Last night I finished one of the most fun projects I’ve ever done. I made a custom Coraline doll for Renee and daughter, Rosemary in Louisiana. You remember the soft blue hand-dyed cotton yarn hair? It looks great on the head. It is a pleasure to slowly fit it stitch into its place. I loved the colors and soft [...]

I am about to embark on a weeks-long commission to make lovely puffy pillows that will serve as in-store decoration. I get to make words, numbers, peace signs and hearts, all in colors that I like. What a great job! The pillows will be jazzing up displays of young children’s clothes and that is more good vibe [...]

The sun will shine today and bring warmth after lots of cool rainy days. Inside our home it’s almost always sunny. We make the best of what we have, Frank and I. We, united now for seven years, after a hiatus of 23 years, will make it official next month. I can’t really bring myself to speak [...]

The Moon in Pisces can have two effects on my changeable consciousness. I can fall easily into an artistic project and flow with it, dream up solutions I may not have under some other moon energy or I just want to sleep. Sleep is good because I love to dream and feel there is always some interesting [...]

My second Soft Boy is looking friggin great. I’ve managed to get Keith Richards’ head together this weekend, or rather I’ve united his head and body, at last. I gave him a tiny sharkish tooth earring and embroidered the kohl around his eyes. I gave him a pair of deep dark chocolate colored vintage buttons

Returning a Redbox freebie DVD at the Raley’s near my home I was treated to the sight of a magnificent double rainbow. I did not have my camera, boo. When we got home I jammed inside the house to get it. The rainbow was visible in the center of a stand of trees at the end [...]

My lil’ Frida is up over at Etsy. I hate to part with her but she need to be seen. I am going to make a few Fridas all different and unique. She’s endlessly fascinating to me. Button eyes look good on her. I’m growing and ever lengthening list of future doll subjects: For the Soft Boys: Joey Ramone, [...]

I am working. Even though I am my own boss I stay focused. In fact I probably need to chill just a little bit in the pilgrimish work ethic department. I never let myself sit around and watch a film or read a book when I am committed to a project. I should be creating. There [...]

This whole cinematic, pre-Oscar film viewing year had been great. I got to see more movies than ever before thanks to Anderson Prime 11 and the swiftness with which movies are moving to DVD. There were great performances to experience. Monique kicked ass. Meryl was wildly amazing and amusing in both her films. Everything ab

The Keith doll now has an outfit. I labored over a ruffled  silk shirt Friday and Saturday only to abandon it as a bad investment of time. Nothing makes me feel all thumbs like trying to do fine detail sewing by hand. I do enjoy it but my hands felt like those of a clumsy giant. I [...]

He’s the man who made the mold into which hordes of young rockers have poured themselves. For decades young men have come along to take up the flag the human riff created. He’s passionate, deeply loyal and proud to be what he is. If you were to start now and take a long stroll through the Rolling Stones [...]

Up way too early to day. I’ll be dragging later and I have tons of errands to attend but I need my quiet time. You’d think getting up at 5:30 a.m. would do the trick but not so that last two mornings. There were responsibilities to attend to the minute I opened my eyes. This morning 4:15 [...]

Loved A Single Man. Tom Ford’s film made me feel like I had eaten an exotic psychedelic mushroom. Wonderful, beautifully bittersweet. I left the theater feeling deeply moved and psychically altered. Tom Ford gave me a truly cinematic experience. Colin Firth was dreamy. The best films, are like dreaming while awake. So

I have finally finished my Joey doll. The first Soft Boy. Thanks, Robyn Hitchcock and dear Moises. I will have a hard time parting with him. He is so sweet and cute and cuddly and he has great hair. I left off Joey’s glasses because  after his trip to heaven he’s all brand new and can see [...]

I am so very, very stoked! Prime 11 has come through again this year to allow me to see the film I have most been looking forward to this Academy Award season — A Single Man. I delighted in the Fresh Air interviews with first, director, Tom Ford and then lead actor, Colin Firth. Both so [...]

I have a certain indescribable aesthetic when it comes to jewelry. I don’t generally like gold, though if I came upon some ancient Celtic jewelry I’d wear gold. Both pairs of earrings purchased this year  have lost their mates. I decided to just by fat beads to slip onto silver hoops I have. I’ve  alread

Making dolls in a simple Americana, rag doll form is very satisfying. I love to see the amazing art dolls that creative makers pull out of themselves but the uber realistic things kind of freak me out. I want to keep it simple, simple, simple. I  am still very excited by how well the dolls are  [...]

