Long Ago, and Far Away . . .

 

 "Long Ago and Far Away" "●
   This is a sweet little assemblage I made just for me.
   The first few years of my life were spent on a farm in south Texas, I was the youngest of 7 children, and although the memories have become faded, I do have a few mental pictures that are clear and crisp of my days on the farm.
   People often ask me "how long have you been making this kind of art?" in response, I like to reference my earliest memories from my days on this farm.
   I remember that at age of 5 or 6, I would often crawl under the farm house, (1) to get out of the hot Texas sun, and (2) to play quiet solitary games, creating imaginary kingdoms in a silent, secret place.
   (3) Additionally, under the house, I would often find many important treasures, to include bits of pottery, marbles, keys, coins and other forgotten bits, left behind, I'm sure, by previous residents of the old farm house. I loved collecting these treasures and keeping them in glass jars. I loved looking at them, and I loved playing with them.
   In another memory, I remember, making 'mud bricks" (like mud pies only square). I remember, too, that I would sometimes 'embed' my treasures into the mud bricks and set them out in the sun to dry. And as I recall, they were BEAUTIFUL!

Early assemblages?  I think so. . . so when someone asks me, "How long have you been doing this kind of art" . .  . I always say, "I've been making assemblages all of my life . . ."

PS: Yes, that is me, the short girl in the middle . . .

Girl With A Pearl

"Girl With a Pearl" ●

An exhibit of Dutch painters was recently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.  Included in the exhibit was the painting by Johannes Vermeer, “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and, as the name implies, the artist uses a pearl earring as a focal point.

This is one of the best-loved paintings in the world . . . and it is a mystery. Who is the model and why has she been painted? What is she thinking as she stares out at the viewer? Are her wide eyes and enigmatic half-smile innocent or seductive? And why is she wearing a pearl earring?

The book in this piece is a contemporary novel by Tracy Chevalier by the same name

Besides the book, this piece also includes a mannequin head, clock gears and a mainspring, gold acrylic paint atop vintage book text, vintage sewing patterns, and of course a pearl earring.

Living In Awe

 

 

 

 "Living in Awe"  •
A year ago or so, I worked on this piece, and when it was finished, I loved it. It was bolder than anything I had done before. The elements that came together in this piece seemed a bit more audacious than the 'bits and bling' I normally incorporate in my work.

To name just a few of the elements, this piece contains parts of license plates, a bullet belt, guitar tuning keys that are strung with green fishing line, car emblems, a coat check from Madrid's Del Prado Museum, a hologram, and bicycle chain . . . . all set on a black background.

As  I said earlier, I loved the piece when it was finished, because it was so different from any of my other work, but I was a bit cautious about bringing out in public.
As is typical for me, I was under deadline, and in a few days, a new show needed to be hung in the gallery, so after snapping a few quick photographs, I took the piece to the gallery and hung it thinking I would come back and take more photos at a later date if needed.

The very next day, the piece sold! It was gone. That's the good news.

However, to my chagrin, when I looked at the images I'd taken of the piece I was disappointed, feeling they were mediocre, and didn't really show the finished piece well. Time passed and I forgot to post about it on this blog.

One of main the reasons I decided to maintain a blog was to be able to keep track of the work I produce. So here I am, a year later, posting this piece titled "Living In Awe". . . because most of the time I AM . . . .


have a great weekend!

Alligators Always Dress for Dinner . . .

 

"Alligators Always Dress for Dinner" ●

This is a commissioned piece for a customer who fell in love with a previous "Alligators" piece, that had already sold.  I worked on this piece over the last couple of weeks, knowing exactly where I was going with it . . .  until I got to the alligator . . . the one I had was the wrong color . .  so I opted for this little guy . . .  he is more of a gecko . . . a distant cousin of the alligator, but he works!  

Especially in his colorful garb, and with his articulated tail!

For this piece, I used a cabinet door from Habitat for Humanity, and covered it in tissue papers, and bits of other papers and ribbons, then over-laid with sewing pattern tissues.

The title is borrowed from a children's alphabet book, by the same name, of vintage photographs by Linda J Donigan, Michael Horwitz.