Mile High City Shenanigans

Well, the time has come for me to pack up my brushes, put away my paints, and head on back to the Down Under. Contrary to what people think, I didn’t take two entire months off from work. Far from it! My family aren’t exactly thrilled that I’m holed up in my temporary basement sweatshop, toiling away the entire time, emerging only now and then to feed and sleep and walk the Bo. I have been compared to a prairie dog, of which there are plenty of here in Denver.

But my truly awesome friend Po’Trowski made an effort to come here and see me all the way from New York and get me away from my work table for a few days! We took her to Lucile’s, a creole cafe with an awesome breakfast menu that features the most amazing beignets this side of Louisiana, and a breakfast beer for under $3!

We also did what New Yorkers do best: Shop.

No, we didn’t buy the Swaglash specs, but the lady at Claire’s Accessories tolerated our inability to keep our mouths shut as we made fun of all sorts of nonsense in the store that’s clearly designed for people at least 20 years younger than us.

We also did some sightseeing, one of which was the Stanley Hotel, which I’d only caught a glimpse of during my first visit to CO years ago.

One of these days I’ll have time enough to go inside and indulge in a ghost walk. Until then, I’ll just watch “The Shining” again!

Of course, it’s not all play and no work here. Po’Trowski was pressed into service, temporarily taking over Shane’s job as my sweatshop helper.

Here she is, prepping the doll sets at my niece and nephew’s craft table. I’m a little disappointed that they’re too young to be working for me, but give it a year or so and I’ll really have something going here!

See you all back in Oz! My etsy store reopens 4 May with brand new items including the Grand Budapest Hotel and some new and improved Breaking Bad and mini Big Lebowski! Watch out also for some real nostalgic trips down the 80’s memory lane!

Broad City

Since my friend Pacheco and I have similar taste in all things pop culture (except music. He’s a little bit hip hop, I’m a little bit 666), when he suggests something, I listen—especially these days when I often feel marooned in Oz-land. Information just doesn’t reach us down there as quickly as it does in the US. True, I can always plug into all sorts of social media for my dose of entertainment news, but who has time for that? In any case, when he brought up “Broad City,” I checked it out and boy, am I glad I did!

This show chronicles the misadventures of 2 girls in their twenties out and about in Brooklyn. It’s a bit like “Girls” except funnier. I was pretty much completely sold on it during the scene when Abbi rolled out of the dentist’s waiting room like a tumbleweed.

I really wanted to capture Ilana Glazer’s glorious head of hair. Just painting it wouldn’t do. So I poked around and found freshly cut wool from sheep that has not been treated so it still retained its beautiful curls. It’s a fantastic material to make wigs from and there we have it.

As “P*$$y Weed” is the episode that sold me, I decided to paint Ilana and Abbi from it with one minor exception:

Here Ilana is holding the painting Abbi made for her gallery opening at a sandwich shop.

I was unable to find my standard sets of 3s. They in turn sent me these really tiny ones, which are only good for doing sets of 2s. Instead of using the last doll to paint Hannibal Buress, Ilana’s occasional hookup/dentist, I made this:

A mini jaw breaker which caused Ilana’s front tooth to fall out, the said tooth, an a mini bag of weed.

Now, I don’t want you to think just because I’m in Colorado now I’m indulging in the new law that’s been passed here and am using the real thing. It’s actually just some artificial moss. Sorry.

Let’s Cook

Please. Do you think I wasn’t going to do a Hazmat suit version of Breaking Bad? I couldn’t wait to get started on this but looking for all the proper items to tag onto it took some time.

The idea of incorporating a bucket of chicken was presented to me, which of course, was taken into serious consideration, except I couldn’t find the proper receptacle to put the chicken in. But I did manage to find 1/2″ x 1/2″ Ziploc bags…

I was so thrilled with these bags that I did a Dance of Joy and stepped on my dog in the process. Art making is always the hardest on the ones in the direct line of fire.

Now, I need to look for miniature wads of cash to really amp up this set!

Stefon and Co.

Ever since Seth Meyers took over the Late Night spot, I’ve been getting a couple of emails from people asking if I’m willing to paint them a Stefon doll of their very own. As taxing as it was to recreate that crazy Ed Hardy he wears over and over again, I don’t have the heart to say no. These people are so very nice and understanding and they come up with some amazing ideas for the remaining dolls to keep me from being bored. If it weren’t for the general public challenging me at every turn, I’d have long ago moved on to something different like weaving tapestries of bulldogs or balloon animal art.

Here are some of the SNL sets I’ve been asked to create:

This one features Stefon and the Weekend Update anchors with Seth Meyers, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler.

And who’s that guy in the end? Why, that’s a Hoomba (as described by Stefon)!

Here’s another version:

This one features Stefon, Fred Armisen as a Californian, Andy Samburg as Nicholas Cage, and Will Ferrel and Cheri Oteri as the Cheerleaders.

The Stefon doll is veil optional!

This one is for a lady who runs a Bill Hader website, so she’s asked for Stefon, Devon, and Vinny Vedecci.

This one features also Jebidiah Atkinson, Drunk Uncle, Babushka Lady, and Jenjamin Franklin.

This set features some of the people Stefon encountered at the nightclubs:

Someone sent me this photo. Thanks for that!

Jeremy Davis is a Proud Poppa

The other member of Hayley Williams’ band Paramore gets a rather special treatment: A not-so-traditional family portrait in Babushka form!

Gotta love that suit!

I’ve always had a bit of trouble painting babies on the dolls. But all issues are solved when we decided to paint the baby onto the Momma doll.

Which leaves the third doll available for their little pooch, cowboy.

Life Aquatic with Taylor York

A little while back Hayley Williams of Paramore asked me to paint two sets as gifts for her bandmates. One of the boys, Taylor York, was quite into Life Aquatic so we decided he would get a kick out of it if he’s part of the Belafonte crew.

Unfortunately, the Owen Wilson character had to be bumped out of lineup in order to accommodate Taylor!