And finally….this is one of last week’s works in progress:  a combination of squares in soft greens.   It has not yet been mounted and measures 21 x 30 inches.  It will stand about one inch from wall and be unframed.

Til we meet again….

 Rarely do I use fabric in its raw form.  I change it up significantly with paint and dye.  You can see in this piece the muslin and broadcloth that has been treated this way. 

These squares are a combination of polyester scraps, cardboard, and acrylic paints.  I have discovered that polyester loves to be painted!                      

 These one inch tiles were made from quilter’s scraps, posterboard, and paints.  They will be used to contrast the larger three inch squares in the two assemblages I am working on now.

 I will show the finished works next week. 

Lately I have been painting over the surfaces of finished collages.  I love the depth and range of color possible by doing this.   I also appreciate the way the morning and late afternoon light make this assemblage glow. 

And, of course, the Frame Shop itself.        

                                                                                          And one of my new large pieces.

Bye for now.

I am pretty sure that we have all seen or at least heard of  hoarding behavior.  There have certainly been television productions that identify  wary individuals, confront them on their “stuff”, and then clean it out of their homes. I must admit, being the junque artist that I am,  hoarders hold an unnerving fascination for me. So on a recent trip to the Monterey Peninsula, I was astounded and quite pleased to see my niece living this way. 

 She and her husband had cleared four rooms to live in and the rest of the house, complete with two out-buildings and four shed-like structures was filled floor to ceiling and wall to wall with STUFF.  But I need to be fair here.  She and her husband had a deal with the heirs of the owners of the stuff that they could live rent free if they would clear out the place.  Seemed okay – until we opened a shed door. 

My husband and I had some time to use so we purchased some gloves and presented ourselves at her house last Monday morning.  An empty dumpster awaited us.  I, of course, could not get going until I had scoured the place for artifacts that I could use in my collages and the place did not disappoint.  After filling a bucket with washers, odd bits and pieces of wire and metal, and clock parts (dozens of clock parts), mesh, and other treasures, I too began filling the dumpster. 

 It took three of us about three hours (nine man hours) to get too tired to continue.  Half of a building was empty.  It soon became clear that what remained was junk, not junque.  It was not suitable for art of any kind and deserved to be tossed.  But I sure had fun looking and helping and I invited myself to Monterey again for their garage sale.  The best part is that I have some great pieces to make this year’s collages with.  Should be fun. 

 Art work coming soon! 

This piece is made from several fabrics and mesh.  Included are small beads and washers.  It reminds me of several moons all rising at once.

This piece contains lots of metal: washers, S hooks,pieces of jewelry as well as fabric, mesh, and a small broom.

The materials in this collage include fabric, wire, bits of broom and plexiglass.

                                                           This collage includes paper packing material, beads, fabric coiled with copper wire, leather and plexiglass.

The food is great, the staff are friendly, and you can enjoy all the charm of Eureka’s Old Town district before and after your meal.  And…..you can buy the art right off the walls!

Have a great holiday season everyone.

Okay – so here is my Garden Too picture. I think this photograph of it is slightly dull compared to the actual piece: the colors are a bit more intense in real life. This collage has taken weeks to complete and may not be complete yet.  Everything in it is formed from quilt scraps,  metals of all kinds, wooden beads (fairly obvious) plastic pieces, upholstery fabrics, aquarium glass, fish hooks,  and more than I can name. I think of it as an undersea garden.   I adore it for its frivolity and quirkiness.  This will be on display at Hurricane Kate’s in Eureka, California during the months of November and December.  It measures out at 24 inches x 48 inches and is mounted flat from the wall about 2 inches.  Coiled fabric adorns each side.

My work of course, is all the wall art with the squares in it.  Pictured here are a large Deerfence piece made with all kinds of washers.  Also seen are some of my Smallworks and a Large Red No Even Edges collage. 

Well…back to the studio – need to get ready for next month’s show.

Yellow Machine     5 x 7 inches

Stone #1   5 x 7 inches

Stone #3   5 x 7 inches

Thanks for visiting.

The second group is made from some large cotton mesh squares that were given to me last year.  I really wasn’t sure I could use them but I painted them onto some cardboard anyway and layered them.  They stayed in that form since last year.  Only recently did I dare to cut them up.  What a job that was!  I had to use some fairly heavy duty scissors and a lot of muscle. But I got the size and colors I wanted out of the larger piece to make these two smaller collages.  I added bits of radiators and some plastic grapes.  Here is one of them. 

These and other new works (which I will post later) are available at Plaza Design in McKinleyville, CA during September and October.  They will be available at Hurricane Kate’s (restaurant) in Eureka during November and December of 2011.  Please contact me for prices or other information.