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Thursday, June 30, 2016

Maternal Grandmother

Maternal Grandmother
I do not remember my maternal grandmother.  I only have a few photos.  However, she is my oldest memory.  Now that must sound odd to you.  What I remember is that when I was three she died in Portland, Oregon.  My mother and her sister had the responsibility of taking her body on the train for burial in Iowa.  Our train left Seattle and my aunt's train left Portland.  The two trains met in eastern Washington.  My memory is of my mother telling me to watch for my grandmother's casket in the baggage car.  We were walking along the train and there it was right through the open door.  Isn't that something for a three year old to experience!

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Believe

Believe
The balance on this postcard pleases me.  I like to make geometric connections in art.  The date, the line from the book, and the word "believe" all make a triangle, as do the black splotch, the photo, and the car illustration.  For some reason the earth tones also are very pleasing to me.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Dog and Cat

Dog and Cat
This is rather minimal for me but I think it all works.  When I was young we had an Irish setter and a striped tiger cat who were friends like this.  They always curled up together to sleep each night breaking the old cat and dog stereotype.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Secret Pockets 5 - Part II


This is the fifth in the secret pockets collage series.  The last photo shares a bit more of where the pockets are located.

Secret Pockets 5 (cover)
None of the Dogs

Requirements

Rhode Island Red
Here are where the secret collages are housed.

Three secret pockets exposed


Sunday, June 26, 2016

Secret Pockets 5 - Part I



Secret Pocket 5 (cover)

Jimmie

Chester White


Lincoln


I made this secret pockets book with six collages just like the others but for this one I used a piece of fabric on the cover that I found in a drawer.  If one were considering theme, the cover does not go with what is on the inside, but I was not considering theme.  I was only considering creation.  This book will be going to Wyoming tomorrow as it was created for someone in my envelope round robin. Others in the group send ephemera to each other.  I decided to do something different for each person and so created whatever was on my mind at the moment.  Secret pockets is obviously on my mind right now.

By the way I just sold one of the secret pocket books.  How exciting is that!

I have not forgotten that I am going to divulge the pockets.  That happens tomorrow which will be the last of the secret pockets for now.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Secret Pockets 4 - Part II

Secret Pockets 4 (cover)

Hens

Monkey See, Lion Do

On My Honor
The Pockets keep on coming! :-)

Friday, June 24, 2016

Secret Pockets 4 - Part I

Secret Pockets 4 (cover)
Route 97


Vanity

Why the Rabbit's Tail Is Short
More secret pocket fun continues.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Secret Pockets 3 - Part II

Secret Pockets 3 (cover) 
8

He Took Up the Morning Paper

Light, Water, Each Dish

Some artists have trouble working small.  I love working small.  I think I would have the opposite issue if I worked large.  That sounds like a challenge!  Hmm!

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Secret Pockets 3 - Part I






Secret Pockets 3 (cover)

Looking Backwards




No 5079




Tom Wrote a Letter
Several viewers of this blog have requested more information on how the secret pockets work.  I will be showing a photograph of just that soon.  I have to take the photo first.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Secret Pockets 2 - Part II

Secret Pockets 2 (cover)

Epilogue

Monkey See

The Luggage Handler
This is the other side of the three cards seen yesterday in Secret Pockets 2 Part I.  More to come tomorrow.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Secret Pockets 2 - Part I

Secret Pockets 2 (cover)

Cats and Dogs

The Chores Are Done

The Dog
This little book has three "secret" compartments in which to hide collages.  Here are three of them that slide right into the book.  Maybe I will need to take a photo of how it works and display that later after more of these books appear on the blog.  Each of the collages has a faux encaustic finish.  The books are all 4 x 4 inches.  I love working small.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Magic And

Magic And

This is the end of the black and white with a splash of red series.  I am thinking that perhaps I missed one of the twenty because I repeated one so that I could combine Follow the Wind to make a specific diptych. One day I will check to see which it is and perhaps upload it to the blog. My maternal grandmother is in the photo on the right.  I am really sifting through my brain right now but the doll belonged to one of my cousins I think.

