In praise of mystery and weirdness

We were at Nye Beach in Newport for a long weekend, and I'm happy to report that the above house still remains as seen in the above picture. It's locked up, decrepit, and seems to be full of absolutely great old stuff. I'd love to get my hands on that stuff, of course, but I hope this place doesn't get torn down or gentrified into a day spa. I love the way it sits, intact, in the middle of all the trendy shops. We need our mystery!

A less entrancing mystery for me right now is why my computer is in a coma. Please think good thoughts so that my daughter's friend who is a professional computer-fixer will restore it and all my precious files to life. (I thought this only happened to other people...)

Any way, despite current glitches, I want to wish you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year!

Giveaway Winner and Dolls, Dolls, Dolls

We have a winner! I drew Jodi's name in the Giveaway. She is now the owner of Secrets of Rusty Things by Michael de Meng. Congratulations, Jodi! You'll love this book.

Ever since I took Judy Wise's class, "Dolls for Big Girls" at Art and Soul, I have been compelled to make dolls. The Art of Life group has been going doll crazy along with me. Cindy is the first one in the group to finish. Below is her magnificent rendering of her dog, Lark, in the form of a doll. It looks so real I expect her to bark, or maybe talk.

Cindy's sweet Lark

And the lovely rear view

It seems that almost everyone who gets into making art dolls is driven to create one of Marie Antoinette. When I made mine, I made her face and limbs from Sculpey as Judy taught us. I used plaster of Paris strips for her hair. It was fun to see how high I could get it to go. You can't really tell from this picture, but she has quite the skyscraper hairdo.

Queen Marie

I wanted to make a mini Miss Havisham for the studio sale coming up. Here she is clutching the remains of her wilted bouquet, thinking of better times.

Miss Havisham once again...

Nell Gwyn

This doll was supposed to be a mini Marie A., but she didn't want to. She wanted to be Nell Gwyn, the orange seller girl who became the mistress of Charles II of England. Sometimes you just have to let the spirit of the doll have her way.

Quick reminder--I'll be at the Winter Twilight Sale at The Hundred Monkey Studios tomorrow night and will have my annual Studio Holiday Sale on the 12.