maria (she’s one of my imaginary friends paintings).

i didn’t mean to make her eyes so sad, but oh well.  she was fun to create none the less.  i will be posting her for sale in my shop as soon as i have a few moments to do so.  email me in the meantime if interested.  but first, peek at the whole painting (6×6″ on canvas) — click to enlarge if desired:

next,a red pigtail girl named pepper.  she loves ravens.  and stripe socks.  and pigtails.  (all like me)  i’m not terribly thrilled with her face but i love her hair and dress.  🙂

she is 6×12″ on canvas.  it was requested to be in a “witches and ravens” gallery show for october with some raven pieces i’m having there but i said “only if i don’t sell it first”.  will soon list it on my site for sale, if only temporarily.  if interested and it’s not yet up, email me (i’m so busy that i INTEND to do way more than i ever feasibly can in one day).

i love pepper’s crackly dress and heart:

and the side — the reverse polka-dot of her dress sleeves and inside (and some of the polka-dots are polka-dotted)…

lastly, while talking to my sweet friend katie a few weeks ago i was working on this silly little painting.  i later showed my husby and son and husby said “you do know who that is, don’t you?”  i said “um, no.  an imaginary friend i have yet to name, i guess.”  he and finn-munchkin said “it’s katie!!”  oh.  yeah, it kinda does look like katie when we met, at least in the lips, nose and eyes.  that was 20 years ago.  weird, eh?  sooooo, she is called “katie’s garden”.  she too is soon to go off to a new home.

i painted the stripey flower garden scene around the sides of the canvas, too:

i have no discernible “personal style” when it comes to portraits or people paintings (other than red hair and stripey socks and other stripey bits) but have really been enjoying playing lately.  this is such a new thing to me — i’m so much more comfortable with my books and assemblages and collages and such, but i’m loving playing for sure!

oh, and speaking of katie…

my dear sweet friend katie cahill posted a great post on copyrighting your art (and writing and such) and i learned some valuable new things that i hadn’t previously known.  you should go check it out.  you think i can be mildly witty?  this girl is the queen of wittiness and i could read her writings (and rants) for days in a row.  she’s a fun girl (thus the fact that we’re been friends for 20 years).  anyway, her post his entitled “creativity condom” and i created this little image for it.  click the condom below to read katie’s “creativity condom” post.

happy, happy weekend and love to all!  i’m going to take a “client break” and catch up on all of your magnificent blogs.  then i’m going to take a “family break” and continue to do so through the night.  i’m excited to see what you all have been up to!

xxo

jump for joy: collage pack winners announced + steampunk giveaway reminder

the winners of last week’s collage pack giveaway have been picked!  congratulations to the four picked from the original blog post:

patricia kurowski
debbie price-ewen
romeo and “her”
katie cahill

and the facebook winner of the fifth free collage pack is:

serena barton

congratulations, ladies!  (and romeo!)  i will try to contact each of you directly today to get your mailing addresses (or if you see this first, email me your address to hi (at) altered bits (dot) com — no spaces, of course).

for those of you who did not win, stay tuned as i will be having lots more summer giveaways.  and you can take the above trampoline girl from a circus image above (click for larger version).

right after i posted the giveaway, my family and i traveled to yachats, oregon (thus my utter silence) for a job my husband had.  in addition to being one of the most amazing musicians in the world, he’s the king of artisan concrete.  he does the most amazing decorative concrete floors, patios, counters, etc..  anyway, it was a LOT of fun to visit the coast again (we go to the northern oregon coast almost every month but i haven’t been that far south in years).  other than the gorgeous sea, stunning scenery along the drive, a doe and her fawn and heaps of sunshine, guess what i got to see!!  one of my favorite artists and dearest friends kerin gale of remnants of olde.  woots!  i love miss keriny and it was so nice to see her.

stay tuned tomorrow for an exclusive interview with jema “emilly ladybird” hewitt, author of “steampunk emporium” and enter to win one of two fabulous prizes: a FREE copy of her magnificent book OR a little steampunk bundle of gears, cogs, watch parts and vintage beads, etc.  see you then!

what are you doing tomorrow?

