1960's RETRO POP ART GIRLS

I have to admit that I hate sitting still or being confined to once spot for long. Combine that with my need to either be painting or creating art and you have 'art on the go'. I started these paintings of 1960's girls because of my love of pop art and the hippie 60's era. They are loose pieces of artist canvas measuring 17"x17" and I can roll them up and bring them with me to work on whenever the mood hits. I will be making these into pillows or cushion covers to fit 16" x 16" cushion forms and offering them for sale at my ETSY store. I have almost 4 completed.They are so much fun to do and I love creating the outfits and earrings not to mention the bold retro background. It also kind of ties into my paper mache ladies heads I make. Actually, I am thinking of creating ladies heads with each of these retro girls. I think that would be a really neat addition to a funky 60's retro decor. You could have a 1960's outfit hanging on the ladies heads and a few of these retro cushions on your bed. Hmmmm....I can see it now. I think Austin Powers would approve...Yeah Baby!!!....:)

FUNCTIONAL ART KEYHOLDER

I doubt you could guess what this started out as. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the back of it before I gave it to my son.


Here is my latest piece of functional art.
My son is an avid and very talented musician now in his second year of college. Yesterday was his 20th birthday and I went to visit him and this was one of his gifts.

The last time I visited him I noticed he had a terrible habit of losing his keys. Living in a basically one room apartment downtown, space and decorating is very limited. So I painted up this piece, added some hooks for his keys and he now has functionl piece of Mom's artwork.

This piece of wood shaped like a violin started out as a serving platter for cheeze and crackers. If you had seen it before I got my paint brush out you would have seen that on the reverse side is an indent to hold the crackers and there was a round ceramic tile for the cheeze. Naturally, when I first laid my eyes on it I immediately envisioned it full of paint and color. Goes to show you that just about anything can be transformed into a functional unique piece of art. Guaranteed no one else will have one like it!

HAND PAINTED FURNITURE

Well here are some of the pieces in my 'Eve and the Serpent' line. The two stools have already been purchased. I took this picture before I was quite finished the painting which is titled "A Multitude of Sins." Since this photo I have added some sun rays and a bit more color to the snakes and that is it. I hung it on my wall and I loved how eye catching it was. At 22" x 26" it was just a nice size. I plan on listing it on EBAY on Sunday hopefully.

These pieces are fast becoming popular. They can be seen at EARTHWORKS GALLERY in Narberth, Pennsylvannia on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. Owner Lenore Robison loves the bright bold pop art featured on these pieces. I plan on adding more to the line such as cushions and am currently painting a denim jacket with an Eve theme.
However, giving in to my Attention Disorder I took a little break and painted up a pair of my shoes. They turned out so kewl and funky. I will be posting pictures of those shortly, hopefully tomorrow.
As you can see I have a hard time keeping my paintbrush off any surface. I want to add color all around me!!
Well, off I go...back to the paints...hmmm....the cat is looking a wee bit pale tonight...:) Stay tuned.

NEWEST PAINTED STOOL

Okay I am back at it. Here is the latest little stool in what I am now calling my "Serpeant" collection. I have decided to continue to paint more pieces of functional art in my own original pop art style. I can't help loving the bold bright colors and the way they seem to pop off the black background. The first big stool shown below in my last post was snapped up pretty quickly by a woman in Pennsylvania and I am now about to list this one in my ETSY shop and on my WEBSITE for sale. I hope it becomes a collectable series like my "Life in Northen Ontario" folk art paintings. Stay tuned as I am off to paint the second larger stool and I think I may also paint a ladies denim jacket and add it to this series.
UPDATE: SOLD!!!

HAND PAINTED FURNITURE - update

I haven't posted in a few days because I was busy helping a friend move into a new home. Well I didn't actually help much in the physical part with my back, but good at directing...:) Then I got caught up in my painting. Right now I am painting a footstool in my pop art style and also finishing off a large canvas painting in again my pop art style. Both works are versions of my Eve and the Serpeant style which seems to be becoming popular. I sold this stool below to a woman in PA and since then a lot of people have asked me about it so I thought I might produce some more items in this theme.

I can't post pictures just yet as I don't have my camera here but I hope to post them on Thursday so please check back.
I am still working on my denim outfits so will post pictures of those also. I tend to go back and forth between projects as I bore easily and get easily distracted!!! However, I am finally getting better at completing more work.
You know you are an artist when there are blue and yellow fingerprints on your phone.

PAPER MACHE ART

I admit I have become somewhat obsessed with paper mache. As an artist I love to try different mediums and paper mache gives me an opportunity to be very creative. Above was my first attempt at making paper mache figurines and believe me they were not as easy as I thought. However, being the type to just jump in there and not follow directions it is no wonder they came out a little bit crude. :)However, that didn't stop me from continuing on in this medium of art. Where else can you find an artform that costs so little to make and where you can create almost anything? And I mean almost anything. I have seen artists create furniture that held up for years and years with the same durability as wood. How impressive is that? So I went on to experiment further. Starting with simple things such as bowls, which just weren't exciting or creative enough for me.