Item #2008-0023

I made this to decorate my kitchen after it was renovated - it matches the colors I used (brown/green) and it reflects the asian part of the kitchen decorations. Another wall has more earthy/countryish items.

The frame I already had and I saved after the glass broke and ruined the picture that was originally in the frame. I spray painted it walnut brown and added texture by putting sand between layers of paint. I got the plate from Freecycle (26 of them actually! and they are handpainted in Japan - yay Freecycle!), the wood African items were purchased at a yard sale and the smaller frame I had - it was just spray painted to match and I framed a note card I had. The green fabric backing is just a fabric remnant that I got for another buck, and the match stick wood I cut off of a huge match stick blind that I bought at a yard sale to use "someday" for "something." Luckily, I have a bunch of it left and can use it for ALL KINDS of art.

Item #2008-0009

This is the true beginning of my 60's and 70's style art phase, going back to earthy tones and using twigs and rocks may seem silly to some, but it is beautiful and makes sense to me! I especially love this piece because the owl was a pendant of my mother's that she got in the 70's and then I inherited it when she passed away in 2003. Some of the rocks in this piece were actually hers, and the origami butterfly in the lower left corner was hers also. The tray was free from Freecycle (where I request consideration for just about anything wood that I can make into art ;) I call this a mosaic, even though it doesn't fit into what people would traditionally call a mosaic - who needs to be traditional? You don't need to be when you are me!

Item #2007-0006

I made this out of a shadow box frame that I got for free on Freecycle. I wanted to frame some buddhist pendants that I had because they were pretty fragile. I printed the picture of Kuan Yin, and then I glued coins of the chinese zodiac to it. The coins represent the women in my life on my mom's side - from Karin and I, to my mom, to my grandmother and then my great grandmother because we all share in the legacy of having struggled with mental health conditions. This piece is very meaningful to me because it also represents that over time it has become easier to deal with mental illness because of advanced treatments, so I was lucky enough not to face what my forebears went through.

Item #2007-0004

I got this cute little lamp base from Freecycle... I thought it was neat but didn't know what I was going to do with it. When I picked it up the original glass shade fell off and broke (because I am a klutz) and the wiring was old, so I knew I was going to have to rebuild it and come up with a shade for it. I started by adding some gold paint to the stove and then adding a stem for the lamp kit.
Once I got that in place I started gluing rocks on it like crazy! If you can't tell from my other work, I love rocks and crystals and I love to add them into my artwork. All that was left after that was to make a lampshade - so I bought an ugly little shade that was falling apart from Goodwill and I used the metal frame of it to make this cloth lampshade out of fabric I had. I was thrilled with how it turned out.

This is what it was made from...