My First Rodeo

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My First Rodeo

I read Georgia O'Keeffe biography a long time ago.  At a garage sale, I sold a nice big picture book of hers, along with a big book on her husband's (Alfred Stieglitz) photos.  I regret that now.  Like O'Keeffe, I am attracted to bleached bones, horns and skulls.  I purchased the cow horns a few years ago at a thrift shop and I spent last winter beading and gluing millefiori on them (More detailed photos to follow on next post.)  I wasn't sure what I would do with them but, last fall things came together.  With an old conch belt I had bought in a California thrift shop, a little plastic horse from a flea market, and a frame on sale at Michael's, the piece started to pull together.  I spray painted the frame green, mounted another boxed frame on back, and beaded a bunch more.  Awhile back in the mail , I had received an advertisement with pictures of drapes one could purchase at JC Penney's.  Perfect schematics for making polymer clay drapes!  The background is mosaic white tile and grout.  It is for sale (most of my posts on this blog are.) A little metallic plaque below the horse says, "My First Rodeo."  What you don't see, mounted behind the drapes, is an orange light that makes this little pony look pissed off!  16 x 18 x 6 inches.

Okay, more news...I am teaching a class at The Studio at Rush Creek (Maple Grove, MN.)  You will learn how to make polymer clay tiles and embellish them.  6:30 to 8:30 pm March 7, 2012.  See you there, ok?

p.s. I really have to give credit to this artist, Laurie Mika, for inspiring me.  I have not been able to take one of her classes (yet) but, I have watched her art on line for years.  Then one day she wrote a book and I was all over that!

The Circus

The Circus

Last February  my husband Jeff and I visited our daughter in Portland , Oregon.  I love that town and it has a familiarity to it since my mom had lived there also.  I found a chain belt with coins in a thrift shop and things started to collect in my house around this chain belt.  Then I found a picture of a snake charmer (Big thanks to Muffet on Flicker.)  I started making shades of pink polymer clay tiles and stamping them with India images.  I deviated from my conventional blingy-ness; I wanted a matte look and I  discovered Doc O'Brien's weathering powders.  From the library, I checked out kids books on India to get inspired by some images.  I used Apoxie Sculpt to create cow horns and painted them to look like Henna.

I learned that snake charming is illegal in India now, yet what a profession!   There are some wonderful, authentic snake charming images from the University of Washington but, too many hoops to jump through to get permission to use.  I try to be very careful about that public domain slippery slope.  I actually contacted the estate of Man Ray whom his images are entrusted too.  I asked if I could use some of his images in my art. They told me, "...Absolutely not,"  and signed the correspondence, "Remaining at your service..."

The piece measures 26 x 21 x 4 inches.  The substrate is Wedi-board (concrete-foam-concrete sandwich used to frame in showers.)   There are pink jasper beads, millefiore, smalti, old jewelry; oh-and a little toy elephant I painted blue and sculpted India-elephant looking garb on it (illuminated magnifying glass for that one.)  The little tent is created out of polymer clay.

  

A river runs through it.  I was trying to convey a sensory overload of exotic sights, sounds and smells moving through town, just for that one night, leaving stunned inhabitants in its' wake who later would recall, "Remember the night the circus came into town?"

Here are some detailed images.  Blessings Everyone!

p.s.  I'm kind of a big deal.  I have 14 followers on Google and 8 on Twitter, 3 real people and 5 perverts.

 

Polymer Clay class at the Studio at Rush Creek

I am teaching a class on Polymer Clay Tile Mirrors at the Studio at Rush Creek in Maple Grove, MN.  Click on my post title and it will take you to the class schedule.  Scroll down to Jan 21 and the class is from 1-4 pm.  Kids are welcome too if they can handle a sharp knife by themselves.  Here is the class description link:

http://www.studio-rush.com/classpages/polymerclaymirror.html 

I hope to see you there!

Stephanie

Merry Chrismas from the Johnson's

I thought it would be fun to create a diorama that looked like an old photo; the ones with the white deckled edges that usually had cursive pencil written on the border; (thankfully) indicating who the subjects were.  The project started to be a study in black and white.  I found a foam box in the dumpster, covered it with celluclay, then thinset so it could give tooth to the mosaic polymer clay tiles.  After that, lots of beads, smalti, old jewelry and of course, my fave, Apoxie Sculpt.  'Used acrylic paints and Gilder's Paste also.  It measures approximately 11 inches square.  But, It likes to think it is bigger.

