The Pat Studio

Let There Be Light

2012-01-31T13:02:00.001-08:00

So it's a new year and I figured it was time to plow some new neural pathways and learn the ABC's of lamp wiring so that I could create some light up assemblage. This is a piece titled "Pearls of Wisdom". She measures 15.5" x 9" x 9". I'm figuring light and wisdom are a good combo.

Boulder Open Studios Tour

2011-09-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

I am in the process of prepping my studio for this year's Open Studios Tour in Boulder. My studio will be open Saturdays and Sundays, Oct. 1 & 2 and Oct. 8 & 9 from 12:00 to 6:00. I am located at 3102 Palo Parkway (two blocks north of Iris off 28th St.) in Boulder. If you are any where near my studio please stop by for a visit. See ya soon.

Curses

2011-09-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it takes me a loooong time to figure out how I will utilize one of my acquisitions in an assemblage piece. My brother in law gave me this wonderful vintage easel chalkboard that has a lovely instructional chart that can be viewed by turning the handles at the top of the board. It took me months before I hit upon the concept for this piece, but when I stopped at the chart for the letters of the alphabet illustrated in cursive I knew just what I wanted to do. Since currently there is a lively controversy surrounding dropping the teaching of cursive in schools I thought this piece would be particularly timely. I made a mold of a doll face and pressed polymer clay into the mold to make the faces. Then I stamped an indented rectangular space where the mouth is supposed to be and inserted the word "damn" written in cursive in those mouth spaces. I then made a sign with a large printout of the word "Cursive" and hung it from the bottom of the chalk board. So...did you love learning cursive, or were you one of those children who were silently cursing cursive?

Pressing Matters

2011-09-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

The first two weekends in October I will once again be participating in the
Boulder Open Studios Tour. This will be my third round of being part of the tour and every year it seems to sneak up on me so damn quickly! I took a brand new assemblage to the Boulder Public Library to include in the show that runs from now till the end of Open Studios. My good pal Linda gave me a vintage wooden paper press and I found a largish antique German porcelain doll head that fit perfectly in the press for this piece. It was so perfect that the doll head has a crack running through her still intact head. Most importantly she still looks good given the pressure she is under.

Journeys

2011-07-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

So I've discovered taxidermy forms. About a twenty minute drive from my Boulder home is the Jonas Brothers warehouse and I have had the slightly macabre pleasure of roaming the aisles of the warehouse stacked high with molded animal parts.

During a recent visit I acquired a beast from their bargain room that I believe is a deer...or something close to the deer family. Riding this beast is a brave figure who may not know the exact nature of the beast she is riding, and who might not know the way through the forest, and might not even know where she will end up. But she is brave because she has the courage to move forward regardless. May we all have such courage.

Thank you mystery person

2011-05-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Yes it HAS been a year since I last posted. Does this post mean that I have mended my ways and will work to be a better blogger in the future? Ummmm.....I'd love to say "yes", but I happen to know myself well enough to know that I could disappear again at any time from the blogoshere.

What has prompted me after this loooooong time away to make a new post is that last week I received a mystery gift. There it was on my front porch when I went out to get my newspaper in the morning. Someone left a demented baby head night light for me! Baby's head is hollow and there is a small light bulb inside that shines through baby's open mouth in a slightly sinister fashion. I have asked just about everyone I know if they are responsible for this magnificently
weird gift and NO ONE has fessed up. It has to have been someone who knows what kind of art I make and my love of all things odd. If any of you out there knows anything about this mystery...please let me know!!!!!

Art Festival Virgin No More

2010-05-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my first ever experience participating in an outdoor art festival. Once I decided to show my art at the Open Studios Spring Art Festival I realized I had to come up with a way of displaying my art and after pricing professional display panels I decided that I needed to come up with a home brewed version. My most wonderful brother in law came up with the idea of using hollow core doors, painted black and covered with industrial dark gray carpet and hinged together for the display panels. Not only were they functional and easy to set up and break down they looked REALLY good!

And here is what I learned about participating in outdoor art festivals (at least on the basis of this one!). Despite the fact that there is a lot of work involved and I worried about what the weather would do it was an immensely gratifying experience. It is so satisfying to me to be able to indulge my passion to make art in my studio...but it IS an isolated activity. There is a large part of me that thrives on the focus that isolation allows me, but to complete the whole cycle of the creative process it's so important and validating for me to experience people connecting with my art. So I was able to be part of that direct interaction and aside from show openings that doesn't happen by showing and selling my art at galleries.

More Free Stuff

2010-05-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

I went rummaging through my storage drawers to find some wonderful vintage images for you you to save. There is a cabinet photo of a most adorable little girl. A demented photo of a poodle that I found at a flea market in Provence (that would make this dog a REAL french poodle!) A postcard I found with a photo of what appears to be two sisters, one of whom is mighty distressed. I'm thinking that the more placid looking sister has just finished relentlessly teasing her tortured sister. Another cabinet photo of a little girl wearing head gear that makes her look like a rooster. And a cabinet photo of a strangely intense looking couple who are identified on the back as Nancy and Sonie. Enjoy!

Who Loves Free Stuff

2010-05-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

I want to alert you all to a wonderful giveaway on a most fabulous blog. Fiona And Twig is featuring a giveaway of a GORGEOUS book titled French Country Style At Home that will no doubt enable you to make your home look just like a maison in the south of France. Get over to Anne's lovely blog by May 19th to enter the giveaway and also take some time to peruse her other incredibly beautiful posts!

All's Fair At The Fair

2010-05-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Not only have I been busy resolving major computer bummers, but I have been focused the last few weeks on getting ready for the Open Studios Spring Art Fair happening on 29th St. in Boulder this weekend.

I've never participated in an outdoor art show, so one of my first tasks was to put together display panels. The solution I came up with (helped immeasurably by my fabulous sister and brother in law) was to use hollow core doors that I painted black and covered with gray industrial carpet on the front. They are hinged together and set up in an accordion fashion and I must say they are not only functional, but they happen to look pretty damn cool.

Not only did my miraculous sister and brother in law help me with display panels, but they got me an amazing 3-D photo viewing device that I will have with me in my booth to show people some of my larger art that I won't be able to display. The viewer has been programed with images of my art taken with a Fuji Film 3D camera and it is stunning the way the pics leap right out at your eyeballs!

So here's what I want you all to do...Pray for good weather this weekend and if you are anywhere near the Boulder area Saturday and Sunday come visit me at my booth!

I'm Baaaaaack!

2010-04-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

Hi! Are you still there?

My, my, my....what a long strange trip it's been!

Two weeks ago my old computer died and I came face to face with the realization that I have become massively dependent on my computer for connection to the world via email and Internet and editing photos and images in photoshop for art and blog entries. So I ordered a new computer and have been immersed in the often painful learning process of trying to find my way around a new operating system. I found out that windows 7 has irreconcilable differences with the 7.0 version of photoshop that I have and that I can't access the files from my old email, so there is still more wandering in the darkness that will have to be done...but eventually I will emerge stronger and mo' better from this tech nightmare.

One of my most pleasant diversions from the world of technological breakdown happened last week when I gave an assemblage workshop to my wonderful and enormously talented pals Caroline Douglas, Maria Neary, and Mary Scrimgeour. I have discovered how much I love teaching and over the years of my adventures in assemblage art I have learned so much that I am more than happy to pass on to anyone who wants to take the journey into this particularly gratifying art form. What fascinated me was what different avenues my fabulous artist pals took in their approach to assemblage.

