Recent Explorations in Art

I used an old album, newspaper print and phonebook pages with this work I call "Static". It's ugly, but by golly, it's unique! It was inspired by Mark Grotjahn's works like his Big, Big, Big, Big Nose on view at the Dallas Museum of Art's, Private Universes Exhibit.

This is "Transformation...It's Time". The flowers were painted on canvas, cut out and put on this canvas. I have a real clock piece inserted on the hands. This piece is all about allowing oneself to be transformed through the use of one's inner creativity and then bringing that transformation out into the world. My inspiration was from my own creative need to continue to grow and explore my life through the art I make.

Hidden in the depths of this painting are $500.00 bills of play money. If you look closely you can see the money peeking through. I have happy face stickers popping out over them. Traced with a fine pen and requiring the viewer to come in close to read are the words, "Then I'll Be Happy". This work is inspired by Richard Price's Check Painting on view now at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Tell Me A Story is inspired by Christopher Wool and his works where he breaks up words sporadically on huge canvases. I have this one hanging by my desk now. It was fun to make.

I had trouble photographing some of my work. I keep getting a glare. This image is not flattering to the real piece. I collected old bottle caps for the leaves, used copper strips to create the trunk and have old book pages for the background. The frame I picked up at a yard sale for $5!!! It is over one hundred years old and in gorgeous condition. I named this work Discarded Life for it's made from things once valued, if even for a few moments, in a person's life. I love using bottle caps and have several more ideas for their use in future artwork. Now, all I need is time to MAKE it. >sigh<

Rag Bags by Me!

I saw a picture of a bag in a catalogue for $298.00! The bag was "unique" and I thought it was a creative use of material. I said, "I can make one for a lot less." So I promptly made three using 'like new' purses and left over fabric scraps. Here is the first one.

Up close view.

The second one. It looks kind of sad hanging there on the fence.

This one is my favorite!

I was thinking of naming these purses, "Raggedy Purses by Raggedy Ann!" Hah, but I don't want to think of myself as being raggedy...so...I'm still brainstorming... At any rate, I have been using the top purse for two days while running errands and have had lots of feedback. I do believe these bags are marketable and so I may make a few for sale.

My Chicken Chairs

A short time ago, I came upon a yard sale where a guy was selling four chairs. He was selling them for a total of $20.00. They were very study, but the seats had a bit of wear to them. No problem! I happily handed over a twenty dollar bill and brought the four chairs home.

Here is a before picture of one of the chairs. They were all identical. Using recycled wool sweaters that I first felted, I created 'chicken' chairs. This is HENrietta.

This is megHEN.

This is StepHENie.

And this is gretcHEN. She's my favorite. Shhhh...don't tell the others.