Photo Gifts...

Since Christmas has passed- I can post this without ruining any surprises!

This gift wasn't planned out- and the sister that it was intended for is a world class procrastinator so I know she'd understand.  I am horrible about saving and framing pictures, but enjoy receiving them from people who went ahead and did the work for me. I thought I would reciprocate this year by properly framing a picture for my sister's new house.  Well- by the time I got around to it- it was way too late to be done by Christmas. It was one of those old fashioned photo booth both pictures from a sisters day out downtown a couple of years back.   The size wasn't standard, so I couldn't find a ready made frame for it. But I figured I could do something to finish it anyhow, so I brought it to the studio  to play with it.  Here was my alternative framing solution.

I found and cut a board a little larger than the photo, and then gessoed it, and attached hanger on the back.

Knowing her bedroom color was blue, i foraged for blue in my papers and found handmade appears form grad school, old jeans- and a map of Dingle Bay in Ireland (my sister is a geography whiz, map lover,  and world traveler, so i knew she would appreciate.) So- threw that in there.

I played around with various stacks of arrangements and liked this one. 

I taped it down with painters tape to keep it in place

then sewed the layers together. 

I glued it to the front, gave it a protective spray on the top- and wrapped it as soon as it was dry! 

Ireland Inspired Pieces

So I’m back in the states after a wonderful trip to Scotland and Ireland. I spent a lot of time viewing the local landscape, flora, architecture and rock through a camera  lens.  I love being digital- I am not a good photographer, so I take lots and weed through and delete later.  Now home, I took several hours pouring through my 4 million photos, and was dying to use them. So of course, with a show in three weeks, I'm going to try something completely new. That’ll keep things exciting:)  I narrowed it down to a couple photos, had them printed, glued them onto a panel, wrapped the imagery around the edge, and now going to apply wax layers with more texture and Imagery.  There are many more to come, but I started with this bridge on the Dingle peninsula which we crossed at the beginning of a long and winding walk about on a misty afternoon.  

I obscured the water a bit, then pumped up the moss with some green texture. 

 I transferred on a topographical map of the peninsula on the lower left side, and wrapped it around the edge.  added more texture and  stained some of the relief areas.

-and I MAY be done…. 

gonna let it sit for a couple days and see if I still agree…