Caroline brought several of her ceramic people and critters and altered them with objects. Maria brought bailing wire to construct nest forms that she could use with bits and pieces of natural and man made materials to construct nests. And Mary brought a selection of objects she had saved from her Catholic upbringing and started work on a shrine in a lovely vintage box that had belonged to her grandmother. It was the perfect combination of laughter and learning. It was suggested by my dear friends that I establish "Patricia Chapman's International School of Assemblage" and we were all enormously excited by that possibility. Of course the first step for me is to offer assemblage workshops in my studio...and THEN I'll take over the world.

Technical Difficulties

2010-04-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

About a week ago my computer died and I have been languishing in the withdrawal mode all week. I have a new computer on order that I hope will be set up by week's end, but I wanted to explain my MIA status. I am making this post from the beautiful downtown Boulder Public Library, but I hope to be back to posting SOON!

The Magnetic Attraction of Assemblage

2010-04-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was contacted by my pal Joe "Buffalo" Nickles, who lives in Santa Fe and is one of the founders of the Recycled Art market there. He also happens to be a deliciously talented and demented (in the best sense of the word) artist. Joe has long produced a fabulous line of magnets and card magnets (it's a magnet...it's a card...two for one!) as well as the very coolest clocks made from vintage books and vintage albums. Joe wanted to know if I would be interested in having images of my assemblage art used for a line magnets and magnet cards and my answer was, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Here are some samples of the magnet cards Joe made using photos of some of my assemblage art. He packages them in cello sleeves, but I took them out in order to photograph them. Joe will be sending me several dozen of these beauties and as soon as I get my hot hands on them I will offer them for sale on my Assemblosity blog

Collage First Aid

2010-04-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

A thousand pardons for my prolonged absence. This last week I was playing the role of Molly Mover and helping daughter dearest move into her new apartment in Seattle. The week before last I was treating myself to sheer decadence during a one week stay house sitting at a friend's fabulous home in Santa Barbara.

So now I have returned and will attempt to redeem myself by posting some wonderful images that I think would be particularly wonderful for use in collage. These are taken from a vintage Red Cross First Aid book. I have scanned the images in a high enough resolution that the quality will be good. Be sure to enlarge them before saving them.

And my collage tip for all of you who have not tired this particular art form and desperately need to improve your life...The bestest "glue" to use is Golden gel medium. I use soft gel, but regular gel works as well.

One Hot Tip Before I Go

2010-03-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

If you create assemblage art you know that the search for the perfect adhesive is an ongoing struggle. The truth is that different adhesives have to be used for different applications with different materials. But one of the biggest challenges in successfully producing assemblage art is knowing how to stick one thing to another thing to another thing...and on and on.

So I'm thrilled to share with you what has to be close to THE holy grail of adhesives. The product I have pictured is Apoxie Sculpt manufactured by Aves and it is a two part adhesive that needs to be mixed together by kneading two equal amounts for a couple of minutes until you have a sticky putty. The Apoxie Sculpt comes in several different colors, but I find black works best for my purposes. This putty will pretty much stick anything to anything. It helps to prep the surface by roughing it up if possible, but this stuff even sticks to glass or glazed ceramics. You can fill in hollow objects with the putty and then attach other objects protruding from the putty. You can press this stuff into molds and it will dry hard as rock with no shrinkage. You can stick a glob to the back of an object and stick a d-ring type hook into the putty and there you have a way to hang an object. And one of the best things about this product is that it is non toxic, and non stinky. Yes it will mess up your hands when you knead it together, but your hands wash clean with just soap and water.

I am leaving tomorrow for a visit to Santa Barbara (used to be my home many years ago). So I won't be posting again until I get back April 3. So until then...go stick something together!

Desperately Seeking Palm Trees

2010-03-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Friday's foot of snow had almost all melted away just in time for another foot of wet, heavy, spring snow fall yesterday. Despite the feeling that my spine was gonna give way while shoveling my front walk, I did love the beauty of the way the snow had so perfectly outlined every branch and twig of every tree.

I leave Friday for a week long sojourn in Santa Barbara (where I had the wonderful good fortune to have lived for several years) and though these images of vintage postcards are of Florida palm trees, I happen to KNOW I'll be laying my snow blind eyeballs on some gorgeous palms in Santa Barbara.
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Riders

2010-03-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest aspects of making art is to see what emerges from the unconscious...that place where creativity is born. So it always interests me to notice when I fall into creating pieces that have a unified theme without my having consciously chosen to do so. In just this last month I have completed three "rider" pieces that feature figures mounted on animals. Not only is the "journey" aspect meaningful in these pieces, but the steeds that the figures are riding say so much about their journey.

"Wild Rider" A journey to the wild side of our nature.

"Pink Rider" A journey to the feminine side of our soul.

"Slow Rider" A journey to that fanciful, more relaxed and slower part of us.

Words, words, words

2010-03-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some excellent examples of text I have culled from my collection of romance mags from the 30's to the 50's. Take them and use them for collage or paste then all over your living room wall. Have fun!

Lost Lawn

2010-03-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Just when I was getting all excited about the snow finally melting on my front lawn and seeing green stuff...

OK. So the upside is that with all this moisture when spring does kick into gear my yard is gonna be the most glorious green paradise ever!

Aging Gracefully

2010-03-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

So often when I collect objects to use in my assemblage they will have some kind of wonderful form or character, but they will have a finish or surface that is too new or lacking in depth or visual interest. I'm going to tell you about one of the techniques I use to age objects using a brown furniture wax.

I'm starting out with a plastic trophy top figure. She is a shiny gold plastic and I've decided she needs to be transformed.
First I spray her with a coat of primer...let that dry and then spray her with the slow drying high gloss enamel paint. Do not use flat or semi gloss, because when you apply the wax it will dissolve the paint.

I use a light brown Briwax and brush the wax onto the figure in small sections at a time, wiping off excess wax with a paper towel. Keep brushing and wiping until the surface looks the way you want it to look.

You will have totally altered and aged the look of your object!

Pyro Fun

2010-03-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've used candles in several of my assemblage pieces, because I love how they are a can't fail metaphor for being consumed by passion, being burned, feeling the heat. Aside from the nifty metaphor aspect, candles are just plain fun to play with. Yes it's the same thrill that playing with matches has. This morning I was working on creating the center piece for a new assemblage...a doll standing in a glass container surrounded by candles burnt to varying heights and heavily dripped. I somehow managed to do this without burning myself OR setting off the fire alarms. I'll post pics of the finished piece when I get there.

Assemblage workshop

2010-03-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend my two fabulous sisters Kay and Amy came to visit me and I gave them an assemblage workshop experience. They kept telling me how much fun they were having and what a wonderful treat this create-o-rama was for them...but actually they were doing ME a favor! Because I have been wanting to develop an assemblage workshop that I can offer at my studio and my sisters were the perfect guinea pigs for helping me to develop a class.

The top photo is Amy in her turbo creative mode in my studio. Next pic is Amy's assemblage titled "She Came Unhinged". Then a photo of Kay's assemblage/collage "Half Cocked". Next is Amy's assemblage "Cock Of The Walk". And last (but certainly not least) Kay's free standing assemblage piece "Bye, Bye, Birdie"

Multitudes of thanks to my two wonderful, creative, and very talented sisters!