Tomorrow I am going to start sharing my Secret Pockets series.  There are five parts to the that series times two.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Lookout, Sign of the Times

Lookout, Sign of the Times

We are getting close to the end of this series, one more diptych to go tomorrow.  I have not put the faux encaustic finish on the one on the left, but I have put it on the one on the right.  I am thinking they photograph quite well with the faux finish as compared to not having it.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Yearning Bright

Yearning Bright

The sun comes up and shines brightly for a few hours and then sets again.  That is life.  We are born, spend some time on this planet, and then we are dust.  That is life and then death.  What we do in the light hours is what is important.  Leading a life that is good and one that helps others is what it should all be about.  We should not forget that.  It seems there are leaders in our country who have forgotten. I read how much money has been given by the NRA to members of Congress to sway their vote against gun control.  We have lost our way!  We have to find the right path again. We have to find the light again.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Untie Us Today

Untie Us Today

My continuing series......this one reflects on how so many people in our world try and box others in, not allowing freedom to be equal.  Is that human nature?  I realize this is a heavy dose and so is Orlando.  In my mind's eye I have a picture.  It is an eye and instead of clear tears coming from the eye there is red.  I listened and watched Anderson Cooper on CNN give tidbits of information on each of the 49 killed this past weekend.  This should be required of everyone to watch.  I do not know how humans could be cynical after reflecting on each life lost.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Good Time

Good Time

I finally figured out who the man in the photo with me was, an army buddy of my father's.  His name was Halsey and later in life he came out as gay.  He told my father about himself and my father rejected him. Halsey was the first person to tell my father that his son, me, was gay as well. It was a tragic interaction that need not have happened.   Why so much pain when it should not have been. That was almost thirty years ago.  Yes, there have been changes but Orlando brings to light the ignorance, bigotry, and racism that remains out there today. When will the world wake up?

Monday, June 13, 2016

A Voice Required

A Voice Required 
This is one of the pieces I submitted for the summer show.  The larger woman in the picture on the left was my mother when she was on a bowling team in the 1950s.  I remember the long nights waiting for the league to finish so we could go home.  This was on a school night and children always tag along wherever their parents go.  I just had to entertain myself for three hours.  Probably there was a treat involved if I was good.  I don't remember.

I am running out of family photos.  Putting them into art seems the right thing to be doing as it is the only way I will look at them much anyway.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Follow No One

Follow No One

Some people might ask how did you choose the words for this series of collages.  I totally did it by color restrictions, black, white, red.  Then I put them together by how they seemed to go the best like this one, Follow No One.  Since I did ten pieces times 2, the number of combinations is astounding. It is something like 1023.  If I found the right information on the internet it is 2 to the tenth power or 1024 but I had to subtract one because the pieces of art are back-to-back.  It is all mind boggling to me and what difference does it really make?  By the way, two of my diptychs were selected for the summer show for the NW Collage Society.  I can not divulge which ones yet.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Follow the Wind

Follow the Wind

My favorite part of this diptych is the light coming through a hole shining on the bird on the right. This journal is my third "shabby chic" or stack journal.  They take a long time to complete as it is time consuming to "paint" with paper.  First texture is added, then the paper painting begins.  Once that process is complete on both sides I was able to begin adding the other features which include vintage photographs, newspaper clippings, dictionary snippets, tissue paper, and words.  In this red, black, and white journal I have also added cheese cloth and paper yarn.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

World Culture

World Culture
Displaying these pieces as diptychs is quite different than how they look as a stack journal.  I have not made up my mind as to which look I like best.  After sharing all 20 I hope to have the cover to the stack journal done and then you will be able to see how it looks that way, too.  The only reason I even started the diptych look is because of entering the collage show.  I may add faux encaustic to each one, too.  I tried it on one and really like the waxy look.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Abstract Art

Abstract Art 
I am in the process of finishing up twenty new works. Thus the works will appear over ten days on this blog either singly or as diptychs.  Each of the twenty works are "painted" with magazine papers. They are all red, black and white papers.  I have added paper yarn, cheese cloth, tissue images, dictionary and photo images, and added some acrylic paint here and there.  The works are all going to end up in a Plexiglas box and can also be displayed as a stack journal.  I am submitting three diptychs for the NW Collage Society Summer Show.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Slide, Chicken, Slide

Slide, Chicken, Slide

One last ATC for June.  As you can see I have gone ga-ga over graphite pencils in most of the last blog entries.  I just love how much dimension can be added using them....in fact, I have a great supply of graphite now.  It comes in so many forms and trying each gives new ideas.  I had this piece almost completed but one last thing was needed for the composition to look right.  The boy is leaning in and forward and he needed something to look at, hence, the chicken.

We are heading home from our ten day trip to the east coast and the Atlantic provinces of Canada.  It has been a great trip.