Cat Rag Doll Customization (A Housesitting Project For Out-of-Town Friends in Brooklyn, NY)

*Because you can't spell "crafts"

...without CATS! 

Originally obtained from Anthropologie (yes, they even sell pretty playthings) these two stuffed kittens in the “Quatre Souers Chatons” toy line by Maileg were given a rehaul with the likenesses of Nishi (the blue-eyed female) and Nico (the smoky grey male) whom I was responsible for while their parents, Erica & Jimmy, were in Berlin this past month.  Both were simply the color of rather neutral cotton that I coordinated & adapted to each with acrylic paint from Blick Art Materials.  Note the two pink & gold washi tape nipples on belly of the girl cat figure — she shows them off in that loose floral skirt!

Incidentally, while Nico was “bleh” about his, Nishi did *not* feel comfortable around her version.  I was afraid she might think it was a quasi voodoo doll but she very likely simply doesn’t respond well to the acrylics, as the figure may well carry a paint odor to it?  I’ll try not to take it personally!

...Ultimately, the pair were left as guardians of the stripped-down bed to welcome back the apartment's proper dwellers!

“Undertow Joan A.K.A. Lucille LeSurf”

A mixed-media analog collage over and incorporating a vintage seascape and sunset doctored with acrylic paint, magazine pages (Ms. Crawford from a featured spread in a 90-odd year-old LIFE, while the airborne playing cards were from a recent issue of People) on 9 in. x 12 in. mounted canvas with marbled grey tone washi tape siding and Mod Podge sealant.  Title explanation:  Lucille LeSueur was the subject model Joan Crawford’s birth name.

On reverse of the canvas, a Will Shakespeare passage from the ad that provided the waves...

“Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown: 

What dreadful noise of #waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wracks…” 

Clarence (describing “ghastly dreams”) in Act I, Scene 4

Shakespeare’s THE LIFE AND DEATH OF RICHARD III

"Charlize Heron"

-- As completed on the dawn of my 42nd year --

A mixed media analog collage over and incorporating an antique landscape (doctored with acrylic paint, glossy spray paint, and enamel latex furniture paint), photographs (including of a pink/purple hombre bird’s wing, fabric details from an exhibit on the work of designer Charles James, flowering plants in a gardening catalog, etc., dark mauve leather gloves in an ad from a 90-year-old LIFE Magazine), and black marker ink on 10 in. x 20 in. mounted black canvas with sparkle washi tape sides and Mod Podge sealant

“Beachfront Property For Rent (Cosmetic Damage)"

--An Adaptation of John Divola's Zuma Beach Series--

collage materials:  Mod Podge, acrylic paint, pasted magazine cuttings on 16 in. x 12 in. art catalog spread over mounted canvas + washi tape side trim

With Banksy so active in London this past week —and the 2028 “Hollywood Olympics” also being spotlighted in the media— I’ve got my mind on not only vandalism art and surreal imagery but the City of Angels in particular.  With that being said, not many portfolios in contemporary photography are more authentically, eerily Californian than John Divola’s half-century of work.  While it certainly didn’t need improvement, here I’ve altered one of his beach interiors (“Zuma #3”) with a smattering of additional elements via analog collage.  I must admit, with affordable housing running as dry as the LA River, a torn-apart shack in coastal Malibu isn’t looking so bad!