Mama Mia

2010-03-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

From my own stash of images I thought I would share with you three 19th century engravings I have that feature mamas. There is some staining a the corners of these engravings, but they are still quite lovely.

I'm a PC person and NOT tech oriented ...but on my computer the method of saving these images is to left click the image and then right click on the image and select "Save as". I hope that works for you to save and use these sweet images.

Assemblage Giveaway with "Star Quality"

2010-03-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

To inaugurate my new blog I am inviting everyone of you dear people to enter to win one of my assemblage art pieces titled "Star Quality". Take a trip over to Assemblosity and become a follower and add a comment on the giveaway post and you will be entered to win. You have until Mar.24 to enter and I will announce a winner on Mar. 25.

Assemblosity

2010-03-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend, aside from treating myself to the 3-D Imax Alice In Wonderland experience (a trip I most thoroughly enjoyed), I decided to create a brand new blog. My new baby's name is Assemblosity. I have given birth to this new blog to feature my smaller assemblage pieces in a forum that is easy to view and where purchases are also totally easy and uncomplicated. I shocked and delighted myself by actually figuring out how to put a paypal "add to cart" button on my posts. I'd love it if you could take a look at my new blog and let me know what you think.

I am also working on a major redesign of my web site, where I will feature my larger assemblage and collage pieces. So when the remodel is complete I will let you know.

Before And After

2010-03-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

Remember the post I made picturing the seven little boy birthday candle holders that I recently acquired at Archie McPhee's ? I paired the little boys with tiny alphabet blocks spelling out "Bad Boys". The boys and the blocks underwent a transformation with one of my handy dandy object aging techniques. Then I mounted the boys on a VERY well used vintage wooden level and I thought you might be interested in the before and after!

Kid Stuff

2010-03-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share a few savable vintage images from a couple of the children's books I have.
Just in case you don't remember the drill...to save these images left click on the image to get full size and then right click and select "Save Image As".

Assemblage Art Winner

2010-03-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

I wrote the names of all you sweet people who left comments on my assemblage giveaway post on pieces of paper and put them in a bowl...I know it shoulda been a hat, but the bowl was both handy and roomier. And the name I drew was...Moriah Betterly. Mucho Congrats Moriah for being the winner of "Menage A Trois"!

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful comments and for taking the time to become a follower of my blogging efforts. I will continue to post about life and art, offer savable free images for collage use, give you stunningly yummy recipes once in a while...AND I will continue giveaways. So please stay tuned and I hope I will continue to hear from you.

Triple Good Giveaway

2010-02-20T08:17:00.001-08:00

Yes...it's time once again for a giveaway.

This small assemblage piece resides in one of my constructed boxes and it measures 12" x 7" x 1 3/4". It has a value of $250. The title is Menage A Trois and it was completed in 2007. If you visit my web site you can go to the "Pat's Studio" section of the site and click on "How It Happens" to see all the steps involved in constructing and finishing these boxes I put together for a lot of my assemblage. This particular little box is constructed of 26 individual pieces of cut wood and molding pieces. The finishing involves four steps. 1) A base coat of acrylic gel medium mixed with molding paste and a bit of sawdust 2) Two coats of acrylic paint 3) an acrylic glaze 4) a coat of brown furniture wax. I take all this time to produce a box for my work that has an aged look that corresponds with the age of the objects I am using. For this little piece I used a trio of vintage metal railroad model figures sitting on a tiny metal bench and a vintage wooden block. In this piece I was playing with the current media tendency to ascribe a salacious quality to the most mundane and innocent of circumstances.

So....if ya wanna have this piece here's what ya gotta do. On my blog sign up as a follower AND leave me a comment including your email address so that I can notify the winner. Be sure to leave your email in code. As an example: Gilda (at) gmail (dot) com

You have until Feb. 28 to enter this giveaway and I will post the winner on March 1.

Mucho luck!

Hybrid Creatures

2010-02-17T14:11:00.001-08:00

Last week I was playing with the possibilities of creating hybrid creatures using using plastic human figures and transplanting animal heads onto the human bodies. I found that I needed to find a plastic animal and a plastic human figure that corresponded together in scale for the trick to work. I had great fun beheading the figures with my band saw, carving the animal heads with my dremel to match the human figure's neck, attaching head and body, and refinishing the new hybrid creature to look like an antique.

The Most Adorable Winner and An Italian Lesson

2010-02-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you the pic that Lauren Gibson sent to me. She was the winner of my collage giveaway contest and I do think she has to be the most adorable winner in the world!

Also I am posting some savable vintage images from an Italian early reading book. To save the images just left click on the image to get full size and then right click on the image to save.

Bad Boys

2010-02-09T12:02:00.001-08:00

I just got back yesterday from a visit with my darling daughter dearest in Seattle. While I was there we visited the Archie McPhee shop and I picked up these little boy birthday candle holders. I didn't really know what I would be doing with them until I looked at them this morning and realized I had gotten exactly seven of them. Just the right number to spell out "BAD BOYS".
Though Archie does have an online catalog crammed with deliciously demented stuff, these little bad boys are one of their in store only items.

Open Studio and Free Demo

2010-02-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday I had an open studio day where I gave free demos on some extra nifty image transfer techniques. I use these techniques quite a bit in my collage work and I am always ready to share any knowledge I have about any of the techniques I use.

I'm dreaming up future demos at my studio. Coming up will be a show and tell about altering objects for use in assemblage and use of a wide range of adhesives in assemblage (how to stick one thing to another thing to another thing....)

So check in with my blog occasionally to find out when the next demo will be (I'd tell you , but I don't know yet). And if you are anywhere near Boulder I'd love to have you stop by.

And The Winner Is...

2010-02-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

I want to thank all of you so very, very much for taking the time to leave a comment on my "Collage Giveaway" post. Your comments were so heartfelt and in many cases so insightful and I was delighted, thrilled, touched, and so incredibly appreciative. I wrote everyone's name on little strips of paper that I double folded and put them all in a big bowl and closed my eyes and selected one little slip.

So with further ado...cue the drum roll please...

The winner is Lauren Gibson. Congratulations Lauren!

I have decided to continue giveaways at least once a month, so please continue to check back every so often to see the next offering.

And to further entertain you, here is one of my most recent outta the box assemblage pieces. I haven't even got this one posted to my web site yet...it's that new!

Collage Giveaway

2010-01-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog giveaway!

Yes Folks...in a blatant effort to increase my blog readership I am giving away one of my collage pieces to one of you who takes the time to add a comment to my blog post. I will write down the names of all you lovely peeps who make comments, put them in a hat (or any other container that comes to hand), and choose one person to receive the original collage piece pictured above. I will announce the winner in a week, on Feb. 3.

Let me tell you a bit about this collage. It measures 9" x 11 1/8" x 1 3/4" and is created on a masonite substrate and mounted onto a 1 3/4" deep solid ash wood cradled frame. The collage features images and text from a vintage magazine, vintage wallpaper, handmade and printed paper, an image from a vintage book, an antique decorative wood piece I found in France, and an inkjet lazertran image. I made this piece last year and it is signed and dated on the back. The value of the piece is $125.

Stay tuned for future giveaways.

