Like a Fish Out of Water

This  Found Object Assemblage stands just six inches tall. "Like a Fish Out of Water" is made from an old metal candle holder with a piece of polished wood that fit right on the top, creating the perfect table for the miniature birdcage which contains a small golden fish.

The door is open...swim away little fishy....swim away!

"I Knew the Bride, When She Used to Rock and Roll"

Found Object Assemblage

6"x18"

detail from "I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll"

This piece is comprised of an unknown skull found on a hike in the Boise Foothills, antique screw back earring given to me by a friend, a piece of netting taken from something I had, tassel given to me by a friend, mirror purchased at a thrift shop and misc. beads that I had.

Some of the inspiration for this piece came from visits to NYC and San Francisco, this past year.  Paxton Gate , Loved To Death, and Evolution.

After showing the start of this piece to a friend he asked me if I had seen the series Oddities on The Discovery Channel. I had not even heard of this show and I don't have cable or dish tv, maybe I can catch an episode or so on the computer.

The name comes from a song (Dave Edmonds) on my husbands ipod that he was just listening to and I thought was the perfect title for this piece. 

The letter N, as in MarianNe

The Booty I returned home with last night.

Last night I got the creative boost I have been lacking in these past couple weeks. I went over to my friend Marianne's for a girls get together.  I haven't been able to do studio night in awhile, so this was great. It wasn't an art night per se, but I did get some inspiration and a small project to do that I completed today.

 Marianne's dad made her these cut out letters that spell her name to put in her new studio. She wanted each one to be decorated by a friend. She received the first one back from an out of town friend, which she posted on FB.  I had told her 6 months ago I would do one but kept forgetting, so last night I took one before they were all spoken for. The beautiful pattern under the wooden N is my used cocktail napkin that I saved for the project. :) I know I'm going to hear..."if I had known you wanted one,  I would have given you a clean one." but then it wouldn't really be my kind of art would it?

This wonderful treasure box was given to me by Carolyn, one of Marianne's friends that came over last night!

Here is my finished letter "N" which I will give to Marianne on Tuesday. I included parts of the napkin,  a piece from the old jewelry collection, as well as letter N things from my alphabet file.

San Francisco

Just got back from a long weekend in San Francisco. Saw lots and lots and did a ton of walking. 

Great Vista from Russian Hill

 General Bead was so cool, and the funny thing is a friend of ours lives 2 blocks from there and she thought I was crazy that there was a bead store on her street as she walks past there everyday and never saw it before. I was so glad to be able to show a local something new!

As you can see the door is pretty non descript with no sign on it and unless you look up you have no idea there is a store inside.

When I asked if I could take a photo, she said of course and then proceeded to show me how to get the best shot!

More fabulous beads, I need to take my daughter here some day and my friend Nancy.

FLAX is a great locally owned art store, 3 generations strong.

 

A great thrift store on Valencia. I scored big when I saw the sign in the window that said all was 50% off on Monday!! The only downside was that I was flying standby and had to be able to cram all into my one carry on!

Some of my miniature and thrift store finds in the Mission District.

My favorite browsing, shopping and eating area was the Mission District. 

Not touristy but not scary either. I saw 2 art exhibits that utilized real dead animals (taxidermy) mice, birds and squirrels, had them dressed up doing funny things or even made jewelry out of the squirrel claws. This reminded me of going to Mexico as a kid and seeing stuffed frogs playing pool. this gives me some new ideas....:)

And then it was onto the Golden Gate Park. I had no idea how big and gorgeous it was....

 ...saw some tranquil sculptures at the Japanese Gardens...

 Celeste, a local friend took us to the SFMOMA and we saw the exhibit "The Steins Collect" They had amassed a huge amount of French Impressionist paintings over the years. In 1908 Picasso wrote to Leo and Gertrude and said "Studio tidied up and only waiting for your visit. " I liked that quote as it reminds me of myself. My studio is the guest room.

I  found that  Barnes of the famed  "Barnes Collection" bought paintings right off the walls of the Steins. I tagged onto the end of a docent tour and she left us with the quote that after Matisse had passed away Gertude said, " Everybody came and nobody made a difference anymore."

I also made a point of visiting Berkley as I had never been there before and I really wanted to go eat at Chez Panisse, which I did get a reservation and it was great!

In Berkley I bought a bunch of stuff at the Japanese store. It was all so small and tiny and cute I just had to.

It's nice having online art friends

Collage print by Diane Lou

It's nice having on line art friends. Once you start your own art blog you naturally find other artists that are doing the same, sharing their newest work... a special find at a thrift store... sharing a technique or process. It's fun finding a new blog and then seeing who they are connected to and making some more new friends.  The other day I got an email from Rebeca (http://rebecatrevino.blogspot.com/) telling me that Diane was looking for me. So I clicked on over to Diane's Blog (http://dianelou-mixedmedia.blogspot.com/) and lo and behold I saw that I won a print of Diane's, which is featured above. Thanks Rebeca for contacting me and thanks Diane for your wonderful giveaway!

B, of the A, B, C's

B IS FOR THE BIRDS

Found Object Assemblage 9 1/2" tall

from top down- rusty metal bird, encaustic "B", wooden top from a "Cholula" hot sauce bottle, 3 wooden beads on a dowel, a flower pot collaged with ephemera and twirled around the sculpture is a twine of "crystal" grapes, berries and leaves. $50

A, of the ABC's...again

Found Object Assemblage 12" tall $50

 From top down- a large letter A on top of a drawer with 3 apples in it and 2 beads and 2 embellished game piece a's on top. next is an encaustic painting of an apple on top of a wood base with 2 more embellished game piece a's.  

This is showing one of the previous incarnations of this project, I usually have a few pieces sitting around unfinished for quite some time until the exact way I want to put them together comes to me. Other times I get an idea and finish it that night. This is one that was 6 months in the waiting.

The title of this post is because as some of you know I have done a piece for every letter of the alphabet and now I am starting over again, just for the fun of it. My complete name is:

The ABC's of Every Little Thing

One of my long term goals is to make a book of my projects with this title. The problem is I have sold quite of few of the pieces and some of the photos I have of them are less than stellar. :(