Garage Sales Forever

Garage Sales Forever

I posted the stamp that I made for this piece yesterday.  The woman who commissioned this piece had told me a story about her relative who loved to attend garage sales and who also collected old irons, hence the iron in the faux postage.  The idea for the faux postage came to me when I awoke one recent morning.  I guess the old brain was working overtime in the night to come up with the solution that I needed.  I had wanted to include many of the ideas given me by the buyer concerning her relatives.  This was one way to bring in the idea of garage sales and irons without a third vintage image.

Faux Postage- Garage Sales Forever

Faux Postage - Garage Sales Forever

I was commissioned to create a collage for a client.  This client wanted to give a gift to her cousin for Christmas and she wanted to have a personalized collage using vintage photos that she had in a family album.  To get the flavor of the people in the photos I interviewed my client and found out that one woman loved to collect irons.  I wanted to include as many of the photos in the collage as I could and I needed a way to express some of the ideas and keep the composition from becoming overwhelmed with different focal points.  I came up with the idea of creating a stamp with an iron to represent the woman's collection.  Since the woman loved to go to garage sales, the stamp was given a title of "Garage Sales Forever".  Tomorrow I will share the collage with this stamp.

Red Truck Self-Portrait

Red Truck Self-Portrait

I have been in a round robin with the Belltown Bookies for almost one year.  There are eleven of us participating.  Each month we created a 9 x 6 inch spread for a different person's soon to be bound book.  December was my month to finish my own spread.  At our meeting Tuesday, tonight, I will receive my eleventh spread hopefully.  I am not sure how I am going to bind all of them quite yet.  I could glue them back to back and then add a cover and spine.  Nothing is on the back and since they are all amazing, I have to really think this one through.

December Postcard RR

December Postcard RR

As you know by now I have participated in many round robins.  Now I am in a postcard RR called the Muse Mail.  There are eleven of us in this group many of whom were in a previous envelope RR. I particularly like postcard exchanges and normally prefer the postcard to be mailed as a normal postcard and not in an envelope.  However, this time I came up with a folded postcard, my design, that needs to be mailed in a clear envelope.

The reason I personally like the postcards to be mailed normally is because I like the cancellation marks on the postcard after the artist has completed his/her work.  It just adds something to snail mail treat.  With that said, I did something totally against my above statements.  This time I made a postcard that is sewn into a pocket after some gelli plate and collagraph work.  I then created a circular collage to fit in the pocket.

December 2016 Circular Collage for Muse Mail RR (front)

The back of the collage looks like this:

I found this 30 kmph sign in an antique store and had my friend Michele take a photo of it with her phone camera.  Thanks, Michele.  The image can be seen in the first photo above as well.

Graffiti Series #24

Graffiti Series #24

This is the last of this series, well, maybe not.  I received two commissions from the series wishing for me to create with personal vintage photos.  One has been completed and one is in the works.  So there will be some follow-up to the series pieces later on.  There are some new twists in the commission pieces so stay tuned. :-)

Graffiti Series #23

Graffiti Series #23

There is something satisfying when all the techniques come together to make a pleasing composition. I used many, many techniques to complete the Graffiti Series as you have seen from each post explanation, maybe more than I ever have.  Originally I thought maybe they all would be organized into a book or in a specially made folder.  Now many of them have new homes elsewhere and so I have to make a decision about housing the ones that are still residing with me.  Do I continue and make an even 24 for the "book"?  Or do I leave it be and seven back-to-back remaining ones?  I will think on it!

Graffiti Series # 22

Graffiti Series #22

Choosing images is one of the most fun parts of a narrative collage.  Sometimes I like to be the one to tell what I was thinking as I was creating and at other times I think it is more fun for you, the viewer, to tell your own story about what you think is happening.  I have gotten some great narratives from my art friends which are very different than what my intention was.  In this one perhaps the stamp, the postman, and the man in the vintage photo are connected.  Make it your own.