Can't wait to hear from you!

Armed and Dangerous Dip

2010-01-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

This week's recipe, based on one of my art pieces, is truly insanely good. And as a extra bonus it is also insanely easy to prepare. I adapted a recipe from Allrecipes called "Carmel Apple Dip" and call this one "Armed and Dangerous Dip" in honor of my assemblage piece "Armed and Dangerous". It had always made me wonder why one of the most classic ideals of femine beauty was so physically challenged and so when I found the doll arms that were to exact scale of this Venus de Milo statue I knew I wanted give Venus back her power!

The recipe is sort of a lazy persons way of eating caramel apples. The soft caramel/cream cheese mix is perfect for those of you who adore caramel apples, but dislike the effort and caramel stuck to your teeth that is involved.

And of course there is a story to delight you while you munch this tasty treat.

Armed and Dangerous Dip

Her charm was intense, almost disarming. I first saw her standing in front of a replica of the Venus de Milo in the lobby of the local library. She was there to defend the statue from those who were marching about with placards to protest the semi-clothed female figure in the town's only cultural palace. I did not realize she had lived here for many years before moving to the city to start her own detective agency. The more I came to know Veronica the more I admired her. She often traveled to exciting places to do daring jobs that she could not talk much about. She had a soft spot for abandoned dogs and cats, was a very good shot, and collected assemblage art pieces from Colorado artists. Even after we lost the struggle to keep the local Venus de Milo who was eventually replaced by an ugly, but fully clothed Don Quixote, we kept in touch. Veronica got very sick trying to rescue pets in New Orleans after the hurricane, and often disappeared for months without a word. I was stunned when I saw her photo in the local newspaper, announcing that she had died in New Guinea a few months earlier. The editor told me he had a lot of trouble just getting permission to publish her death notice. He was sure she worked for the CIA. I organized a big event for the entire town to mourn Veronica's passing and to celebrate our only local celebrity. Everyone said it was the best party ever. I made loads of food, including something I called "Armed and Dangerous Dip" in her honor. Several people at the party told me about a new animal shelter just outside of town that took in unwanted pets and I always wondered why the woman running it did not come to our Celebration of Life for Veronica.

And the recipe:

Ingredients:
20 individually wrapped Werther's Original Chewy Caramels
1/4 C. water
1 (8 ounce) low fat cream cheese
1/2 C. brown sugar
several gala apples sliced and tossed with lemon juice

Directions:
Put unwrapped caramels in a microwaveable bowl with the water and heat on high for a minute. Stir together the caramels and water until the caramels have thoroughly dissolved. In another bowl cream together the cream cheese and brown sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the caramel/water mix. Serve with sliced apples.

'Nawlins

2010-01-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

I just returned yesterday from a glorious trip to New Orleans with my most fabulous friend Natalie.

This is the first ever visit I have made to 'Nawlins and I did as I was advised to do and ate and ate and ate. I've been to many a location in the world known for great food, but I must say that I have NEVER experienced such transcendent food.

Les Sciences

2010-01-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

These images are of pages I scanned from an illustrated French textbook titled "Les Sciences" published in 1906. I acquired this delightful book years ago at a flea market in Villeneuve-Les-Avignon. I'm assuming that since it's been more than 100 years since it's publication that it is entirely copyright free. That means these images are entirely free for you to use to make prints, use in collage, or brush up on your French. Left click on the images to get full size and then right click to save the image. And have fun!

Beastly

2010-01-14T15:28:00.000-08:00

So By now you have baked the fortune cookies from the recipe I gave you and because you chose your own fortunes to go inside those cookies you are experiencing a greatly enhanced life of near perfection. And because you baked a delicious lemon loaf from the recipe I posted you now know what to do when life gives you lemons.

This week we will learn what to do when you encounter a beast. The answer of course is to make "Beast Bourguignon".

My assemblage "Beast" inspired this weeks recipe.

But of course here is the story that you can read either before, during, or after your consumption of this exquisite bourguignon:

Beast Bourguignon

It was almost springtime and the snow was beginning to melt around my cabin but in amoung the trees in the nearby forest it was still knee deep. When the ice on the pond in front of the cabin turned into a thick mush, I gave up ice fishing. It was probably a good thing since there is a lot of mercury in the fish these days. They say it'll make you sick if you eat too much of it, and it's been especially worrisome since they opened the new processing plant a mile and a half east of here. I'm sure canned goods are not a real healthy alternative but I didn't have a lot of fresh food left in the cabin so meal times I opened a lot of cans. One day I saw someone strange walking out of the woods toward the cabin. He was about my size but covered in thick matted hair everywhere except for his face and the palms of his hands. As he got closer I could see snow sticking to the hair on the bottom of his legs, and from his head two tiny protrusions poked through, looking like incipient horns. He walked slowly and didn't seem at all aggressive so I invited him into the cabin and fixed a meal of canned spaghetti. All the while he ate, he kept making low grunting noises. I couldn't make out what he was saying although some of the grunts sounded a lot like he was trying to form words. At the end of the meal he leaned over and said something that sounded like "beast", or maybe it was "feast", but I don't really think you could call canned spaghetti a feast. Then he ambled out the front door and over to the pond. I yelled to him that the ice was thin under the mush so he shouldn't try walking on the pond, but he did anyway. I was surprised that it didn't crack under him and swallow him up. My neighbor to the north came out with his shotgun and fired at the stranger as he plowed through the pond mush but he missed him. He's a real nice guy but not a very good shot. The stranger kept walking into the mist on the horizon until eventually I couldn't see him at all any more. That night I got out the last of the fresh beef and fixed a dish I called "beast bourguignon" in honor of my strange visitor.

And now for the recipe:

4 T. olive oil
8 ounces good quality bacon
3 lbs. beef cut into 1 - inch cubes
salt
fresh ground pepper
flour
1 lb. carrots sliced into chunks
2 while onions coarsely chopped
1 T. chopped garlic
3 cups good red wine
2 cups beef broth
I T. tomato paste
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. cinnamon
4 T. unsalted butter
3 T. flour
1 pound sliced baby portabella mushrooms

Sprinkle salt and grind pepper onto the beef cubes and dredge them in flour. Heat 1 T. olive oil in pan and brown one third of the beef cubes. Repeat with the other two thirds of the beef and set all the browned beef aside. Put bacon strips sandwiched between paper towels and cook in a micro wave until they are crisp and then chop them up. Or just chop the raw bacon and fry them until crisp and pour off all the grease. Set bacon bits aside. Heat another 1 T. olive oil in pan and add chopped carrots and onions, salt and pepper, and cook on medium heat for about ten minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute. Put the meat and it's juices and the bacon back in the pot with the carrots and onions and add the wine and broth, and the tomato paste and the thyme, allspice, and cinnamon. Stir well and bring to a boil and then place it in a 275 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours with the pot covered. Remove from the oven and place the pot on the stove. In another frying pan melt the 4 T. butter and add the sliced mushrooms ansd saute them for about 10 minutes. Then add 3 T. flour to the mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the floured mushrooms to the stew and bring to a boil and simmer about 10 more minutes. Season to taste with slat and pepper.