I should warn you that as I write this, I am coming down from a bad Nyquil jag.   I have lost my censors being ill. I picture myself being carried off by white coats and yelling, "it's not me, it's the cold medicine!"  But, I think it is me.  So, I hope it is not too offensive when I say that all these kitchy frames you can buy with loving family adjectives on them make me nauseous.  They are targeted at those who learned communication skills from watching old re-runs of Bonanza.
  I sound so arrogant! 'Must be the Nyquil.  I have become a creature I don't know.  And, after lying in bed for too long, I realized how much I think in metaphors.  Everything is a metaphor. I look at something and I am sure I see it's higher purpose; to show me in symbols.  It drives me nuts and I started to pull on my hair and inside I was screaming, "Stop seeing Metaphors!" 
 Turning it around, in a kind of Byron Katie approach, I thought that a bumper sticker that said, "START SEEING METPAHORS" would be funny.  'Yellow background to it, similar to "START SEEING MOTORCYCLES."

 This is Laura Marling, from the CD a Creature I don't know.   The name of the song is Sophia and I love it.  It starts out slow at first but, it turns into a totally different tempo half way through.  Tempo changes are good, metaphorically speaking.

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH***CELEBRATE

 

Okay, there is one of these frames in my house with warm, fuzzy adjectives.  I think all that stuff on the frames is there in my family.  But I would be lying if I said that like any family, we do not have our share of growing pains and drama.  Not the least of which included me ordering my son the other night to get me some fucking gelato. Yeah, the effenheimer is cheap and easy; a readily available profanity whore.  And I gotta lot of ornery currency to use right now.  ( He was in the USMC so he can take it.)  And what is wrong with learning communication skills from the set of Bonanza?  

Okay, study the Johnson's.  There is more to this piece than your first gland glance. 


As disconnected as this blog is right now, perhaps you will see a thread running somewhere through it; I much prefer the broad spectrum of adjectives, including the difficult ones.  I like a Patina on my people.  I am going to leave you with a "new-oldschool-Christmas Carol."  Really, what's so funny about peace, love and understanding?  And I am going to blame the blabbering on Nyquil.  Happy Holidays Everyone!!  (p.s. My husband and son just got back from the store with the gelato.)

Another Fall Update.

This is the piece I submitted for my first juried show.  It is currently at YourArtsDesire 

http://www.yourartsdesiremtka.com/current-exhibition/ 

for the Clean II exhibition.

It is about 3' in length and is an old cupboard door from my friend, Clare.  It is called "A Serenity Prayer Mash Up."   The Serenity prayer is interposed with a verse from the song Aretha Franklin sings, Son of a Preacher Man.  Here is how the text goes:

Being good isn't always easy

God,  

No matter how you feel

Grant me the Serenity

When he started sweet talking to me

to Accept the things I cannot change

Kissin'

Tell me everything is alright

The Courage to change

Can I steal away again tonite?

The things I can

And the wisdom 

The only one who could ever reach me

to Know

Was the son of a Preacher man 

The difference.

The song is on my iPod and my thoughts started mixing things up and it seemed as connected as it was disconnected so, what the heck?  Why not make a mosaic around it?  It is for sale and the show goes until the end of September.  There is a really fun, new coffee shop right next to the gallery, where a Dunn Brother's used to be.  I happen to know that the floor costs about 60k and is made of very old barn wood.  'Good menu too.

The NEMAA Fine Arts Exhibit is this weekend, Sept 22-24 (2011, if this is archived.)  The opening night is tonight at the Grain Belt Bottling House.  http://www.nemaa.org/

I have posted this piece before but, this is what I have submitted to the NEMAA show..  It is called "Bad Habits."  

I think I would have also liked to call it, "Huntin' for Sinners."  On a blog, somebody had posted that as a caption for this photo.  This triptych is approx 13 or 14" high. It is for sale, as is "Serenity Prayer Mash Up."

 I had to pass on the St. Paul Art Crawl this fall; I will miss the energetic air and crowds that have been so fun down there. 

In November, I will have my art at the Three Crows coffee shop in Delano, MN.  I am excited about this one.

I have been working on a piece that I think I will be calling the "Circus."  'Seems like the circus is always in town, in my head.  Ha!

Here is the link for Three Crows.  You will see a video on the home page; that is my brother cooking Paella!

http://www.thethreecrows.com/Three_Crows_Website/Welcome.html

Alright, I am submitting this unedited.  That takes a lot of time, you know.

Have a Great Fall Everyone!

Summer Update

 Here are a couple of Buffalo Girls.  These are vintage toys in a wooden frame.  There is a copper glitter background and, polymer clay drapes.  It is still a work in progress. 8 x 11 inches. 

 This says "Arlynn's Garden" below a placid little bird.  Sorry about the reflection; it is really a rich piece and one I made for myself.  It is in memory of my mom, Arlynn.  She was a master of so much.  A friend of Jeff's once told him that she learned more about her father after he died, then she ever knew about him when he was alive..  I guess I thought that all mom's could garden, crochet, get their Master's Degree and make art like a pro.  She taught me so much, by example, because she wasn't much of a talker.  And she couldn 't cook worth shit..  She hated cooking.  Some details follow of this piece.

