Get Hooked

Get Hooked  14" x 17" $175

9X12 original acrylic painting with found objects touting the natural beauty and fabulous fishing in Idaho.

 Now how to finish it off?  At a Thrift Store in Hailey, ID. I found something better than a frame. A shallow wooden something that was just 2" bigger than the piece of art -all the way around.

Here I am playing around with what I will do with it. All the rocks made it kind of heavy. So I decoded to add some paper that looked like weathered wood and just put a few rocks in the corners.

 I glued down the papers and the collaged painting. I set weights on top of the painting to make sure it was attached well and waited 24 hours before pouring 2 part resin around the piece and then placed the rocks into the wet resin.

Get Hooked  14" x 17" $175

Making Art in a Secluded Winter Cabin

The lovely view from the table were I was making my art!

 My husband and I were invited up to a cabin for the week. The men were going to go back country ski and do manly stuff and the women were going to go into town and shop and eat and do women stuff.

Well right before we left I found out that the woman of the house was sick and would not be coming up until later in the week, so as an after thought I packed 2 bags of art stuff. Glad I did. She did not make it up at all and neither did the other woman.

I cross-country skied on the lake everyday and saw an eagle and a fox.

 So as the men drove off every day, I was left to my own devises! With no distractions such as a computer or people, I had hours of uninterrupted time which I put to good use. Below are the five projects I made...

Horse Racing- found object assemblage 5 1/2" x 51/2"

Bright Beautiful Butterflies Mixed Media-5 1/2" x 7"

The Long Horn State- Mixed Media/found object 5" x 5"

 Around this time I started running out of substrates (a layer that underlies something). So I had to get creative...I went outside but everything was covered in snow...except for the wood pile and there I found this shard of wood which reminded me of something from a shipwreck and then I even went digging in the grand kids toy box and found this shark. (I still have to confess taking this and risk not being invited back)

I had brought my baggies of alphabet pieces so I could pull the piece together. The starfish, seashell and scuba tank were all in the S bag. The card on the left under the shark, is a little ATC I made onto part of a cardboard box of noodles I found in the recycling bin.

SCUBA found object 9" x 4"

For the next piece I used a piece of a map and a page from a dictionary as the substrate and made a collage. It is a weird size, so I think I am going to find a frame from my stash and so it may change a little.

17 Postcards from Peru 81/2" x 9"

So even though it was not the week I thought it would be, I had a great time and made a lot of art! I did take lots of photos and will go into more detail on some of these pieces in future blogs.

Antlers Change Direction

 

In my original piece of art using these antlers I made this Antler Mirror- Objects from my travels put together. The mirror was bought at a thrift shop from a trip to CA last year. The old bottle was from weird place in VA that I will be blogging about (my husband and I still have nightmares from this place)  and the antlers were obtained from my mom's garage in TX. (No one knows were they came from or how they got there) But that piece is no longer available as I took it apart to make something else. Why did I take it apart, well I had it outside and the antlers were glued and well...lets just say the antlers are too heavy for glue. Luckily nothing broke, just came apart.

The new incarnation of the antlers started with the handmade wooden box I found in a shopping cart in front of a thrift store marked "free" those are the best finds! It is a well made box, not flimsy. The rectangular pieces in the middle are small encaustic paintings that I made in a workshop last year. I really do need to go back to one of those classes as I have used up all but one of my wax painting/collages in an assemblage!

This time around the antlers are not only glued but also screwed into the wood. They are not coming off this time! Placed around the encaustics are river rocks given to me from a friend that brought them back from New Zealand for me.

The last step was I poured two part resin over all the rocks to seal everything in and the rocks appear to be under a layer of water.

I really like the simplicity and natural colors of this piece. I don't have a name for it yet. I'm taking suggestions. This piece is for sale $250.