I'll admit that I do some rather unconventional things in this recipe that might cause certain purist French chefs to want to spit on me, or at the least scream "sacre bleu!" I have never found a beef bourguignon recipe with the addition of allspice and cinnamon, but I just happen to think it's awfully damn good. Plus crisp cooking the bacon in a microwave is never called for either, but by doing it that way you get all the flavor of the bacon and way less of the fat.

So cook...and let me know how much better your life has gotten!

La Vie Free

2010-01-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I was visiting some friends of mine who have a home in the south of France outside of St. Remy close to the sanitarium where Van Gogh used to hang out . Kinda made me feel a little loony just thinking about it! My friends knew where all the best flea markets and antique shops were and one of my finds was a two book 1923 edition of the Nouveau Dictionnaire De La Vie Pratique. The illustrations are fabulous and I wanted to share some of them with you. From these illustrations you will learn how to fence, play croquet and boules, throw a discus, and rescue a drowning man. Or you may just want to use them for your art. Since I don't know what the copy right issues are I advise you to use them only for your own artistic or educational purposes.

When Life Gives You Lemons

2010-01-08T19:32:00.001-08:00

It's that time again! "What?" you ask.
Time for another life enhancing recipe inspired by my art.

Yes...it was just a week ago that I posted my first recipe,
Lady Luck Fortune Cookies and now you will be stunned to behold my Out On A Limb Lemon Loaf.

It was just this morning that I made this delicious lemon loaf and truth be told, after I ate one piece (OK...two pieces) I realized I had to put the rest of it in the freezer or I would feel compelled to eat it all. And the only thing wrong with that would be the very high calorie count. I don't have the exact calorie count, but if you look at the ingredients...butter, sugar, flour...well you do the math. It ain't diet food. It is however a blast of lemony sweet goodness.

Here is the piece that inspired this transcendent loaf.

And now for the story:

Out On A Limb Lemon Loaf

She always wanted to live in the limbs of a lemon tree but the closest she ever came was during an eco-vacation in Costa Rica. She only spent one night up in the room nestled in the branches of a tree high above the forest floor because as soon as she got into the rickety wooden bed, the entire
room filled with big black spiders. It may have been
nothing more than a bad dream but the next night she moved to one of the ground floor cabanas at the resort. That's where she met Raul who brought big jars of lemonade every afternoon to all the ladies at the resort. She assumed he worked there but she was never sure. Soon they were hiking through tropical forests and rafting down raging rivers together. Her two week vacation extended to a two-month stay but after a while she noticed that Raul seemed more thrilled by their mutual adventures than he was with their quiet moments alone. When he eventually ran off with a young Dutch woman with long bright blond hair she felt relieved and went back to Mendocino. There she renewed her correspondence course in modern architecture but noticed that all the buildings she designed had tall towers that allowed you to look out over the tops of trees. It was time to find a new career but with so many interests it was hard to decide on just the right one. Should she be a forest ranger, a writer, a folksinger, an artist? She was still contemplating the many options available to her as she celebrated the coming of a new year at her friend Barbara's New Year's Eve party. After a bountiful buffet of brownies, blinis, and banana bread, everyone danced until midnight. When Barbara passed out her fabulous home made fortune cookies, she was anxious to find out out what fate had in store for her. On the little slip of paper inside the cookie she found a message she was sure was meant just for her. It read: If you get a lucky lemon never suck it dry. Shortly afterward she went into business baking and selling scrumptious lemon loaf and never looked back.

The recipe:

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 ts. baking powder
1/4 ts. salt
1 ts. lemon extract
1 ts. vanilla extract
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. sour cream
granted rind of one lemon

Cream together butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and add half the flour mixture, the extracts, the lemon rind and the milk and mix well. Add the last half of the flour mixture and the sour cream and mix well again. Pour into a buttered and floured loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour or until a skewer inserted into the the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool on a rack, slice and eat.

This makes a smallish, dense, not very lofty loaf that is super moist. I've seen lots of recipes that call for a glaze on top of the loaf, but I think it is best not to mess with perfection. Sprinkle a little confectioners sugar on top if you must.

Flying Into Twenty Ten

2010-01-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

I started the new year out in a most fun and metaphorically significant way yesterday by going to a park near the Boulder airport with my pal Caroline Douglas (a most brilliant ceramic artist). George Peters and Melanie Walker were having their annual New Years Day kite fest and Caroline and I got to fly our ingenious little kites made from plastic trash bags. We also reveled in the sight of a wildly colorful array of wind powered flags and watched the magnificent flight of several kites that were nothing short of miraculous flying works of art. Obviously this will be a year for me to fly!

When You Wish Upon A Fortune Cookie

2010-01-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Whether you stayed up and did the countdown to midnight in front of your tv last night or went to bed early you are probably thinking about what wonderful new things you can do this new year. One of my resolutions is to do a lot more sharing on my blog.

So here is my first day of the new year offering:

Recipes For A Long And Happy Life Filled With Perfection

>Fine food for your body. Fine art for your soul.
Just mix them together and you'll meet every goal.
With these recipes you'll be firm, your spirits will soar.
Combine them with art, feel better than ever before.
When you try these recipes, inspired by my assemblage and collage art, you'll notice an immediate sense of well being. They will improve the way you see the world and the way the world sees you. Why not try foods that fill your stomach and inspire your soul? Do not delay. Try this recipe today.

It was dusk when I saw her walking out of the park towards me. She wore an old overcoat and had something wrapped around her neck that reminded me of a fat gray-green snake. When she came closer I could see that it was a rather ratty muffler loosely draped about her shoulders, easily blown away by a sudden burst of wind. The muffler did not travel very far, landing quickly in a nearby puddle. I ran over to fish it out but it was thoroughly soaked. "It's wet" she said sweetly. "Don't worry", I assured her. "I'll dry it for you". I gathered some twigs and started a fire, hanging the muffler a short distance above the feeble dancing flames. It became very smoky before it began to get even remotely dry. When I handed it back to her she smiled once more, a toothy grin that would melt the hardest heart. Then she reached into her pocket, and I suddenly wondered if she might have a gun on her, but when she held out her hand it contained only a grimy card, and on that card was a recipe. "Thanks", she said. "They call me Lady Luck. Try this recipe for fortune cookies and you'll live a long and fabulous life." And she was right. Ever since I fixed those fortune cookies for the first time, my life has been way better than a bowl of cherries. I hope they do the same for you.

