Petaluma Inspiration

My Mom and I went to Petaluma over the weekend, for 2 reasons. One was Halloween & Vine, a juried Halloween art show that I'd heard about that I've wanted to go to. It was wonderful, really amazing (although in most cases shockingly expensive) original art. My favorite by far was actually one of the more reasonable vendors, and I just have to share pictures of the two pieces I bought (one is a gift, I swear!).

My pictures are terrible, I took them last night in awful light, but these are just so amazingly creative, she gets such amazing character out of these felt ( I assume) faces, and uses such wonderful accessories. It was torturous picking two of them...Here's her etsy site.
The other reason we were there was the Art Is You art retreat they had there for the first time. Actually attending the retreat and taking classes wasn't in the financial cards for me this year, but they had a trunk show Saturday night that was open to the public. Oh my gosh, I got to see some amazing art that I've only seen online, and meet some amazing artists in person. I got to meet Michael DeMeng, he was so nice, and so down to earth, which I already knew just from reading his book, "Secrets of Rusty Things" but it was so exciting to meet him and see his work in person. His fiance Andrea Matus, equally creative and amazing, was also so nice and easy to talk to. She has a piece that I just stared and stared at when looking at the available classes for the retreat, and it was wonderful to get to look at it in person, see it here. I got to meet some other amazing artists, and I left feeling so inspired, and really hoping I can attend next year.

Phrenology Love

I don't know what it is about these Phrenology heads that I love so much - it was pseudo-science at best, but the images speak to me of self-analysis, looking inward and understanding what makes yourself tick. Plus there's just something visually appealing about them. I'm lucky enough to have found an old book devoted entirely to Phrenology, so I can use the images and some of the text.  This is one of my plaster experiments, I love applying plaster somewhat roughly, then playing with the texture with layers of paint. And I just love this little metal plaque, maybe an old bicycle license plate? I was thrilled that it says BE, sometimes it's so hard to just be, to be comfortable in our own skin. Anyway, I attached it with some old rusty baling wire that someone gave me - people know that if it's rusty, I'll take it off their hands!  There are a couple of coats of clear encaustic wax applied as well, which I think gives it a dreamy quality. Since I'm on the subject, here's another piece I have right now featuring a phrenology head...

I made this using plaster gauze wrapped around a wood board - it adds great texture.The dots are made from molding paste, and there's the requisite piece of old mystery hardware and some rusty wire wrapped around it...As my significant other said, this one is SO me....

Time

This is the first time I've ever posted my work for the world to see (not that the world is looking!), and for some reason it gives me butterflies, but I promised myself to be braver and this is certainly part of it. I like the fact too that this can be a place where I can see the progress of my art journey, whatever that will be. This was my project over the weekend, and I had a lot of fun. I struggle to give up my rusty and old bits and pieces I collect to use in my mixed media pieces, so it was a little hard for me to use so many of my old watch parts, but it was worth it. I am very drawn to old clocks and timepieces and parts - the passage of time, and the nostalgia of the past affect me strongly and I naturally tend to reflect this in my art.  I also love drawing faces (thank you Suzi Blu!) so this was fun to incorporate both. She looks a little sad, but I do believe that time does have a lot of power to heal...

Courage

It’s taken a ridiculous amount of courage for me to start this blog. Not sure why – I guess it feels presumptuous somehow that I should think that I have something to say or show that others should see. But I’ve promised myself to be braver, and to declare that I am part of the mixed media community and that this little bit of the internet is for me.  I work full-time, in a very non-creative field, and my time spent with my art is my sanity, but I feel very isolated in that world. This is partially my own fault, I can be somewhat introverted and am not a good joiner – I’ve not been a regular blog reader, as it’s been difficult for me to sacrifice what free time I have to actually create art.  But as I’ve delved into the blog world recently, as the niggling thought that I should start my own became stronger and stronger, I’ve realized what a wonderful, nurturing, empowering community this is. This has made me want to be a part of it even more, not just to create my own blog, but to actually participate on others – that is my goal.

Now to take some decent pictures – I’m going to try and make a light box tonight in an attempt to improve on previous efforts…