Long live the Queen!

As some of you know...I have been on a quest...looking high & low for the perfect wheel...

I have searched half the state of Washington...I found a "maybe" possibility at the liquidator's junk store...it was cracked but was fixable...it had no price...the woman said, "Well, its broken but for some reason its worth it to you so...59cents".  After I got it home and was trying to "fix" it, it broke more...

My sister had an entire yard sale group looking for the wheel...two old coots couldn't begin to understand why anyone would want only one old wheel...

So finally I emailed my artist friend here in town, Shelly Holm, the Queen of Junk...sure enough, a day later she emails me back...found it...come and get it!

And sure enough...it was perfect...

It is rusty, it is old, it has open spokes...

Also picked up a second place prize...which knocked out the contender I had for the second placement.  My art piece needs three wheels for completion...I had the first wheel from the start when I hatched the idea for this piece...its been finding the other wheels that has proven challenging...













So now I can carry on...and complete my collage...for the Fresh Paint Art Show in August...

In the meantime...make sure you visit Shelly's blog, From the Alley to the Gallery...when I picked up my wheel, she was also trying to figure out what she was going to create for the upcoming Fresh Paint show...I brought her two boxloads of rusted parts in payment for the two wheels...hoping that brings her some inspiration...but gotta love the Queen of Junk for coming through for me...Vive la Reine!

A day in the garden

Amid the rumble of thunder and the distant gray clouds, I enjoyed a day in the garden at Bountiful Home and Nursery on Saturday...participating in Art in the Garden...

The gate/arbor is part of the junk garden wall...
and welcomes you into a green oasis...

The art booths were set among the nursery stock and the garden
plantings...

Four participating mosaic artists from Chippin Chicks Artist Cooperative in Edmonds

Scott Ward

Jody Cain

Trina  

and me...

it was the perfect mix of sun and cloud, art and friends, rest and repose...

Art in the Garden

I invite you to join me in the garden...
and to enjoy a little art...













This Saturday, July 14, I will be one of a select group of artists participating in Art in the Garden at Bountiful Home.  Todd Waddell, owner and master decor genius of all things green, natural and floral, is hosting this event at his beautiful home & garden store located in downtown Edmonds.

I will have a great selection of original multimedia collages for sale, focusing on a nature/garden/flower theme...here's a sneak peak of two floral compositions...

The botanical prints are from the turn of century...and are Scandinavian...each print is mounted on a vintage cigar box that has been sealed closed and whitewashed, providing a sturdy base so that the collage can be hung on the wall or set on a table or shelf for display...

Each print has been embellished with original found objects and vintage ephemera...to tell its own story...

I hope you'll stop in...

Art in the Garden
Saturday July 14, 10am - 4pm
Bountiful Home
122  4th Avenue South
Edmonds, WA  98020

Delight in the details

While I recently wrote about injecting some summer soupçon into my home, giving it an overall refresh...it is really the details that delight me.  Though I pared down the layers, I still have (and want!) those touches that breathe a bit of soul into a space...its these details that make a house a home...and importantly, makes it your unique space...









We have a lot of books...and other interesting finds...so the three shelving units in the dining room has a rotating collection of stuff...two of the units are wood, painted dark green, while the middle piece is an old rolling metal shelf that is mostly green...with a bit of blue, black and rust in spots...since it is the same depth as the wood units, it blends in nicely and looks cohesive...

When I arrange, I do it with a theme in mind...sometimes, more than one theme (same topic/same colors/same function)...this helps to unite a seemingly unconnected mass of junk into...well...a connected mass of junk! 
Here, the typewriter, the massive dictionary, the old wood type (in the tall glass vase), the assorted pen points (in the short glass vase) and the light bulbs are tied together with the stencil word IDEA, punctuated with the doorbell mechanism...signifying that eureka moment when an idea pops into your head...

The clock bodies/faces/mechanisms are an extension of my larger collection...but again pared down for a lighter effect...the two large rings are hoops from an old barrel...just that circle helps to tie the vignette together...

Step outside of the bounds with what you think you can hang on the wall...I love to mount objects other than framed pictures/prints...breaks up the surface and adds more interest and variety...this oversized clock mechanism is suspended by a length of jute twine hanging from a decorative brass nail.
















Keeping the color scheme in check (white/silver/gray with a touch of yellow/gold and black)
provides another unifying element.

Giving the eye (and the imagination) something to amuse/stimulate/entertain/ponder

refreshes me on a daily basis since I walk past these shelves countless times...

And isn't that what your home should do for you...

Oh, the places you'll go...

I recently received a large mailing tube...and inside was an extensive collection of marine and topographic maps...my artist friend Dave from Clearer Reflections is cleaning out his studio...and thought I could make good use of these.
Of course, he is exactly correct...I love maps - in all of their forms and permutations.  I gave a copy of the book Maphead by Ken Jennings to the Southern Man for Father's Day (rather, Calvin gave his dad the book...) and I am anxious to look at the book myself.











an aside...the Southern Man and I are huge Jeopardy geeks...when Ken Jennings was on his winning streak, I don't think we missed a game...and many years ago, I tried out for Jeopardy when they were in Seattle looking for contestants...I tripped up on Mary Baker Eddy...but I digress...

I find maps fuel my curiosity and my creativity...all the different places one could travel to...and what would one do there...what would one see...

And from an artistic standpoint, the colors, lines and shapes are wonderful background elements for collages...






























In the newspaper this week, I read an article that paper maps are on the decline...everyone is using their smartphone and/or GPS to get from point A to point B...which is expedient but doesn't do much to fuel a sense of adventure...

Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon is a travelogue of his adventures of following the blue roads on a paper map...the less traveled roads...off the main highways.  Its a book that I read in college but has always stayed with me...the sense of what one might discover when the pace is a little slower.  The Southern Man always chides me that if there are two routes to a destination and one is the interstate, you can bet that I will take the alternative...

So this newest map gift was the impetus for my latest collage...this snippet of a Maine coastal community is perfect background for my "collection of the heart" piece...and has spurred me on a whirl of tearing/gluing/nailing/waxing with relish...

and to wonder what it would be like to visit Maine...I've never been there...I'll have to go some day...

The saga of the wheel

Lately I have been on a quest...a sort of artistic holy grail...looking for the perfect wheel for one of my vintage art collages...

I never thought that it would be this difficult to find such a creature...and after searching half the state of Washington, I'd settle for less than perfect...

So far, this is what I have...










This wheel is too big...

This wheel is too small...

and this wheel just isn't right...because its a pulley not a wheel...

What I'm looking for is an old wheel, no larger than 7-1/2" in diameter...with open spokes...
a baby buggy wheel would be ideal...
So I'm throwing it out there to the junk gods...ideas/suggestions/offers would be appreciated!