OK...To be perfectly honest, the first time in my life that I made fortune cookies was yesterday. And I found out that only Martha Stewart would tell you that they are easy to make. But if you want to ensure your goof fortune this year ya gotta make a commitment. Here's the recipe I used:

INGREDIENTS:
3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted and cooled butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon finely grated tangerine peel
1 cup all purpose flour
4-5 tablespoons water

DIRECTIONS:

First of all have your fortunes ready. Print or write them out and cut them into strips. Then preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Whip the egg whites and sugar together on high speed with your mixer for about two minutes. On low speed, add the butter, the extracts, water, and flour one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. You may be living in a tent in the Gobi desert or in a Manhattan penthouse and those conditions will affect how much water you will need to add to make your batter a thick gluey consistency. So go ahead and add more or less water to make a pancake batter, spreadable consistency. Put about a tablespoon of batter onto a regular greased cookie tray and with the back of a spoon spread it into about a three inch diameter circle. You can only bake about 2-4 cookies per batch because they will start to harden as soon as you remove them from the oven, and you will need to work fast. Bake the cookies until they have nicely browned edges (anywhere from six to eight minutes) and quickly remove a cookie from the tray and place it on your counter. Place a fortune in the middle of the cookie and fold it in half, then fold the ends of the half over the rim of a glass to form a horse shoe shape. Put the cookies in a muffin tin to maintain the shape as it cools.
You can write your own fortunes or you can chose from this list:

Banish the bushes from your brain and learn to enjoy your life again

Face south at least twice a day and lady luck will run your way

Never snicker when a super hero slips on a banana peel

If you get a lucky lemon, never suck it dry

Run, skip, or jump, whatever it takes to get out of this dump

Sing and dance some every day and you'll never fritter your life away

All will admire you and some will fall down in astonishment

You are so superior that you will sweep away all else

Yellow, blue, red or green. you're the fairest ever seen

Your days will be sunny and you'll have plenty of money

May your life be sweeter than a sticky bun

Some day you'll be so smart your brain will ache

Savor the day, but beware of wild mushrooms

Rooty toot toot, your life is a hoot

Save a little or save a lot, just throw the rest in a big stock pot

Never say never and you'll live forever

Avoid sticks and stones and vile old crones

I took my first ever attempt at home made fortune cookies to a party last night and all who trued them pronounced them to be delicious. They are so very, very, very much better than the cardboard tasting Chinese restaurant versions.

I like the metaphorical significance of the commitment that making these cookies entail. They ain't easy and you will likely throw away your first few attempts, but when you finally get some that actually look like fortune cookies and taste like heaven and contain your vision for your perfect future you will at least be smiling like crazy.

You can view the collage "Lady Luck" that inspired these cookies on my web site in the "Collage" section. Click on "Large View" to see it in stunning full screen detail.

A Vastly Improved Life In The New Year

2009-12-30T20:41:00.000-08:00

As the year draws to a close most of us start assessing this last year's hits and misses and vowing to adopt strategies for improvement in the new year. One of my personal resolutions is to get more involved with the sharing process on my blog.

Just tonight I managed to update my web site with sixteen of my latest "Outta The Box" assemblage pieces. Something I have been successfully avoiding for a couple of weeks now. So you can either go to my site to see them all or simply stay right here and look at this sampling.

But starting on the very first day of this new year I will be starting weekly posts with features that will VASTLY improve the quality of your life in 2010. I don't want to spoil the surprise...but these posts will guarantee that you have a long and happy life filled with perfection. And I'm sure you all totally believe me, so you MUST check back with my blog on Friday, the first day of the New Year.

Outta The Box

2009-11-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

I just finished posting an update of outta the box freestanding assemblage onto my web site today. Last week as I entered my studio I had no idea I would be creating these kinda pieces, but stuff started coming out of the drawers and damned if they didn't start insisting on turning into the pieces you see here.

Next week, like other huge segments of the populace, I will be heading out to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Nebraska. I hope you all get to experience the overabundance of
great food and laughter I have in store!

What's in the drawer?

2009-11-07T15:57:00.001-08:00

I find it endlessly amusing that people think I am organized because I keep my inventory of assemblage objects tucked away in plastic drawers that I have labeled with the general categories of the contents. I have this particular drawer labeled "METAL" and though that tells me that there are things made of metal in there I don't really know what all is in there. So just for the hell of it I hauled everything out of this drawer and laid it all out to really see what I had. So much stuff I had forgotten about. Does this "system" really mean that I'm organized?

I can see clearly now

2009-11-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

During Open Studios Tour I had one assemblage piece that I had just started so that I could let peeps see what one of my pieces in it's beginning stage looks like. Basically I had constructed the box and I had the first coat of a mixture of gel medium and molding paste (with a touch of sawdust for texture) brushed over the entire box. And I had the nine doll heads for this piece decapitated and I had filled their empty heads with bondo and resin and made wire sprout from each head with a rusted bell hanging from each wire. And of course I knew what the text was going to be..."Moments Of Clarity". DING! But at Open Studios time I still had no idea what background I would use for the piece and of course the box needed all it's finished paint, glaze, and wax coating. So here I am one month later with that beginning assemblage in all it's finished glory.

Indian Summer

2009-10-16T11:56:00.001-07:00

Less than a week ago on Saturday it was snowing and COLD in Boulder, a very definite reminder that the cocooning time of winter is soon upon us. So as the week has offered up some stunningly warm sunny days I have taken advantage of the indian summer (is that a politically correct term?) to head for the mountains and my favoritest hike. Food for the soul. I breathed in the sharp pine aromas at the beginning of the hike that give way to a sweeter, lighter smell at the end of the trail. I was accompanied by the sounds of a billion pine needles encountering a gentle wind, the light rattle of the dry Aspen leaves, and the chirp and chatter of the forest critters. I have hiked this trail with beaucoup friends, but this was my first solo and I took the time to do a little photo documentation...even though the exquisite beauty simply can not be captured.

Scenes From An Open Studio

2009-10-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of scenes from this last weekend...the final two days of the Open Studio Tour.
The weather for the weekend was predicted to be awful, and it lived up to the forecast beautifully. Even with the dismal quality of the weather about 115 people managed to get to my studio and my profoundest thanks to them all!

At this point I'm pretty sure I will participate in the tour next year as well. I'm still decompressing from the experience and just like everyone told me, two weekends of opening your studio to the general public is intense. But...I am not only glad it's over, but really glad I did it!

Virtual Tour

2009-10-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are unable to come to my studio this weekend for the Open Studio Tour I thought I would provide you with a virtual tour. I opened the doors to my workshop (messy) space, but I kept the area blocked off from entry, because I don't think power tools and the general public are a good mix.

The forecast for this weekend is for cold and snowy/rainy weather, so I hope that there are enough intrepid souls out there who are willing to forge their way through inclement weather to get to me.

I'm excited to have my bestest friend Natalie Caine visiting me and helping me out this weekend.
Natalie is THE empty nest/life transitions expert in the nation and she is wise and witty and wonderful. So besides helping me out we plan on having a great time, laughing our butts off, and drinking some REALLY good wine (after open studio hours).

Exhale

2009-10-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

I rarely give myself the luxury of taking a whole day off to do pretty much nothing. But it felt soooooooo good to be a sloth most of yesterday to decompress from an exhilarating weekend of meeting people during the Open Studio tour. Despite the fact that the Open Studios guide book indicated that my studio was in the wrong location, most persistent folks found me anyway. And next weekend I will have many more signs to help everybody find me.

Yesterday Laurie Mika sent me this photo she took of me standing next to my art at the Friday night reception for the Open Studio tour. Thanks Laurie!

Finding my studio

2009-10-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Oct. 3 is the first day of the Boulder Open Studio Tour and I am ready...almost. I was amazed and astounded that I have become a cover girl in the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper. Last week they called to do a phone interview and sent a photographer to my studio and so today there I was...on the cover of the entertainment section accompanying an article about the artists participating in Open Studio Tour.

Just before the opening reception at the grand gallery space at the Boulder library tonight I finally met with Laurie Mika. Fabulous artist and wonderful person that she is we have "known" each other via email for years and have never had a chance to meet until today! She is in Lakewood this weekend teaching a workshop and stopped by to see me. Oh happy day!