tomorrow, june 30th, is last thursday on alberta.  i will be at the radio room art square selling some art and a couple goodies (i’ve put together some collage packs and random mixed media/altered art items like anatomical dolls and rusty metal bits).  how fun it will be!  if you’re in the area, you should come and play.  there will be live music and probably a beer garden — this is portland after all (if not, the radio room is right across the street and has heaps of great beer and liquor AND delectable food).  i’ll have to find out about that one.

this is the list of participating artists that will be at the radio room art square with me — sounds so fun!  there will be mixed media artists, painters, jewelry makers, photographers and lots more and i can’t wait to see it all!:

Marianne Halinen

Kalina Torino

Alicia Caudle (as my son would say, “duhviously!”) *

Jake Benj
Andrew Fedchenko

Don Metz

John Berry

Daniel Eslinger

Katerina Edwards

Kelly Keigwin

Sandra Johnson

Erik Jorgensen

Amy Hawkins

Nathaniel D. Buckner

Michelle Suzanne

Susan Hurst

Lily June

Melanie Somavenus

Michelle Purvis

Emmanuel Hele

Gretchen Jang

Ian Caywood

Lea Keohane

Chihiro & Jeffrey

Danny GreenSky

Genea Crivello-Knable

Matt Carlson

Jean Abbott

Laura Miller

Lea Keohane

KPSU –> all of the musicians as listed in the flyer above

there will be heaps of galleries and art vendors participating, as usual, all the way from 11th and alberta up to 30th.  guardino gallery will have the wonderful work of tabor porter (whom i have admired for many years) and his partner greg carrigan as the featured artists in the main window.  you can get a peek here >>  i’m SUPER excited and will have to have my boys “man” my table for a bit so i can break away to go have a good peek.

i’ve created two new collages this past week to take, and framed and matted them for fun.  taking photos through frame glass is dumb in that you cannot see the detail but here is a little peek:

i’ve been quiet in the blog world while prepping for this.  so far i have 8 small collages (see previous post), some large collages, 5 charlotte assemblages, 5 or 8 other assemblages (let’s see what i can finish today!), some books and journals, a pile of wrist cuffs (unfortunately all of my man cuffs have sold so these are all girly)… a few copies of the zine, art prints and some “finn and mum” plushy monsters that i will share with you soon.  i’m sharing my space with the wonderfully talented artist jake benj (who is also in one of my very talented husby’s bands, cookbook — they kick serious arse and i shall share them with you soon):

for next month i’m working on a new series called “fragments” which has broken victorian era dolls.  this is not complete, of course, but this gives you an idea of what i’m working on:

what are you working on?  if you’re in the ‘hood, you should bring it down and show me tomorrow.  🙂

* For those who don’t remember or didn’t catch it, that is a combo-word of “duh” and “obviously”

collage crazy and artist spotlight

i’ve been all kinds of collage crazy lately.  playing with paper and paint is always such a grounding and relaxing thing for me.  that, and the last six pieces i’ve completed were assemblages so it felt time to get a little dirty again.

it’s no surprise that the first four were anatomical in theme.  i just couldn’t help it when i found a 1930s medical book with the most fantastically fun illustrations.  i just had to use them!

i’ve been trying to play with color a bit more than i typically do to gear up for a fantastically divine collaboration i’m doing with my sweet friend jill zaheer of jazworks.  she is such an amazingly bright and colorful artist that i felt i should break out of my monochromatic shell a teeny tiny bit and show her some color.  of course these collages have absolutely nothing to do with our collab (i don’t think miss jilly likes anatomical illustrations as much as i do), but i wanted to just “play” a bit for fun.  we both will have plenty to share on that front another day though as we progress with our joint creations.

this first guy is not colorful at all, except for the little splash of “alicia red”.  he’s pretty tough, this guy.  look at those muscles!  (not terribly manly though.)

i call this guy “enlightened”.  for some reason i’ve felt secretly drawn to blue lately.  i have no idea why and keep telling myself i need to re-investigate the psychology of colors, but i keep forgetting.  i wish my photography skills were better so you could see all of the cracks and texture in the brown… and that the lines didn’t look pink.  i hate pink.

okay, i guess this guy isn’t terribly bright or colorful either.  i accidentally ripped his head off (so unkind of me!) but liked it so replaced it all askew.  he’s broken.  i think he likes it though.  crap photography again, huh!

red and blue, woots!  two whole colors in one piece.  i’m proud.  🙂  i have no idea why there is a hazy white “glow” around the heart because it’s not really there in person.  looks all haunted.  or reflecty.  (yes, i know that is not a word.)

