What's The Catch?

What's the Catch?

I did a solo show this summer at the Art Center (the month of August).

I was inspired by the word "catch" and the many phrases in which it is used. My medium was "recycled materials" and you can find at least one item that is recycled or "upcycled" in each piece.

The process was really good for me and made me switch gears from creating items with the sole purpose of selling it at a vendor show (meaning i had to keep final price in mind and ultimately the use for the item).  Creating art for a show and for the sake of the art itself was great for a change. I had a two pieces that took me over 100 hours (Catch a Falling Star and Catch and Release). Others were just an exercise in figuring out new techniques or starting with a title and materials and seeing how I could bring the two together into a new piece (the broken mirrors for example).


I had a great opening (despite the terrible weather that night) and sold 9 pieces so that was thrilling. I gave a couple of pieces away and have a few pieces at the center for sale and my favorite pieces will hang in our home (for awhile anyway).

Catch of the Day: left over sweater scraps from other projects (sold)

Catch: 22 Languages

scrap paper on old typewriter

Catch a Falling Star: scrap felt cut from other projects, bunk bed board

Catch a Glimpse: broken mirrors found and cleaned up/ repaired (sold 2 of 5)

Whoooo Knows Why I Save this Stuff? (Catchall Drawer)

salvaged drawer, literally junk from my catchall drawer

"Catch and Release" broken fishing pole, beer/pop tabs

Catch a Tiger By the Toe: (this is the only piece that was done on a new canvas) (given as a gift to my friend who is in a band called Old Shoe)

"Catch a Cold" old picture frame, air dry clay, scrap wood (sold)

Catch Cooties: old picture frame, air dry clay, scrap wood (sold)

"Catcher in the Dye" (quotes from Catcher in the Rye done in resist on vintage linen with Procian dyes) Recycled frames

"Wild One Night Stand: Catch My Drift?" -salvaged nightstand (sold)

"Catchpenny paintings" - used gems

"Catch Phrase" series (Terminator/sold, Tenth Doctor, Spock, Doc Holliday/sold)

"Rick the Cat, Catchin' Some Sun" - scrap sun fabric

DreamCatcher (scrap tubing, vintage doily, scraps of ribbon and tee shirt scraps (sold)

another painted dresser

i bought this little dresser at a thrift store for five bucks (about three years ago). it was missing several pulls and as luck would have it, i found a bag full of these white pulls at a garage sale (i paid $5 for the bag and there are probably about 15 left even after this project). I had a set of casters sitting around so I had my husband put those on really quick.

my daughter decided she wanted it in her room (and she needed the extra clothes storage). i wanted it to be all about her so the words of wisdom on it are with her in mind.

                                             

"create art"

"believe in dragons and fearies"

"be brave"

one of my own mantras "try something new EVERYday"

she loved it.

"Seeing Red"

The Art Center did a show to coincide with the Red Carpet Corridor event and we gave each artist the theme "Seeing Red" - it was fun to create pieces to fit and even more fun to see how everyone interpreted the theme.

I did two collaboration pieces and one simple little portrait.

"Red, Red Wine"

This table was a collab between myself and ed lipinski. I had gotten the piece of wood with notches from another artist and it inspired this table - i got to thinking of how the wine glasses would fit into the notches and the song Red, Red Wine and i asked ed to help me construct the table. We found and scavenged EVERY piece of the table. The wood, the base of the table was from a different broken table and even the glass was found in the basement of the art center building (couldn't believe it was in perfect condition). the spacers are of course used wine corks.

Next, I created the Neil Diamond stencil (no UB40 did not write Red, Red Wine - Neil did). I painted the image and then wrote the lyrics to the song all around it. We sealed it and then found mis-matched wine glasses (from thrift stores). 

I imagined this table sitting on a porch. You and a friend are enjoying a glass of wine and a neighbor or friend stops by - no need to get up and get another glass, just take one off the table and pour.

happy to say this piece sold the weekend of the show.

My second piece is the "Seeing Redd Foxx" - created my own stencil graphic and did a layered effect on canvas.

This piece sold the weekend of the show as well.

This was the second collaboration i did - it was with john fitzgerald. John has a really whimsical sense of humor and a very folk/outsider art style of painting. He has only just started painting in this past year and is self taught.

I asked john if he wanted to do a painting together - i really liked the idea of our very different styles juxtaposed.

i gave him the lead to come up with the idea - he had this round board and said he was thinking "red planet" and that evolved into the first music festival on Mars. Soooo, he titled the piece "Fourth Festival:2037 (the first music festival on mars)"

My first thoughts when he told me this were "hmm, if I were at a music festival on mars, what sort of bands would i expect to see?" I brainstormed and came up with "The Rolling Moonstones, Mars Wind and Fire, King Crimson Planet, and the Alien Parsons Project" - my friend Ali suggested "Ricky Martian" and i loved it.

so, i created the lettering (the martian language is an actual code and can be translated) and made it into a poster style piece - i painted the whole thing red with the swirls and craters and then john started painting his alien musicians (he has the rocket man, the rockettes, the star wars cantina band, michael jackson doing the moonwalk, and a few other characters). I filled in with some alien hippies and added some google eyes (because i believe there are probably some floating eyeballs in space).

this wacky piece is still available at the art center.

The whole show was a hit and I wish I could post other people's pictures but I didn't ask permission.

We just got notice that we'll be doing another group show in October called "Nightmares" - can't wait, i have so many ideas floating around my noggin.

Painting Dressers!