And I made this sign to help lead you all to my studio. I hope to see you ALL there. Noon to 6 pm Oct. 3 & 4 and Oct. 10 & 11 in my studio at 3102 Palo Pkwy in Boulder.

Fit For Public Consumption

2009-09-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

I have started the process of making my studio fit for public consumption. The Boulder Open Studios Tour will be taking place the weekends of Oct. 3&4, and 10&11 and I want to present my studio in an totally unrealistic, cleanly and organized fashion. Perhaps I ought to leave the studio in it's naturally chaotic state, but I'm afraid there would be numerous incidents of people tripping, falling, and bringing large law suits against me. So...I clean.

I made a big ass collage piece to show at the Open Studios show at the Boulder Public Library. The collage measures 38" x 38" and it is my valentine to Colorado in general and Boulder in particular. In the collage I have used vintage drawings and photos of Boulder, vintage postcards of Colorado, a cut up vintage Colorado road map, along with botanical drawings of pine trees, grasses, and sunflowers. And I also used rocks from my backyard placed in a niche in the collage. The text "Rocky Road" refers not only to the Rockies, but to the rocky road I traveled in my life to finally get here to the place I finally feel home. The library show is up right now and will be there through the open studios tour.

My Sweet Baby Girl

2009-09-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

O.K. I guess that at the age of 24 she's not a baby anymore...but she'll always be MY baby.
My sweet girl Stacia will be flying in from Seattle tomorrow to play with mom over a longish weekend. I am one happy mama!

Postcard Virgin

2009-09-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

As weird as it may seem, I have never designed and had printed postcards for myself. I've had postcards printed from various gallery shows I've been in, but never did a D.I.Y. card. So to help promote my upcoming participation in the Open Studios Tour in Boulder the first two weekends in October I printed up a bunch-o postcards that I can pass out at street corners or other public places to encourage one and all to visit my studio. You simply MUST come darling!

Wish You Were Here

2009-08-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

With my recent acquisition of a wonderful stack-o vintage postcards in mind, I sat down last week and made a series of 8" x 8" collage pieces using those wonderful cards. This is a sample of these new babies. To see the whole series go to my site and look in the Collage section. Click on the "Wish You Were Here" album to see all 15.

Out Of Chaos

2009-07-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

I can not only tolerate, but I actually thrive on a certain amount of chaos, but early this week I took a long hard look at the chaos that my studio had devolved into. Lots of stuff that needed to be put away, lots of new work that had not found a place on the walls yet and were sitting on the floor creating an obstacle course, all horizontal surfaces crammed with paint, glue, scissors, objects, papers,.... You get the idea. So this is the result of my massive studio reorganization project. Now I wonder....how long will it take me to totally mess it up again?

I'll be taking off tomorrow to drive to Santa Fe. I'll be staying with my friend Darlene McElroy and will be helping her out at her booth at the Spanish Art Market this weekend. I'll also get to see the Santa Fe art fair, and visit with friends and Laura Stanziola (the lady with the stuff).

Going Postal

2009-07-18T09:06:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went on a vintage post card hunt at a postcard show In Golden. I went with my pal Russel who for years has attended postcard shows to purchase the amazing offerings of two very sweet elderly ladies, Hazel and Judy. These two amazing octogenarians have a huge collection of gorgeous vintage postcards and among their wares they have several ten cent boxes. Yes...hundreds of incredible vintage post cards for ten cents each. So of course I scarfed up plenty. Talk about cheap thrills! These beauties will eventually work their way into collage.

Slim Pickins

2009-06-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

I used to love scouring the antique malls in search of the good stuff to use for assemblage and collage. These days it seems harder and harder to find that good stuff for an anywhere near reasonable price. More and more the "antiques" are a collection of stuff you could find at a thrift store for a tenth of the price.

During the trip my sisters and I made to Illinois to bury my mom's ashes beside my dad's grave we stopped at several antique malls and most were really disappointing. One shop that was housed in an old ballroom that my sister and I visited several years ago was a pitiful shadow of it's former self. It seemed to be on the verge of extinction. But...I did manage to bag a few goodies and I wanted share them with you.

Reunited

2009-06-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

This next week I'm going on a road trip with a special mission involved. I leave tomorrow morning to drive to Lincoln, Nebraska where my two sisters live. From Lincoln we sisters are going to drive to the tiny town of Raymond, Illinois where my dad was born and raised, where we visited our grandparents every year when we were young, and where my dad is buried.
A couple of years ago when my mom died, my sisters and I discussed what we would do with mom's ashes. We all decided to take her ashes to Raymond and sprinkle them over my dad's grave...and that is our mission next week. To reunite our parents.

We also plan to visit every promising antique mall we find throughout the Illinois countryside.
So there will be laughing, and crying, and antiquing, and adventure, and love. Now ain't that pretty damn fine?

Small World

2009-06-09T14:18:00.001-07:00

All last week I was working on making a series of small 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" collage pieces. I drew from my stash of images, text, and ads from vintage magazines, illustrations from vintage books and comics, old maps, vintage labels and old stamps, fragments of old letters, and pieces of hand made papers. And I also used image transfer with the inkjet lazertran printed from a variety of sources. I had a whole lot of fun making these pieces and I let myself run wild with not one preconception or direction in mind. Totally free range association. I just put these diminutive collage works on my web site. Go to "Collage" and you will find the "Small World" section with pics of all of these new borns.

Reciprocal Plug

2009-06-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

One of the bestest aspects of the blogospere is that we can share our enthusiasm for our favorite friends/fellow artists. High on my personal list of favs is my darling friend Leighanna Light, maker of things, characters, tableau, and alternate universes. She is a supreme collector of delicious post functional objects and she preforms a magical alchemy with her collection to create a remarkable menagerie. We share a similarly demented view of the world that I so dearly appreciate. I love how her blog brings me into her art making process, as well as her travels through the world and her life. She also happens to be a fabulous photographer and I love, love, love how she illustrates her wonderful blog with her amazing photographic compositions.

Oh...what a beautiful morning

2009-05-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

I got outta the house early this morning to take in my newest, favoritest hike here in my gorgeous land-o-mountains. Just a five minute drive north of where I live is the Valley Ranch hike, a three mile loop offering up verdant wonders and stunning views south to the flatirons.

After the hike I stopped in at my garden plot at the community gardens to do some watering and to harvest a couple of heads of bok choi. It's a special kind of choi called "Joi Choi". Guaranteed to make me insanely happy when I eat it.

Living in Boulder does seem to insure that I stay ridiculously healthy.

I will start work right after I post this on a whole new batch of SUPER SALE art pieces for the month of June on my web site.

The Fam

2009-05-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend was spent savoring some hilarious and sweet moments with my two sisters who came to visit me and helped me celebrate another one of those pesky annual occurrences...my birthday.

My family is helping me construct a bathroom in my home, that is just adjacent to my studio downstairs. The bathroom will allow me to basically live full time in my studio, only coming upstairs to eat or sleep. I am so very, very, very lucky to have a family whose idea of a good time is to come visit me and help me with a construction project. Everyone I know wants to adopt them...but you can't have them...they are all mine!

Exhale

2009-05-22T05:43:00.000-07:00

It was a week ago that I flew to California to attend the New World Fair in Pasadena. This is the third fair of this kind that my friend Joanne Hunot and her guy Warren Cook has put together. The fair was held at the Pasadena Convention Center and featured a wide range of new age products, plus music, lectures, films, yoga demonstrations, a fabulous drum circle, a labyrinth walk, and...me!

