My Favorite Five

Every now and then I'm going to post MY FAVORITE FIVE list. It could be any number of things but will always be headed MY FAVORITE FIVE so it will be easy to find. To start the tradition, I will list my favorite five altered object components. I also will try to accomany the list with photos. My hope is that the list will let you see what tools, books, and ideas I have so you can try them in some of your art or it will give you an idea of what you see in my art.
1. Assorted balls of various shapes and sizes
2. Tins the older the better
3. Spindles and spools
4. Antique type writer parts
5. Found objects from nature

Please check back to view future FAVORITE FIVE's.

A day to wander

Once a month the Portland Art Collective meets to laugh, talk and share art, we then adjourn to the Lucky Lab Pub to laugh and talk a bit more. I had planned to drive from Portland to Salem via I-5 and get to work on house cleaning some art and pack for a weekend away. BUT spring and bright colors drew me off my intended path. I first stopped at Al’s garden center then went out to the Wooden Shoe tulip festival to wander under flowering trees and billowing clouds. I stopped by Silverton to visit a friend arriving home in time to not do much. I looked up WANDER: to move about without a purpose. 2: to lose one’s normal mental concentration. And that I did, what a great day.

I can't stop cutting !

Just one more well maybe more.If you haven't tried this watch out it is very addictive.

I have been out in the garden all morning doing the usual weeding, hauling dreaming of how it would look if I had a gardener. But the best part is watching the birds pulling worms up and courting each other. It is such a gorgeous day and they say it will top out around 75 degrees.

WHAT ???? HOW

This is soooo cool, I want to do my trees.

Friday Lunch and Pogo goes to Town

Pogo is off to that crazy little town.

Her pogo stick is made from a croquet pin and her feet rest on felt hammers from a piano, the base is a broken top from a stool. I really like her and wouldn't mind meeting her for coffee someday.

I like her smile.

I think this is a Red-tailed Hawk dark phase.

You remember Sunday brunch with all the guests we had in the garden well someone is here for Friday lunch. I'm not sure what was intended to be served chipmunk or bunny? I think the birds are to quick and a Steller's Jay was harangueing him from a branch above. He flew off when I went out to take a picture. A beautiful Robin was in the back with the largest mouthful of moss, I think she must be lining her nest. I love looking for the broken sky blue shells after they hatch.

Here is a paper cut of "Going to Town on a Pogo Stick" and the sculpture.

Shading a delicate flower

This is this morning’s cut I think I’m ready to start a story or something because my mind is racing with fanciful images.
I put something like this on a few days ago but this one gave the pronunciation, to bad I was having too much fun pronouncing it my way.
Scherenschnitte (shear-n-SNIT- a) which means "scissor cuts" in German is the art papercutting design. The art work often has symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 1500s and was brought to Colonial America in the 1700s by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.

Sunday Brunch

A little to soon cotton tail.
Downy Woodpecker

Varied Thrush

Northern "Gilded" Flicker

Chestnut backed Chickadee "You lookin at me"

"I will just take a bit of brunch home with me"
I'm sorry the photos are far from good but I was sitting in the living room and saw the procession come to have a bite.

Here is the guest list,

1. Downy Woodpecker,
2. Rufous sided Towhee,
3. Oregon Junco,
4. Song Sparrow,
5. Chestnut backed Chickadee,
6. Varied Thrush,
7. American Goldfinch,
8. Black capped Chickadee,
9. Northern Gilded Flicker,
10. Pine Siskin,
11. House Finch
12. One Bunny
13. And a Chipmunk

I love being able to sit in my little world and see all this.

Illuminated Cut Paper

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit. ~John Updike
Here it is the idea for making the paper cuts. I took old 78 records (the real heavy ones) for the plate to set the (star) book on. One record to set on top, a string of fairy lights with the cord coming out of the base part of a piano stool. I was lucky it was hollow then it all sits on an up side down metal plate from Goodwill that I drilled a 1/4" hole in to bolt the entire thing down. And on top a finial that cost the most $2.49, all the rest I had in the house. Can you figure out how the shadows are there?

The clue is with the girl bird watcher.

I have had so much fun doing this I must remember how lucky I'am to be able to. And so I think of John Updikes words again they are so true for me.

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit. ~John Updike

Scherenschnitte #3

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary. ~Pablo Picasso

I think I would like to hang out in that little cottage.

