Assemblage De Couleur

Rainbow colors

Green is for Envy

Alaska Blue

Finding yellow items...

And it opens!

Gathering Orange Items

Purple

Pink

Stayed tuned for more to come...I would like to create a whole series of these...

July 2015 First Thursday Show at Boise Brewing

I got an email back in January that this new community supported brewery was looking for artists to show their work and design their posters and tap handle art for their beer of the month. I contacted them showed them some samples and was assigned the month of July. The opening was last Thursday.


I have got to say this was my funnest First Thursday Showing, so many friends came by to say hi and I had the whole top floor to myself so It was like I had my own private party. This was the second group of guests. On the couch with me are my studio gals, the other couch are my bike riding friends. Thanks to all that came out!

12" x 12" Mountain bike collages with bike parts 

One of a kind collaged cards, keychains and my email sign in book. 

This piece I wound up moving to another wall as I didn't want a rambunctious foosball player to bump into it. This is a collage on a round wooden table top with a bike wheel drilled into it, and it turns. 

You can see where I moved the wheel and I think it looks a lot better. The "glowing" on the bottom left are the posters designed by local artists for the beer of the month. Mine is on the right next to the couch. 

The second piece from the left sold at the opening.

This is the poster and tap handle label that I made for beer of the month. Warm River Wit- named after the smallest town in ID. Population 3. It is a Belgian style wheat beer. I didn't get to try it that evening as it wasn't ready yet. The posters are for sale at the Brewery for $10 artists do not get a portion of those sales but we don't have to pay any commission or fee for having the show.

My pieces will be up through the end of July 2015 so if you get a chance go by Boise Brewing at 521 West Broad St. next to the Boise Weekly. 

I love my little bitty handmade journal

This is my newest sketchbook. My friend Marianne at Great Wide Open Art  made it for me. Click on the link to contact her to purchase your very own. What I like about it is 1-its size, nice and small to fit in my travel case and that I can finish a painting in about an hour and 2 - that the pages are made with nice watercolor paper and 3- the closure on it is cute and works well.  

I have taken it to TVAA Urban Sketching Events...

I've taken it camping at 10,000 ft.

It went to the Grand Canyon...

Utah desert...

Mountain Biking...

In our travel trailer...

And even to a wedding...

Coming soon...road trip and more adventures in the journal!

Assemblage-en-Juin or Put-itTogether-June

Panel members introducing themselves to each other. Lots of assemblage art on display.
For a full description click on this link:

 http://treasurevalleyartistsalliance.org/assemblage-en-juin-or-put-it-together-june/

We had a full house!

The Panel discussion was on Monday night...

...then on Thursday night I was showing at First Thursday at Idaho Blueprint

On Saturday I met about 10 ladies and 1 gentleman at the Idaho Youth Ranch Outlet. For many of them it was their first experience and for others they came back for more fun. 

Items are not sorted, the fun is digging through the bins to see what you can find. 

"Hmm, I wonder how I could use this?"

"What do you think?"

Rows and Rows of stuff

This is what I bought for around $3

Then it was back to my studio to see what we could create with the items we found.

Most of the projects didn't get finished as they needed to be propped up to dry etc.
But they got a good start. 

Some worked inside where it was a little cooler. 

Who knew taking arms off Barbies was so hard...

We had to pull out the dremel.
I can't wait to see all the finished projects. The Next TVAA show  is in August called "Hunting and Gathering" I hope to see all of these pieces there. 

This was a cool surprise I got in the mail the other day from one of my high school friends, Lisa. Thank You!

June 2015 Art Schedule

Bike Art for the Garden

Last night I hosted a meeting of "Art Project Boise" on my back deck.  A nice little group. Each month a word prompt is put out for inspiration and then members show up for a sort of "show and tell" Since it was at my house my 5 minutes stretched into showing almost every piece I've ever made. :)

Monday June 1 

Artist Panel Discussion

join us at the Treasure Valley Artist Alliance monthly meeting 6pm at Idaho Parents Unlimited at 4619 W. Emerald St. Boise ID

I will be moderating a panel of four assemblage artists. 

Marilyn Cosho, Kathleen Keys (James Castle), Kay Seurat, and Cyndy Lounsberry. Come hear how they got started and insider tips and tricks. 

Thursday June 4

First Thursday

I will be the featured artist for Idaho Blueprint and Supply Co. 

5-9 pm 

Artist Trading Card Make and Take

Over 50 pieces of my art will be on display through the end of the month. 

Saturday June 6

Dumpster Dive and Apres Dumpster Dive Workshop

In conjunction with TVAA I will lead an introduction to the Idaho Youth Ranch Outlet. If you would like to attend with other local artists meet in the parking lot on Irving St. at 10:15. 

At noon those that sign up will meet up at my studio and turn those objects into a work of art! 

We still have 4 spaces available. Sign up Here.

Our old table is new again!

We wanted to do something with our everyday dining table. At first I thought I would paint a design on it with those new chalk paints I've been hearing about. Then my husband and I got the idea to glue a map that shows all of our travels onto the table and add collage elements around it then pour resin on top to seal it all.

This photo shows the first attempt of trying to glue down the map. I used a whole jar of acrylic gel medium and it had some horrible wrinkles I couldn't even get out. I carefully took it off before it was dry. The photo shows were parts of the map stuck. I poured water on the table and used a credit card to scratch it all off. 

The map sat around for a week while I gained courage to start over and  got some helpful hints from my friend Marianne and the internet. I tore the map apart on its creases and crinkled up each section to make overall wrinkles and coated the front and back of each section. 

It came out perfect this go around.

After I glued down the pieces, I added dots and swirls of paint between the ephemera. 

The next steps were to put masking tape around all the edges and then pour a coat of 2 part resin. Unfortunately the resin soaked through the map making dark mottled areas where the paper was thinner from it sticking to the table the first go around.  Now what to do?

I decided to start painting on the resin.
I painted our tandem bike.
I really liked the way it turned out so I painted some more...

Next I added our teardrop R-Pod trailer complete with
our little pink and blue trailer shoes under the door. 

Next I added our  Dodge Ram Pickup truck we had to buy to pull the trailer, then the second coat of resin was added. We thought it still needed more "stuff" so my husband and I decided to add some current travel photos to the mix...

In total there are 3 layers of resin. I waited until it was dry to the touch to add the second and third layers. After letting it cure for 72 hours, we removed the tape and had to do a light sanding around the edges as the resin had tried to creep up the tape. I didn't have the resin pour off the sides. The table top is 3' x 4'. I have ordered some silicon place mats so we don't scratch it up or cause any damage since it is a table we use every day.