field researcher's journal

as i was looking through everything i have created on here, i realized that i have no nature pieces! anyone who knows me would know that that's a peculiar thing. usually, all of my art is nature themed. i guess i've been trying to get away from it, but here is one!
this assemblage piece has undergone a looong process to get here. first it was white and red for a circus themed piece, wasn't feeling it. then it was kiwi lime for an apothecary theme, not enough materials or inspiration. and finally it was antique gold with the green showing through. and it became a nature theme.
the first element added was the cedar tree needles from my yard. then i wrapped it with some hemp and tagged that with some parchment paper. that started the inspiration for the rest of the piece!
the top left square contains a red leaf and a gold frog that i was actually inspired to use by a Hels Sheridan piece. she used a painted frog on her altered key tin and made me realize that there is something i can do with all those rubber animals i acquired throughout my childhood.
the next square down has all the things i would imagine the researcher to use; collection bottles, paper, etc.
the bottom square is a nest made of feathers that hold a golden snail shell that i had actually prepared for a necklace that was never made.
the large center space holds the first piece; that pit of cedar needles. i used the red tint in that as inspiration for my red, gold and green color palette.
the bottom square has a rubber fish that is wrapped in hemp and thread and mounted on a bug eaten leaf.the top right square contains a rock with thread and a tag that reads "0098", kind of like it's marking the place where it was found or the order in which to file it.
below that is another nest made of dead lawn clippings, ha, that holds a little acorn.
the last space is covered with faux researcher notes and diagrams on parchment with a styrofoam bee mounted. (took me forever to find that bee, he was in the same spot for 3 years and of course i move it a month before i actually want to use it.)

the color palette is really what brings this all together. i have been working on a Louise Nevelson
lesson plan and was inspired by her monochromatic works. i didn't want to go as far as her, but i did reference it a bit in the areas where the objects are the same color as the background (fish, frog, snail)

what i love this week....

bottles! i have been wanting to do a new bottle project, but the inspiration isn't coming! so i'm re-exploring some old projects, and you get to see them too! the one above can be found at Scrapbooking.com and was the inspiration for my first altered bottle.
for this bottle, i used white masking tape and covered the whole surface. then i used a gold and brown mixture all over and a sharpie for the black swirls. next i added some rebar wire (spray painted gold) and beads to the top. i also painted the stopper gold and added a clear stone in the center. next, i added a flower made from newspaper with a button as the center.
i plan to use this bottle as an element in a larger work sometime.


another previous bottle work i had done was a mother's day present. this one was inspired by the piece to the left at Rubber Road Adventures.

for mine, i used gold, masking tape and swirlies again. then i made some flower stems from rebar wire and mounted pictures of my siblings and i on different flower cut shapes made from cardboard, coasters and newspaper. then i added some fake plants as fillers. i decorated the outside of the vase with buttons, flowers, glass shards and beads. i also added some flowers i made from scrapbook paper and felt.

what i love this week....

to keep myself going with this, i've decided that i need some kind of prompt. i decided to use many. one of which is "what i love this week", which will include inspiration blogs, projects and how i incorporate those idea into what i do. so what i love this week is COLLECTIONS. i found an amazing blog, Aesthetic Ouburst. she finds all these nice things so i don't have to! i have no idea how long she's been blogging, i've been looking through her site for almost 2 hours now and am still nowhere near the end of her pages. i collect a few things, and this week i am sharing my jars and bottles. this isn't nearly all of them, but these are the ones that fit on this neat little shelf i salvaged and painted and they hold my craft supplies: feathers, beads, gears, chipboard, etc. i also keep a few little empty bottles on there, just for display and contrast. this is one of my favorite elements in my office, and i will be posting more pictures of the rest of the place soon. i also collect snails, just because love them. but they are no where near organized, so you don't get to see them. :)

another wonderful thing that i WISH i could collect more is vintage mushroom things. i have a few already, all from thrift stores; coffee cup, clock, and napkin holder that i use for a note holder on my desk. i also found some amazing mushroom canisters, but i wasn't allowed to buy them because we had just gotten new stainless steel canisters. :(