The Things They Carried . . .

"The Things They Carried"
 I love collecting old interesting wood pieces. Carved chair parts, vintage frames, drift wood, wood hangers, yard sticks, boxes, . . .The older the better.  It does not matter if the wood is painted or unpainted, carved or plain, I find wood to be delicate and exquisite and strong and worldly, with many stories to tell.  The older the piece of wood, the better the stories.

I just can's say no to a beautiful piece of wood.

I have had this idea that I wanted to construct an art piece using multiple and various pieces of wood from different origins, of all ages and with varied textures and patinas. I wanted to cut the pieces of wood and fit them together, like a puzzle and let their texture and their beauty speak for themselves.

This piece is my first attempt.

Some time ago while perusing blogs, I came across the quote "A lot like yesterday, a lot like never". The words resonated with me and I thought that at some point I might use it in one of my Scrabble pieces. After adding the quote to my 'list' of quotes, I printed out a copy and hung it on the inspiration board in my studio . . . so I could see it everyday.

In researching the quote, I discovered it is from a book titled "The Things They Carried" written by a Tim O'Brien, the book contains a number of short stories about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War.

Using a piece of pine as substrate, cut pieces of redwood, fence board, clothes hangers and various other wood types are pieced together to form a whole. Embellishments include found metal pieces and bits of bling along with a small convex mirror and the head of a colorful rooster, formally a napkin ring holder.
The piece is finished in a frame made from a vintage yard stick with with bright blue lettering.