Sushi Lovers Rise up!  This piece is the same size as "Arlynn's Garden."  About 5 x 7 inches and, the recessed part is an Altoid's tin.  Here is a little plate of Sushi, with wasabi and pickled ginger.  The righteous little fist I got at a surplus store and is a doll part.  As usual, polymer clay tiles and beads were used.  I sold this to a food and wine lover!

Oh, just one more thing....I am teaching a polymer clay tile class at The Studio @ Rush Creek this week.  And, I am in my first juried show; the Clean II show at Yourart'sdesire, Minnetonka, MN.  (see link under muses.)

Finally, Creations from my class last February.

Cindy and Sherry.  Cindy later e mailed me a picture of her completed shrine and, unfortunately, it is deep in the bowels of my many saved e mails.  Trust me, it is beautiful and meaningful; honoring some of the places she has come through this last year.

Jill's little toy doll from childhood.  She has the components ready to go and, actually covered the little doll with glass.  Real bark, acorn and pebbles in this sweet, muted piece.

Gina, Melinda and Jill.

Diane made a little shrine in memory of her good friend, Joy.

So unique!  The purple symbol, with her friend's picture, has special meaning for Diane.

Angela, an accomplished mosaicist, with her shrine honoring St. Joseph.

'Love the colors!

Melinda honors her inner bitch. Yeah! The finished shrine looked great.

Sherry framed a mirror to honor her beloved mama.

Gina collaged and tinted a picture of her mom.  Some of the shrines we were unable to finish in class.  Jill and Gina came over to my house and we ate my homemade rosemary foccacia with truffle butter and drank red wine to celebrate our finished pieces.  Now, that WAS really fun!

In the "Lab," or " Why I don't have a social life."

A vendor in Taxco, Mexico was selling these Mermaid and Angel ornaments and they seemed to belong to these frames.  I am not sure how I will mount them yet; most likely I will construct a little box to attach to the back of the frame.  The frames have pages from a Nautical book I bought at Goodwill.  They will be covered with tempered glass.

 I am trying to learn to sculpt.  I was in Duluth, Mn last summer with two good friends and there was a shop with ship figureheads and they intrigued me.  So, I scrunched up some tin foil armature and started to make a Mermaid with polymer clay.  She is going to have reddish-orange hair and luminous green scales.  Then I have to find a place for her!

 First attempt at a ship figurehead; I think I will finish her with long black locks.

 This piece will be a mirror.  It has a thrift shop frame and alot of bling and beads (covered by the green masking tape.)   I finished grouting the top, mixing my own burnt umber recipe for the grout color.  My intention was to bead up the bottom half but, it competed with the top so, I will be tempered glass-ing the bottom half too.  I gave some copper foil an oxidized look with acrylic paint for the bottom half as well.  When I went to get another safety glass window at the salvage shop, I bought an '88 van window for $4 (forgot the make) and it was too tinted.  I am stuck until I get a different piece of glass.  The crown is polymer clay and the embellishments are jewelry and glass I cut.  Bead caps line the outer rim.

 More little tempered glass shrines in progress. The frames are rimmed with millefiori and the shrines boxes are Altoid tins.  I use Apoxie Sculpt or Magic Sculpt to adhere alot of things.  Including the shell at the top of the following frame.

Too much?

An added note: Some people thought that the prayer to plaid in my 4/3/2011 post was a real prayer.  It wasn't.  I combed the Old Testament for verbage ideas and I wrote it myself.  I am not a Biblical Scholar but, I don't believe plaid existed before Christ.  And of course, once Jesus got here, the development of plaid was a natural sequelae.

Hello Kitty

Kitty has veneers.  This is a cat skull my friend Mitch found. It had the most beautiful teeth and then, I dropped it and broke off all the teeth..  I thought maybe kitty could look like a rogue pirate but, I just didn't like it.  So I used Magic Sculpt and gave Kitty and new smile. I had to fill in Kitty's delicate sinuses with Magic Sculpt also.  So far, blue glitter, beads and millefiori has been glued on.

This is where kitty is going to go.  I cut a shape out of foam and covered it with Rigid Wrap.  The embellishments on the side are upholstery nails.  I am in the process of covering it with mirrored cobalt blue tile. 

Kitty is going to sit in that little recessed hole.  The whole piece is about 12-14 inches across.

Practice Plaiditude

 Just pretend Plaiditude and Gratitude are interchangeable. Plaiditude is that change in attitude when you start to be thankful for your legs, your eyes, your imperfect relationships, your willing, but struggling, belief in something bigger than yourself; who happens to dig the heck out of you, by the way. Practicing Plaiditude is a conscious act.
 I have found a little prayer, dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Plaidoration. Historically, like all good prayers, it begins with the word, Hearken. 