I was the "art facilitator" and I figured that what that meant was that I would provide a creative experience to interested peeps that would be "mistake proof" and guaranteed to be gratifying. So I brought with me hundreds of images from my personal collage stash, hundreds of pieces of cut papers, and hundreds of words that I printed and cut out. Add construction paper and glue sticks and if you selected a few random papers, images, and words and stuck them down, you had yourself a beautiful collage!

I found it fascinating to see what images and words people put together and it positively warmed my heart to see how immersed in the process the participants were.

I got back home Monday night and have had a chance in the last few to days to rest and exhale, just in time for a visit from my fam!

The Lady With The Stuff

2009-05-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

I just got back yesterday from a weekend trip to Santa Fe. It's always so good to get a chance to see my friends, see a ton-o galleries, and one of the most important events...visit the lady with the stuff. I'm talking about my dear friend and fabulous artist's resource, Laura Stanziola. Laura lives just outside Santa Fe in Eldorado. She used to be my neighbor and she was less than a five minute drive away. Now she is a six hour drive away, and still well worth the drive.

So what is so wonderful about Laura you may ask?

Laura is herself a brilliant artist and she is a buyer of paper ephemera and objects that she sells to artists. Her collection now tops 50,000 items and all of these goodies are beautifully organized and sold from her home. And since she collects the stuff she sells with an artist's sensibility what she has to offer is delicious. If you are anywhere near Santa Fe give her a call to set up an appointment at (505) 466-2525.

Feast your eyes on just a portion of my latest acquisitions from the Laura collection.

Yowza! Yowza!

2009-05-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION BARGAIN SHOPPERS!

I have made a new section on my web site. In the assemblage section you will find a gallery called "Super Sale".

I have decided to list some of my assemblage pieces each month at super sale prices. These would be "it's just time for these pieces to find a good home" prices that are less than half of what they would normally sell for. I will be listing a different group of assemblage every month, so if you don't find what you love this month you can check in the first of every month until you come across something that calls to you. I have also decided to continue offering free shipping of any art you purchase through my web site.

In honor of May Day I hope you all have yourselves some good pagan fun today!

Act Fast

2009-04-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

OK...act slow if ya want.

But I just thought I'd mention the fact than the sale that I have on everything on my whole web site is going to be over at the end of this month. I have all my assemblage and collage at 20% off the listed price until the end of April. And I offer free shipping.

So you can act fast, or act slow, or just have a good time cruising my site.

Size Matters

2009-04-26T06:24:00.000-07:00

I spent all day yesterday photographing and listing some of my smallish assemblage pieces on my Etsy shop. My listings on the shop are pretty wide ranging at this point. I have listings for collage, vintage paper ephemera, some of my jewelry, and now some of my assemblage. I hope you check it out.

At this very moment in time I was supposed to be in California. I was set to do a home exchange with my friend Antonia in Santa Barbara, but she had to cancel the trip. My consolation prize has been that the weather in Boulder has been mostly gorgeous and I've taken advantage of it to spend some garden time and to do a whole lot of reveling in the profusion of spring.

A Whole New World

2009-04-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

I want to alert one and all to a fabulous opportunity if you are anywhere near Pasadena, Ca. on the weekend of May 16, 17. My sweet friend, JoAnne Hunot is a person who combines high energy with a huge heart and a wonderfully elevated sense of consciousness. For the past two years JoAnne and her partner Warren Cook have put together the New World Fair in Pasadena and this year will be fair number three. The focus of the fair is all about conscious choices leading to a healthy life style, a healthy ecology, and inner peace. The fair will feature films, workshops, and speakers, as well as fabulous music and dance. And there will be a huge marketplace of exhibitors offering products that promote healthy, holistic living. JoAnne has asked me to come to her fair this year to serve as "art facilitator". I will be there all weekend to help guide people through guaranteed fail proof art related activities. So often people make pronouncements about their lack of artistic ability and tend to limit their creative expression due to a fear of failure. I am going to be at the fair to help folks break through those self imposed limitations. AND also to have a REALLY good time!
See ya there!

How It Happens

2009-04-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

During my most recent assemblage production period I had the idea to focus on one of the pieces I was working on and photograph every step of the creation of that piece, from the initial design to every aspect of the construction. I decided to choose a piece that was relatively simple and I still ended up with over forty photographs of the whole process. I posted the photos with an explanation for each of them on my web site in a section called "How It Happens" (in the Pat's Studio section). So if you are interested in a tour of my journey through the creation of my assemblage I invite you to have a look.

Hijacked

2009-04-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

Somebody hijacked March and whoever did it is running away with April now! It seems like I have slipped into a fast forward time warp.

This last week I was juggling my time between attending some of the presentations at the World Conference here in Boulder and studio time. I designed and started work on a bunch-o smaller pieces that are either totally out of the box, or are constructed within found containers. I wanted to clone myself so that I could spend full time at the conference and full time in the studio.

The Land of Etsy

2009-03-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yes...I have jumped on the Etsy band wagon. I have opened a shop on Etsy and I have listed some collage, collage prints, and some vintage paper ephemera and vintage objects from my personal stash. In the next few weeks I will start to list some of my jewelry. My jewelry making started as a way to make jewelry for myself and friends and family, but at some point I realized I had an overabundance. So I will see if there is a market for my jewelry making efforts.

I have posted a new gallery on my web site...
Gallery Thirteen...and it features the latest of my new assemblage. Here's one of the new pieces that accurately reflects my present state of mind.

March 31st is the last day to bid on the day-o-the-dead pieces that were created for the effort to raise money for Oaxacan street kids. Rebecca Brooks organized this wonderful effort and several wonderful artist's donated art pieces that are being auctioned through an on line catalog.

I made a piece titled "Are We Dead Yet?"
If you would like to place a bid please go to :
http://auctions.readysetauction.com/sicys/home.
My piece is on the second page of the catalog.
This is a great opportunity to purchase one of my art pieces (for what is likely to be a smokin' bargain price) AND contribute to a very worthy cause.

Jumping on a horse and riding off in all directions

2009-03-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

In a continuing theme I have developed in my life, I am again multi tasking to the max.

One of the more unfortunate tasks I tackled last month was doing taxes. My brain has NEVER been constructed to handle numbers in the best of circumstances , but last year was a year in which I sold a home in New Mexico and bought a home in Colorado and that made my tax return even more complex and agonizing than usual.

But I am happy to report that the pain is over and I have been able to successfully extract the ax from my skull after I completed my 2008 tax return, filed it, and won't have to worry about this particular trauma again for a whole year! Yaaaaaaaaaaay!

So aside from tax traumas I am also working on at least twelve new assemblage pieces. My studio is a TOTAL mess. Chaos reigns...but then that's me!

I have finished my web site remodel and have made it much more viewer and buyer friendly with the ability to see full screen detailed views of my art (and even purchase my art it if you'd like!). So please visit at www.thepatstudio.com and let me know what you think!

Also...a while back I finished a piece to be auctioned for a very good cause. Rebecca Brooks has assembled a fabulous group of artists who donated art to raise funds for street kids in Oaxaca. Please check it out at: http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2009/03/ci.html
Click on the link to go to the auction site and to learn more about this wonderful effort to help.