after the anatomical collages, i think i went a little crazy for a minute.  the short background story: we have been house hunting on and off for the past six months and dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of a little old 1880s to 1939 farmhouse with 4-5+ bedrooms and on 5+ acres.  i have “house on the brain” syndrome.  it’s not that we don’t love our little old house but we need more space.  three bedrooms is just not enough when you cram an artist/web designer/doll part hoarder, a studious smarty-pants kid with 9,638,821,143 books and almost as many toys, and a musician/electronics genius/instrument builder under the same roof .  i think that is what happened here, while in the zone.  i don’t think when i create.  i just do… whatever i do.

okay, here is the color.  i do like the cloud print paper in the background though.

as if one house were not enough, i created a second one.  kind of a “creative visualization thing” because the first one didn’t look much bigger than our house and the yard was too barren.  kinda silly, but it was fun.  if this were sunny, had lots of windows and black and white tiled kitchen floors and an old fashion double-stove and was on 5+ acres i would live in it for sure.  plenty quirky for this girl!

after those, like literally maybe 20 minutes after those were completed, i had to create two more to feel balanced out.  3+5=18, i think.  this is really a rich, deep black though you can’t tell here.  ah well.

and last but not least (actually, yeah, least — i am not thrilled with this one).  i called this “sometimes i feel like this”.  when i’m upset or something pisses me off or makes me sad, i create.  it just so happened that i was not in a good mood when i created this.  no wonder i think it’s hideous.  hah.

kind of ugly now that i look at it on-screen.  i think i shall collage over it.  mmmm, extra texture!  (i’m almost done with the next 2, larger ones.)

                               

as mentioned in a previous post, it was a HUGE honor and pleasure to get to have the artist spotlight for the very first print zine be miss lisa jurist of mudhound studio whom i have admired for several years.

in addition to being in the zine, i have featured the interview on the altered bits website in the artist interviews section.  so, if you haven’t yet seen it and wish to get a glimpse into the art and life of lisa, go give it a read.

One World One Heart 2011

it’s time again for one world one heart!  actually it was time about a week ago but i was a bit slow… what else is new, at least for those who know me.  for those who don’t, hello!  i’m alicia of altered bits, a little online shop with mixed media and altered art goodies — and i have some goodies to share.  i’m also a mixed media artist with an affinity for dolls/doll parts, anatomical “things”, rust and anything that’s old, tattered and interesting to look at.

this year i’ll be giving away three things.  first up, a small frozen charlotte doll with a little bundle of gorgeous recycled sari silk ribbon in earthy hues:

next up, the whole “collaged bits” collection from altered bits in digital format (i’ll upload it to my server so you can download it).  i created these sheets and images so you won’t find them anywhere else (if you do, tell me though ’cause they’re mine, ha!):

last but not least, i’ve pulled one of my anatomical collages to give to YOU.  it’s entitled “still” and is mounted on black mat board.  i am not as much of a collage person as i used to be as i prefer to create creepy little assemblages but i almost miss the feel and smell of paper when i leave it for too long.

you know the drill — just leave a comment and you could win one of these three items.  winners will be announced on february 17th (the day before my birthday).

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS: i had a winner last year who left no email address or blog address so i was bummed.

books, collages and quiet times

november is always a quiet time of year for me.  hectic, but still and calm-feeling at the same time for some reason.  it’s getting cold now which makes me want to go out even less than i typically would and i get so very busy creating holiday gifts for fam and friends, winter-time art show goodies, stuff my shops, etc. that i feel like a quiet little machine.   as crazy as november and december always are to me, i feel like i’m going in slow motion in this hushed little space of my own.

i’ve made a few more handmade books.  that makes 18 so far (they are tiny though).  three of these are gifts for sure (the two above = gifts to me – are the only non-blank ones), and some may soon be in my shop as i may have created too many to fit in my wee space at the 12/5 art fair (do you think 3 assemblages, 15 mini-books, 25 cards, 25 prints, eight collages, a large handmade book, five wristcuffs, three necklaces and six journals will fit on a 3×5′ table??).

i also did a series of anatomical collages a couple weeks back, or so.  four of which can be found on my site — just posted them.

first, i created a woman…

then i created four men.  here are three of them…