African Marriage

African Marriage

This past Saturday the Rotary Club on Bainbridge Island, Washington held their annual "garage" sale.  It is the second largest of its type in the country.  I would say it is quite unbelievable.  I had heard about it from a friend and this year I was determined to go.  What an outing!  Imagine a middle school where every classroom is full of sale items.  It is very organized with like items in specific rooms.  Of course I went directly to the art, craft and book rooms.  The book room was the best ever.  Books are either 50 cents or one dollar.  I came away with several.

My biggest and best find was a box of letters written in the 1930s.  I have yet to read them but they will become ephemera in my collages I am sure.  They look so wonderful.  I am waiting for just the right time to sit down to glimpse into a stranger's life many decades after the letters were written.  It is kind of like receiving a letter 80 years in the past.

As does most of my work, African Marriage came together unplanned.  I did the background and then started looking through my new books from the sale and voila!  This couple jumped off the page!