With absolutely no fan fare and little presence on the internets LA Ink unrolled season 5. Did Aubrey get fired? Hell, yeah. Is Cory still Kat’s rock? Yes, indeed. The producers or who ever is in charge of shows like this really milked the psycho drama. So many of the little nasties in the storyline  had to [...]

She’s done. My Frida Kahlo doll is complete. I’ve have been working on her slowly. Thinking about every detail. I pretty happy with her. All the dolls are simple, moon-faced things by design. I don’t want to try to make them just like real people. Photography lessons are in my future. The new light I boug

The cold weather is back for a few days and so I’ve made a quick carbo breakfast to counteract the chill. One big brown egg and two french toast waffles. Keeks A$$. French toast waffles from the frozen breakfast aisle of Walmart are very popular around here. My granny just loves them with a little butter. Getting [...

I spent Friday finishing off my two new plush squid. My son, Brian, mentioned that he thought my black and pink squid looked like a ninja. Here are a couple of pink squid, one with a half mask and one with a full hood. Both have rhinestone eye sparkles. They look a little devious, very stealthy and [...]

The sunny warm weather will leave us today. The clouds are gathering. The happy pinwheel I bought yesterday will get soaked by rain. These four large birds were hanging out in a tree not far from our yard. We are two doors from the river so I guess the turkey buzzards were taking a break from their [...]

Back to work on my Frida doll.   I made purple and tomato red flowers for the top of her braid wrap and these are a pair of earrings I will give her once I’ve sewn her head to her body. The purple does not show up well in this photo. Maybe I’ll replace them with pale [...]

Finished my order for a passle of big DarcyArts catnip squddies. We are getting back into the regular pattern of our week after the long Presidents Day/Valentine’s Day weekend. It was so pleasant to spend time with Brian and Emily. I feel very good about them as a pair. Good energy, mellow, smart. I should have captur

Off to the movies today to see Crazy Heart. Can’t wait to sink into Prime 11’s comfortable seats and enjoy the work of Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It will be interesting to see Colin Farrell, now that he’s grown up, and to experience the writing of Scott Cooper. I have high hopes. This will be a [.

If you think back to how you felt as a child, assuming your parents were kind and had your best interest at heart, can you define what made you feel good about being alive? It may not have been anything more than being happy to find ourselves greeted by sun, back in the world with another [...]

Company is coming! I feel so mature, in a good way. I am meeting the girlfriend of my oldest child. I am excited and nervous and so so happy. These two have a lot in common astrologically so I  imagine a blossoming future for them. Their visit, they arrive today, required that I temporarily redo my kitchen work [...]

Two of my favorite things are being translated into creations this week. Frida Kahlo and vinyl. A Frida rag doll and a 12 inch black vinyl record pillow will be finished by Thursday if I stay on it. I still need to add a row of  stitches to her left eyebrow. I added the little mustache hairs following [...]

I spent most of today reworking two of my dolls. I removed the star/abalone eyes from my first Rainbow Soft Girl and gave her new gold glitter eyes. This is the new version of my ROY G BIV girl: This is the former Miss Rainbow: The star eyes were just too much. I had envisioned this Soft Girl as [...]

Frank and I had the pleasure of going to Prime 11 Cinema in Anderson yesterday. I love that place, it looks great and has the most comfortable seats. It is always filled with the aroma of popcorn but better yet, and with me it’s hard to be better than popcorn, the vibe of sincere cinema [...]

Watched The Hurt Locker last evening. I loved Jeremy Renner’s performance. Everyone was good. It was intense but worth watching. I thought Anthony Mackie was great and he is my candidate for a convincing Jimi Hendrix in a fresh Hendrix biopic. The last one was a sad affair with horrible casting. Frank and I have seen

Finally finished and packed off all my orders from the Etsy shop and spent a day creating a Cinnamon Soft Girl. I may be prejudice but I love the redheads and I have so much fun doing these. She has green button eyes and a sideways smile. My very first doll was the prototype Cinnamon Soft [...]

I was out this morning to return a RedBox dvd. Had a craving for a Harry Potter flick yesterday and brought home Half-Blood Prince. I am only halfway through the first book so I have a lot to catch up on story wise. Watching the most recent film for the second time I realized there are [...]

