SUSAN'S . . . PLAYING AGAIN!

Time for dolls!  I have been working off and on with  my little collection, that will be included  within 2 shows the latter part of the year.     "What in the world?" (hey . .  . I can hear you out there)  Just love playing with my hands to see  where they will lead me. I relish finding  objects while walking, as well as little  treasures from stores.  And this little delight while still in develop- ment, is half woman / half elephant. I have  big plans for her, so stay tune to see what will  become of her. Also pictured above is a  "bird walking".

I went on a small trip for the past two days to visit a close friend,  Joel Sharp . He   and I played with dolls. Not the typical dress-up  with Barbies, but deconstructed old dolls to create little wonders of art.  I know many voiced last year from my Frayed Show , that you were  a bit creeped out by my little dolls, but I just love them! And I have  2 solo shows the latter part of the year, which will include dolls  with my pastels. So above are just 2 of my little ones  . . . still in a state of progress . . .  and below are 2 of Joel's little wonders.  Click on Joel's name above to see some more of his art & gallery!

JOEL, BOY BIRD + NANCY Today I hustled my doll parts to my friend, Joel's studio,  where Artist Nancy Arthur McGehee joined us. Now let me tell you about my friends.  Nancy is an incredible glass artist and a prime example of her art can be viewed at:  http://funeria.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10 Joel does about everything from painting, sculpting and mixed media, with samples of his art at:  http://www.sharpgallery.net/index.html Above left, Joel is creating a doll by adjoining a head and body  to an inverted piece of palm tree. The reconstructed doll will be so  striking in all black with vivid blue eyes. On the right, Nancy is hand crafting heads for a mixed media wall  hanging mounted on a wood panel. Her center imagery will be a  wired broken heart. And center is the start of a Boy Bird that I concentrated on. I did succeed in hot gluing fuschia and black feathers onto the boy and attaching a...

FRAYED DECON + RECONSTRUCTED DOLLS & PASTELS  Just two days remaining and this is a show that must be seen!  The premise is there's a sliver of hope upon the horizon during catastrophic times, which I feel is quite apropos for today's times.   The work can be viewed at Ray Street Custom Framing + Gallery , 3807 Ray St, San Diego  from 11 AM to 6 PM.

PROTECTED HEART DOLL PARTS, FABRIC, WOOD + CLAY  PRIVATE COLLECTOR The exhibit, FRAYED can still be viewed at Ray Street Custom Framing + Gallery in San Diego till August 11th. Check out an eclectic assortment of dramatic pastels and decon / reconstructed doll art.  The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11AM to 6PM.  Please phone #619-255-2022 for additional information.

BARRIERS, PROTECTED HEART, HOLE IN MY HEART Okey, as you can see these are dolls and not girls. But not just ordinary dolls - oh no! There are deconstructed / reconstructed baby dolls. I started with used baby dolls which I dismembered (sorry everyone, but that's true). And these little girls were made by use of found slabs of wood, wire, a balsa box, tree bark, fabric, tail reflectors and rusted tin cans. Each is an unique piece of art that hangs on the wall. The three pictured are part of the collection in my exhibit Frayed, at San Diego's Ray Street Custom Framing + Gallery . The art can be viewed Tuesday through Saturdays from 11AM - 6PM. Additional information is provided on their site. Hope you stop bye for every doll needs love!

BARRIERS mixed doll's body parts, wood, wire, pencil, tree bark, car reflectors $225 The opening on Saturday is rapidly approaching and think I've harnessed all those body parts on my dolls of art. A few people have commented they thought my dolls were scary. And someone said they would call it my therapy (Hi Kelley!). Know what? I just love playing with found materials and seeing what I can create. Almost like playing dress-up with dolls or building model airplanes, yet starting from scratch. And for the faint of heart, I'm also having a wonderful selection of my pastel sunsets. So please don't forget the show is at Ray Street Custom Framing & Gallery at 3807 Ray St, San Diego. Additional info can be obtained at http://raystreetcustomframing.com . Hope to see you there!

Some of you may have been asking, just who are Christine and my companions, Hollywood Howie and Pepsi, that accompanied us to the toy district in Los Angeles? Well this is Hollywood Howie and what a gent he is! Definitely is a man that knows what he wants - and that was to try and scarf anything and everything he found laying on the sidewalk.