Friday, April 26, 2013

MIXED-MEDIA COLLAGE EXERCISES

April 26, 2013 MIXED-MEDIA COLLAGE EXERCISES I'll be instructing a class on mixed-media collage at an upcoming women's retreat. In order to get all my supplies together and organize a lesson plan, I decided to make a few collages. I started having so much fun, I couldn't stop! Here's what I made: "Remembering Gram" My parents divorced when I was very little and I grew up in my grandmother's home. When I thought about things I remembered of her, this was the list: she babysat all the grandchildren and made us all feel special; she liked puzzles (crosswords, jigsaws,criptograms); she always wore heels - bad feet runs in our family; she knitted sweaters for us and sewed clothes for us to stretch the budget; she liked tuna fish sandwiches with special watermelon pickles; she smoked Pall Mall "cigs" "Marjorie Ruth" This collage is done inside an Altoids tin. On one side of the tin there's a photo of my mother when she was a little girl, and the other side is a tiny ceramic spaniel. She had a dog named Lucy. "I Love Chickens" A collage inside a small wooden box. I had sat down at my worktable and saw that box. I decided to set myself to the task of creating a collage using only things I could reach from where I sat. I also wanted to see if that old crackle paint I've had forEVER still works. The chicken is from a wallpaper scrap, and the gold "balls/egg" are actually 1/2 of the inside of tiny world globe keychains.
Well, it's been a very long time since I posted on this blog. I updated it a few months ago - mostly to show what art has sold - but I've made no new entries. My posting lagged when I pretty much stopped making new art. I had 3 surgeries during this break: 1st, I got 2 new knees - YIPPEE! Then, I had repair on a torn rotator cuff - right shoulder. The last surgery required a SIX MONTH REHAB. Of course it was the shoulder for my dominant arm so I really could not do any of my usual art. Those boxes require lots of sanding and hammering and, well, continuous stress on my right shoulder. May have been what caused the tear in the first place! Well - I got my body all fixed up, then we moved across country - from Amherst, Massachusetts to Minneapolis, Minnesota. If you've ever moved, you can imagine all the work that's gone in to that! After waiting for my new studio to be completed in the new house, I finally got all my art supplies unpacked (well, almost all...), and now I've begun to create again. I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted from my soul. First thing I made was 4 boxes (see below) for an art show I was invited to do at my church. It felt so very good to get back in the game (and get back to the church of my childhood!).

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

STRINGED INSTRUMENT

STRINGED INSTRUMENT $58. SOLD

Saturday, December 4, 2010

SALTWATER

SALTWATER $100. SOLD
(Dimensions note: Inside of rectangular portion only (9"x5"x7"). Total outside measurement of box, including feet and shell (10"x8"x11").

Honey

Honey $45. SOLD
(9" x 5" x 3")

RED SWEATER

RED SWEATER $38. SOLD
(6 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 1 3/4")



Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Norman Rockwell Moment

August.
Late morning.

Two curly-haired blonde boys -
seven and eight.
Bare feet,
mindless of gravelly sidewalk.
Summer clothes,
now too small
t-shirts baring bellies
shorts twisted.
Taller boy, gesturing -
younger one nodding
in rapt attention.

What,
I wonder,
could warrant
such intense exchange
between them -
Too young for girls...
A big fish?
A home run?
A summer vacation?
News of this year's teacher?
What if mom finds out!

Oh, Mr. Rockwell, only you
could do justice
to their story.