This has been addictive playing with paper. It is very relaxing to sketch out a rough design look for the possible negative space, my eye is not use to looking for it I see in shades of color.

Scherenschnitte #2

Yes I had to do a crow! But what a learning experience it was. A blog said that when you glue the black paper to the white back ground paper you use watered down white glue. You also use very thin black paper to get good detail. Yes I should of known, wet glue on thin paper just makes it curl up and then try to stick it to the white paper. Not good. I'm lucky I made a copy of it so making the next one didn't take nearly so much time.To look on the bright side I got that lesson out of the way. On to #3 I have a overall plan for these, just wait and see.

Scherenschnitte

The art of paper cutting, look at what can be done with so few tools. All you need is paper, pencil, scissors, craft knife and glue.

History
For as long as paper has been available it has been folded, cut and painted in countries as diverse as China, Mexico, N. America, Poland, Switzerland and Germany. From crisp vignettes and sacred pictures, papercuts have described the daily and seasonal activities of their makers proving the art to be one of everyday peoples.
Immigrants settling in Pennsylvania brought the tradition from Germany and Switzerland to this country. "Scherenschnitte," the German-Swiss word meaning "scissors cutting" is the most recognized word today for this fascinating art form. From the blog- Me and My Shadows by Jo Krajci

Here is my first attempt at scherenschnitte (love that word). I started with my sculpture of “Going to Town on Stilts”. With that story in my head I tried to imagine what the town was like and how her path would look. As you can see the animals of the forest are a bit curious. Now I’m wondering will she meet up with Pogo?

Spring ?

Wake up if you can take a little more frost, tomorrow is the first day of spring!
There is a glimmer of yellow and white and just a breath of blue in the garden.
The ground squishes under my feet I could not mow if I wanted, but my nose longs for cut grass.
I will build a fire tonight and look out in the morn to see if I go out or read a book that is the beauty of spring.

Blurb book

This object believe it or not is a business card holder. I set the cards next to the curlicue in a wire holder I made. But the best thing is I’m using this photo for the cover of a Blurb photo/art book I’m creating. It is incredibly easy and so far has been fun to see the possibilities. As always the text needed for most any book is a challenge for me, not to mention the spelling. Oh yes I know all about spell check but I spell so bad that little tool comes up empty and confused. I will report the progress and publish date sometime soon.

Me covering rust ???

WE are working on the kitchen and master bed room so the old bath is last on the list. The sink has a bit of rust near the drain so I fixed it up.

Calling the Crows

Here she is “Calling Crows” I love her innocent face. When I look at these people I feel compelled to dream up little stories about them. This seems to spur me on to create other characters or it throws me into a twirl of new ideas.
I went into the garage to look for a base to mount a sculpture on and saw so many ideas in boxes just waiting for me to start.

Meeting new People

I have been playing with the wire and clay people and have really enjoyed the outcome of their faces. I start out with a very loose idea like, male, older and bald. The rest to my surprise just happens (not all the time). When the face is done it’s like meeting a new person. “The Feather Inspector” has my father’s hair line. The other one “Where the Lost Balls Go” I showed to my brother and he said “hey that’s the strong man from the circus” and sure enough that was the one from the cartoons when I was a child. The one’s that I don’t know, like a girl I’m working on presently, has a crooked smile and is calling crows. Who are you? I will post a picture soon, maybe you know her.

Thank You Lissa for your help !!!

You silly girl, you did a great job! She took down the kitchen.

Norm in the new master bedroom.

The new BIG window.

Thank you for coming to the show ! ! !

This was the first wire and clay piece I did. "Wild Woman"

The mother of the rest of my wire work.

"The journalist wrote... but the bird preferred shorthand"

This piece was sold at the show and went to a good home out of state.

I will be doing more wire and clay this winter, I have all sorts of ideas and can't wait to get started.

We really had a great time this last weekend and it was better than I ever hoped. The women in the Portland Art Collective are such a gift to my life. I have never been in such a relaxed productive group before. We can really do great things together. And this show was just such an example.

Come See Our Show Dec.5th & 6th

Wire work winged figure

Felted soap

Raven and Crow

Just a few days till our BIG art show. I'm finishing up some wire work that has been really fun and inspiring to make. I'm very excited about the figures and want to make more, I have all sorts of ideas.

Please visit the Portland Art Collective blog or web site at portlandartcollective.com and portlandartcollective.blogspot.com . We have been posting pictures of some of the work we will have at the show.