(I just made that last sentence up.)

Hearken

O, for thou art the Divine of Plaid Righteousness

Have Mercy on us

As we strive to pleaseth you

By not wearing solid colors

Consider the wickedness

of those that have not woven

Contrasting threads at right angles.

Forgive the foolish

Where plaidness does not 

dwell in their hearts.

Condemn thou who fail to cleaveth

to their nostril

the scent of plaid attire.

We humbly beseech thee to intercede

upon the tartan-less in distress

And unto thee, wilt bless and shield with favor? 

The rest of us? 

 Ok?

Alleluia Alleluia

Our Lady of Perpetual Plaidoration

$325.00

10" x 7"

Detail of the plaid polymer clay tiles I made.  I made polymer clay canes, then sliced them to make the tiles.  The crown is also covered with plaid tiles that I made in the same way. Click the link to see how I did this.  How to make polymer clay plaid canes

I also used commercial tile, red grout, beads, collage, small frame, jewelry.  All items were thrift store or garage sale, excluding the purchased and hand-made tiles.

Robert Frost puts it this way: "No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."

I have received a few e mails this week, just when I needed to hear them. Thank you Gina and Clare (see links to the Three Crows and Room to Breathe under my "muses.") I will be adding another muse today. It is from the writer, Elizabeth Jarret Andrew.


I took a class from her a few years back at The Loft (also in "muses.") Today I opened an e mail from her, updating people on what she is doing and I soooooo like what she does.

An intimate conversation between oneself and a great mystery. When authors raise ruthless questions, grapple with awe and suffering, joy and doubt, paradox and unity in the context of their life’s story, they write spiritual memoir.

Her quote, right there, got me hooked. I would be adding an exclamation mark to that but, another instructor at The Loft, who taught on web writing, said you are only allowed 6 exclamation marks per year. I have already used 4.


Click on the Robert Frost quote, above, and it will take you to Elizabeth's site.


So, I have been working in "the lab," and will be posting some new stuff, including the cool little shrines from the class I taught.  So, check back soon...

Zit as Metaphor

You will sense the pressure mounting before it becomes apparent. You will know a discomfort, an unknown, a disruption of the harmony of every cell's established place. It will become a festering obsession; the giant flaw you are sure everyone will be distracted by. How big will this be? When will it get here? A thoughtless moment finds you in front of a mirror, hastening this thorn's trajectory. You begin to squeeze.

In one brief, misled impulse, you expedited the natural process of things; thereby delaying it's healing. You will feel shame for your impatience. And your face is now the Poster Child for Tribal Scarification.

That is what I have heard anyways. Which makes this a good time to re-post a favorite piece,

Some Stories Need Time Before They Can Be Told.

What Class!

'Much fun tonight; I taught my first class of a two part series on creating Polymer Clay Tributes. It is a blessing to help others create.

I have been busy preparing for the class so, I haven't had time to post any new pieces. That is coming shortly, however. In the mean time I thought I would share a product tip: Apoxie Sculpt or Magic Sculpt. I have used both products and they are awesome for adhesion, making little cow skulls, etc. I have heard these products are used for the big facades in Disneyland. Epoxies have intimidated me but, these ones are so simple to mix. here are the links:

http://www.avesstudio.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=28&flypage=flypage.tpl&pop=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=4

http://www.magicsculp.com/

Something Wonderful Happened Today

My work is now at Your Art's Desire; a gallery and framing shop in Minnetonka, MN.

One of the things I like that they do in the fall is exhibit work from artists who are in recovery from addiction. This subject is personal to me, as a person who grew up in, and has loved alcoholics. They are like magnets to me. But the disease is a seductive thief that robs you of your identity. And its' by-products are what you find in stinky vacuum bags that should have been thrown out a long time ago. I have learned so much from hearing alcoholics speak, and those that love them. Their collective wisdom and insight has helped me limp along to a very good place in my life.

I feel like signing this, Love, Peg leg.

Okay, check them out:

http://www.yourartsdesiremtka.com/

Polymer Clay Tribute Class

I will be teaching a class on creating Polymer Clay Tributes through the local Community Ed (Delano, MN.) Deadline to register is Feb 14, 2011 and I would love to have you there. The following link should take you right to the class info.

What you will leave the class with is your own 4 x 5 inch mosaic, that you created. 'Especially good for honoring someone you love, lost, want to remember, a memorable event,etc...

'Also good if you just want to do something humorous, like a shrine to Tabasco sauce or Sushi.

http://www.delanocommunityed.com/insight/registry/classinfo.asp?courseID=3223&catID=