I’m not talking about my morning spirulina smoothy, though that was fab, I am talking about my sassy lil’  girly dragon. This is the second one I’ve made and she’s cute. She’s wider than the others and I like the slightly altered proportions. Color is a strange thing or I guess I should say th

The sky continues to be mostly gray though the sun is peaking through on occasion. I wanted to catch the tiny violets in the yard. They came early in the rain. The purple violets came first. The white are new. The parsley refuses to die, It was very hearty through very cold temps and is still green and [...]

I finished the baby dragon or draik and sent it off to San Antonio today. It was a fun project and I have to say I loved doing it. These colors are sort of out of my range but I think the intended recipient will dig it. The wings were the most interesting element. I’ve never made them [...]

Okay, I admit I was up waaay too early this morning but I’d had lots of sleep. The thing is we are falling asleep ridiculously early these cold, gray days. The bed is so warm and comfortable and it is where we watch TV. It just sucks you right into dreamland. I figure I’ll be ahead [...]

It was beautiful Thursday morning just before the sun was up. The morning was bright and the break from the rain was much appreciated. The snow capped mountains, to the north, east and west, against the pinkish sky and clouds made the drive out the college a visual delight. The air was so fresh. Though I swore [...]

When the desire takes me I cannot resist. Inspired by a pair of really cool pink button eyes, I spent Wednesday morning putting together another doll head. These buttons came from a pink coat I had originally found at the thrift store. I meant to use the coat as material for a hat. I may still [...]

The sun is out and what a joy! It’s been days and days of wet gray weather. My eyes are grooving on it for details, too. For my Joey Ramone doll there is only a head, so far, but each stitch of embroidery and each lock of hair was done with so much love. Great big lovely [...]

Thought I’d share my jar of possum bones with you this rainy Saturday. Birds and other creatures had the possum carcase down to almost nothing when we found it near the river. A very large bird ambled reluctantly away from the scene when we arrived. It stared at us from it’s remove for quite a long [...]

If you know and love Robyn Hitchcock then you are familiar with the name The Soft Boys. I will call my rag dolls The Soft Girls. I am rolling out one or two of my OOAK Art rag dolls today! That is January 22, 2010♥ See them at DarcyArts. I’ve taken to categorizing them with food names by color [...]

Lovely day. We must be in between rain storms. Only a few light spots of drizzle this morning in Redding. After delivering Frank to school I stopped by Target to check out stacks of cubby hole boxes and drawers. I need to store my rag doll bits in plain sight so I can  more easily compose [...]

Rain is falling from the sky and soaking into the ground in many parts of California. People attending the Golden Globes actually got wet and that was Los Angeles. I am sort of digging the relative quiet and gray of this day. The wind is howling. Frank has begun his  Spring semester and I will have hours to [...]

I will list the rag dolls very soon at over at DarcyArts . We have a storm blowing wet and fierce.The sheets of water on the patio are visible in this picture of my latest, kohl eyed, rag doll head. she’s a little Egyptian/Cleopatra/LizTaylor girl. I love her hair. I made a little head rack with chop [...]

Finished the update Victor Bockris bio of Keith Richards last night. It was very good! There was a tantalizing tidbit about how Keith hosted Johnny Depp in the early “oos to teach him Gram Parsons chord progressions for a film he was supposedly to film. What happened to that project? Anybody out there know? Was it [..

The rag doll has a mossy green skin, blue button eyes, blue hair and a little pale pink button nose. Frank said she looked Celtic and should be a water spirit. She was  given a sheer wrap blouse with swirls to represent water. Her skirt is also made of sheer material and has flowing polka dot drops. Her [...]

Here she is. My first rainbow rag doll. Her eyes are abalone shell buttons with pink stars beneath. She has keekass, curly rainbow hair and a Hello Kitty shirt. I love her. I will only have enough material to make two rainbow girls with rainbow Hello Kitty shirts. I hope to have the rag dolls in my Etsy [...]

Frank and I were driving the other day. Out of the gray days came a beautiful rainbow. It had been awhile since I’d seen one. It felt magical. It reminded me of the way I feel about Frank. He’s the light that colors my world. Today I work on my Rainbow headed rag doll, stuff the body [...]