Surrealist Bookmarks

It's been a while.  I've been BEYOND super busy with school, home and artwork.
I've just finished some bookmarks as handouts for my Surrealist Art presentation for my French Class.
Hope you like them!

Faerie Lantern - Alt Mache

Faerie Lantern - alt mache
"alt mache" is a term I invented that means my papier mache creations are directed by the "random" things I find.  I find these "random" things like small tables, or beds, or even this lantern, which I "alter" and add a papier mache person to, so there you have it, "alt mache".

Day of the Dead 2013 - Mermaids & Faeries

Creating my Day of the Dead "Skele-Maids" and "Skele-Faeries" for the upcoming Day of the Dead celebrations.  I've created these mermaids and faeries for about 5 years now, and these will be my last ones in this style. 

I've got a new vision for the next generation of mermaids, faeries, Frida Kahlo's, Mariachi's, Luchadores, Kitties, etc, etc.

So here are my latest and last. Hope you like them!

Heaven & Hell a Balancing Act

About a month ago I was taking inventory on all my supplies, i.e. paint, glues, brushes, shadowboxes, papier mache supplies and when I ran across this particular cabinet I thought I'd make a Mary Shrine.  I put the cabinet on my worktable, removed the glass,  and started to remove the center shelf....I couldn't.   I picked up my hammer at least 4 times and aimed for the center shelf, but I kept being stopped by some unseen force. 

So I stopped everything and sat with the Cabinet and said, "What?, what do you want?"  The Cabinet said, "Look I have a shelf, perfectly centered, what does that remind you of?  Upper, Lower, as Above, So Below...What do you see?".   I sat there dumbfounded thinking ok, I'm crazy, the Cabinet is talking....but then I became very present and said, "I see Heaven & Hell, I see the Above and the Below, I see Balance".    The Cabinet responded, "Yes." 

So here she is, "Balance". 



Somerset Studio Gallery Winter 2013

So happy to have my Edgar Allen Poe assemblage piece published in this Somerset Studio Gallery's Winter 2013 edition!  I love assemblage, it's so hands-on, working with each piece, it's kinda like a puzzle.  You don't know what it's really going to look like until the very end. 

With this piece I was so inspired by Somerset's call for "Poe Art", I've always loved Halloween and spookiness and this assemblage just sort of "happened".   This is my take on the evening when the Raven knocked at Poe's window, hence the title "Inspiration Knocks".  

My First Blog Post

Wow, my first blog post, what do I write?  Should it be personal, or politically correct?  Should I cuss? Or not?  Why blog at all?  Blah.Blah.Blah.  Well here goes...........
I like making art, right now it's altered art, meaning I take something I find at a yard sale or thrift store and give it a different life, a different meaning, I change it's destiny.   Let's say I find a small chair, some decorative thing that's been abandoned and has ended up on the shelves at the local Goodwill with a $1.18 price tag on it.  I pass by and I notice it, as I pick it up and look at it, it speaks to me.  Yes, really speaks and no I haven't told a doctor about this.  It says, "I want to be something more, I want to have meaning."  So I say ok, I'll try.........  That's how it begins, and how it ends a week or two later is a new life, a new creation.  The chair looks happy, and I've helped the Universe to create, so I'm happy too.   Then the little chair is packed up and taken to the latest art faire I'm in.  At the art faire, the chair is placed with the other creations on my tables and we watch the people pass by.  Some people are nice and say how much they love the little chair, others are mean, they roll their eyes and walk away.  I tell the chair it's okay, you didn't want to go home with them anyway. Then that one person passes by, sees the chair and stops!  This person and the little chair make a connection, I can see it in their eyes.  So a price is settled on, paid, and I wrap up the little chair in tissue, and before I place her in the bag I say "goodbye", and then she's gone on to her new destiny.  I'm happy for the chair, but sad too. (and that's all I I have to say about that).