I found a dresser at a garage sale last summer - it was only $5 and you can tell it was a nice piece of furniture in it's day. I always do a drawer test (hate when the drawers stick or don't slide in and out right). Everything checked out. The kick plate was warped so I just removed that. I didn't take before and after photos because I didn't really think this would become a post. But, I love the way it turned out so here is the "after" and a few details of how I managed.

The above photo was taken before the dresser was complete. Here the white base coat is still showing on the sides, top, and bottom. I decided to use some leftover golden yellow latex paint from a previous project (daughter's Moroccan inspired bedroom).

I sanded all the drawer faces and sides and top then gave everything a coat of white latex wall paint (left overs). I let all that dry and then drew on a rough idea of the designs I was feeling. It was pretty free form and did change as I went but I knew I wanted the lotus in the middle and some mandala style designs overall. It's pretty much one of my elaborate doodles.

Then I took the drawers to my studio and painted each one separately. I used acrylic paint (because I found a bunch when I cleaned out my basement). I wanted very vibrant and heavy coverage so each color is at least two coats and some colors (like the cyan and black) took three to four coats. I outlined everything in black (this is insane, I originally thought "pfft, no problem, I will outline with a thick black sharpie" but that did not work AT ALL).

5 days x at least 5 hours each day and I was finally finished with the drawers. (as I moved from one drawer to the next, I lined them up and made sure my design flowed). I put all the drawers back in the dresser and made sure everything lined up - not all perfect but I was happy with it). I found once it was in the dresser that the sides of the drawers really looked funny left plain so I went back over each drawer and painted the half inch sides to match the design. (I also did the tops of the drawers because I went a little crazy).

Took the drawers out and painted the entire dresser golden yellow. Let dry and gave everything a few coats of spray poly to seal and shine (covered the drawers with poly separate from the dresser so nothing stuck).

annnd that is that. I moved my dresser to the upstairs hallway and put all of our extra sheets and blankets in it. It's so much cooler than the cheapo cabinet (walmart) that we had previously used (was happy to sell that on our garage sale and let someone else get some use from it).

I have another awesome dresser in the garage waiting for a paint job. I already had my husband put casters on it, (it's a long side by side dresser unlike this tall chest of drawers). (it was another $5 find at a thrift store). Hope to have that one done this Spring.

Easter Fun

first up: dying Easter Eggs

we dyed the eggs a solid color and then used food coloring to marble them.

I thought this one (below) looked like Earth

Next up: Peep Jousting

We chose our "knights". Jude was purple and Magda was pink, Jude's friend Sam also jousted with the green peeps. (I didn't get too many shots of this competition).

Arrange your peep knight on the plate facing your opponent and insert the "lance". For future jousting I would definitely use a paper plate.

In this bout the pink knight won, purple's lance made contact but pink's lance deflated purple first. Winner.

Then on to Peep Sushi (this was my husband's little project)

first, make rice krispie treats. While they are still warm you'll form them into sushi.

You'll need Peeps, fruit rollups, sushi roll is helpful

Put a blob of krispie treats on the sushi mat (wrap in plastic wrap to protect the mat)

Gab added a strip of fruit roll up (fake seaweed)

Then add some chopped up Peeps (veggies, fish, etc.)

Roll up firmly

Give the logs about 20 minutes to set up and slice. Gab added some sugar sprinkles just for color.

He also made a variety of sushi with the fruit roll-ups chopped up on top

He was having too much fun coming up with ways to interpret the sushi.

Magda loved them and insisted on eating them with her chopsticks. Delish!

Happy Easter!!

Easter Tie Dye Crayons

You can find recycled crayons all over the internet (heck even Crayola sells a machine for kids to make their own). I came up with the idea to use these cookie molds because the round muffin tins just weren't cute enough.

Step by step directions following the images.

step one: gather old broken crayons (bottom of toy chest, ask your preschool, day cares, etc.)

step two: peel and break the crayons into smaller bits (i just toss all mine together because i like the mix and match)

step three: pre heat oven to 350 degrees

step four: fill your cookie mold (or muffin tin) with the broken pieces. don't be stingy because if they are too thin they will break easily

step five: put the crayons in the oven (i put a cookie sheet on the tray below to catch any leaks just in case). set timer for 5 minutes

step 6: after 5 minutes check the status. all the crayons should be melted. If there are any lumps left then leave in the oven for another minute and so on. (mine usually are 6 minutes).

step 7: remove the tray VERY carefully. The crayon wax is super hot and if it drips in your oven it will smoke and stink and be quite difficult to get clean. Set your tray on a towel or trivet to cool down.

step 8: the crayons will set up fairly quickly but will take longer to cool completely. They need to be completely cool to remove from the molds.

step 9: color away!

easiest tee shirt stencil project

I found these lace doilies at the thrift store for ten cents, most of them were very country images (like hearts with ducks) but i found a tiger and an owl and snatched them up. I knew I wanted to use them as stencils on a tee shirt for the judester and mazzy.

i laid out my drop cloth (old sheet also thrifted from a garage sale). stuck some scraps of foam core board inside the tee to keep it from bleeding through.

step one: gather materials. tee shirt, stencil/lace, spray mount, spray paint

step two: lay the lace face down (really doesn't matter with this except if you want the animal to face a certain direction). spray with spray mount.

step three: flip lace over and position on the tee where you want it

step four: we used a little brown

step five: and we used black on top

step six: remove the lace and voila. grrrr. (i was mad at myself for getting lazy and not putting paper down around the stencil to avoid over spray but it was VERY windy and nothing was staying put. See where i got black paint on the side and sleeve? well i disguised it by spelling out JUDE down the side (i used some plastic stencil letters from a sidewalk chalk set we have) and sprayed it in black. We liked the lettering so much we wrote out something special on the back of the shirt.

What The Chicken!?