THE DOG HOUSE

 

Having fun creating The Dog House today.  It includes my late Golden Retriever, Max,  (I put an angel by his photo) and my current side-kick, Boomer.  I took a couple of the metal tags off of Max's collar which I had saved. Behind Boomer's head in the center, I wrote the names of all of the dogs I grew up with.  I struggle a little bit with collage/mixed media because I'm not entirely sure where you cross the line and it looks like...scrapbooking.  I am not a scrapbooker.  At any rate....another "house" for my House Book...it's coming along...

HOLY CROW HOUSE

 BLACKBIRDS SINGING IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT....

Having a little fun tonight with this latest house.  I put a colorwash on the whole house to start.  Then I added the bits of music.  The tree was next.  The thing I like about this kind of art is that it is so random. I started with the thought of  doing something that suggested...fall.  I had this little stone house in my stash of pictures I have cut out of magazines and where the window was in the door, I cut it open and added a face, also from a magazine.  Crows and blackbirds kind of fascinate me... I just added a little bit of humor to the piece....would you open your door to this crow???

(the house is sitting on a piece of sheet music for the photo)

My Stash

I took the morning off from work today to catch the annual consignment sale at The Great American Stamp Store in a nearby town... you can't beat the deals.  Some might say I have enough rubber stamps.... but there is so much you can do with rubber stamps! And, I was keeping my sister in mind as I think she'll like some of these too.  I tried to take a picture of my cache....I only spent $50 dollars...I didn't quite get them all in the picture. In addition, I have a whole bag of stamps my neighbor gave me....she's making room in her creative room....for creating quilts and other fabric items. 
OK, Di...we have lots to work with!  Looking forward to your visit!

A Discarded Treasure

This is a tiny little book...only 3" x 4" and I found it at our local book fair.  And I'm sure you're wondering what is so spectacular about this book.  It was published by a company called Papier-Mache Press.  Of course, I love the title.  And inside the book, it was inscribed, "In the night, I am reading these to you."  So, I believe this was from a wife to her husband.  It is a collection of poems by different people with titles like, "To the Husband Who stands at the Sink, Intent on Shaving," and "For an Anniversary," "Front Porch Partners."  There are lovely, sepia tone photographs in the book.  So...my question is...how did this special little book end up in a book fair?  Based on the inscription in the book...had the wife purchased this book after her husband had passed?  What is the story.  I only know, that if it had belonged to my grandmother or aunt or mother....I would have found a special place for it, tucked away safely in a drawer....but now it's my treasure and it is safe.

The Book Fair

Last weekend was the annual book fair at our local library.  It's a large affair...people come from all over to find the great deals/treasures.  I went, not actually looking for books to read as I already have many unread books waiting on my nightstand...but rather to look for interesting things to use in collage and mixed media art.  I am never disappointed and the price is right.  

As you have seen on many of my posts, I've been doing fun little houses.  I love looking at houses, seeing how people live both in the US and abroad (House Hunters Int'l on HGTV...interesting!)  I love to see how they decorate them, what they collect....what the inside...and outside too, tells about the inhabitants.  

I've been going to an altered book class once a month to learn techniques, and while I was at the book fair, I found the book I want to be my first official, altered book. And it is....

I will read the book before I alter it...I would feel guilty if I didn't...but...it couldn't be more perfect for me...A Painted House.  You might think that all of the little individual houses I am doing would satisfy....but not.  There are just too many interesting things about houses!  The architecture, the period, the style, the colors, the setting, ghosts (?), what's in the attic....  Just this little bit of the house you see in the cover photo interests me.  I'm not ready to dive in yet...after all, I still have to read the book and I haven't even read the notes yet to see what it is about.   But I can't wait.

 

My "House"

MY "HOUSE"

I'll start with the finished product...(are they ever really finished?)  It has lots of color!  Originally I was going to put the hand coming up from the bottom of the page, but ended up liking it on the left of the picture.  There is a lot of metallic gold in the picture, but that's hard to tell in this photograph.  There is a photo of me with Tom tucked in on the left and the top window is a photo from my house, printed on vellum.   The heart on the right is made of rusty metal....maybe that is my heart...hmm...

 First came the sanding stage....

                                       
                                            
Here is the work in progress...I should have taken this in natural light so you could see the real color....it wasn't blue!  But you can see the music and you can see the molding paste and there are some collage elements showing through after I sanded it.

 

And here are the pieces waiting to be assembled.  I had added some color to the house.  You can see I work messy...and in the middle of doing all of this, I dropped a container that had so many pieces of ephemera...buttons, letters, rhinestones, brads....I haven't recovered all of them yet.  One thing for sure, I'm not afraid of color.  And I never have enough room to put everything I want into the picture.  This was definitely fun.

Ebb and Flo

I've been thinking on and off all day, the ideas coming and going,  about what my next art project is going to be....and when you're waiting for that inspiration....what do you do...you clean and reorganize your creative space...which I spent time doing today.  So I want to do the next house in my "house series" and the above picture is part of it.  I like doing hands in art.  While your brain may come up with the ideas....it's your hand(s) that execute it.  

So, these are some of the pieces that I hope will come together when all is said and done.  The "house" is waiting to dry...I glued various things to the paper and then I covered it with a molding paste.  Tomorrow I will sand it and add the next layer.  I hope this will all work out with the vision in my head.   I had great fun doing the hand with my watercolor pencils.  Stay tuned....

...a better look at the hand...while I was doing this...I could hear lots of fireworks going off celebrating today, Labor Day.  This is a day when hands are supposed to...rest!

Back to the Red, White & Blue

I haven't done a painting in my Red, White & Blue journal since the "vette", so felt it was time.  I've been focused on collage work but I don't want to forget my painting because that's what I really like to do...so here is a portion of a cabinet in my house ( I know it's crooked...but art isn't perfect!) And the American flag does actually hang down over it.  The cabinet is filled with all kinds of things that I love...china, silver, a small white demitasse cup that says "peace" on it, the book Amazing Peace, by Maya Angelou given to me by my friend, Nancy; the ruby red glassware plates/glasses, that belonged to my grandmother that I never knew....and maybe her mother but I don't know that for sure and no one is around to ask anymore....they are all "just things", but they have a story and that's what makes them special...even if they rarely come out....I walk by them several times a day.  
It's a peaceful Friday night at my house....loving it.

The End of Summer...

The school buses are rolling, new backpacks purchased and since my son is all grown up....doing a little bit of reminiscing about those days.  My neighbor's son just started 8th grade and got his braces....those days seem so long ago!  Over the years, on beach vacations, I used to take this photo...my version of a "growth chart" from the little guy first testing the waters (love his little hat!) to the grown man.  It's fun to have this record.