The Texas Art of the Covenant

Every good Texan needs a Texas shrine and now I've made mine. This took awhile to put together and it is made of tons of different things that I've found on my treasure hunts.

I found the main body of the piece at a garage sale a few years back here in Oregon. I kept it all this time because I knew eventually I would have a use for it. This may not be the complete list, but the rest of the shrine is made up of, a tin star, sequins, acrylic paint, brass horn, miniature cowboy boot, longhorn head, horse, scorpion, wooden block, cowboy figure, brass candle stand, William Barret Travis signature from the Alamo letter (not real!) wooden ruler and a Mexican bingo card. Did I forget anything? I don't think so.

This is perfect for any Texan who misses home (like me) and wants to have something to salute to every morning (don't forget to face southwest). I may have to keep it though.

The idea is that everything is bigger, grander, gaudier and more spectacular in Texas. The roof of the shrine surpasses the total height of the ruler (Texas is bigger you know). Did you know the Texas capital building is taller than the capital building in Washington?

These pictures aren't the best quality, but they give you an idea anyway. Click on any of them to get a closer view. "Remember the Alamo!"

Mexican Hat Dance

I think I'm going to have to get a handle on my obsessive compulsive "treasure hunting" habits. It seems like I can barely refrain from heading down to the top secret headquarters where I shop for interesting pieces for my assemblage almost on a daily basis. Must - stop - now. Too - much - stuff - in - my - studio!

I did run across some interesting things last week. My top find was a Mexican mariachi sombrero, complete with sequins and ornate stitching. I got it for a song (or was it a Cumbia?). Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm sure something will come to me.

My latest assemblage project, "The Texas Art of the Covenant" is almost finished. Gah! It's taking forever! It needs that special last touch, and I think I know what it is. See you when it's done.

Sanctuary

Wow. It's been way too long since I last posted. I'll try to fix that little problem.

Pictured above is my latest assemblage piece, titled, "Sanctuary." It's a private commission and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

I learned a few things along the way with this particular assemblage. The next one will be a little easier than this one was, I think.

I used a whole variety of bits and pieces for "Sanctuary." All pieces found at my "secret" junk location. ;) Let's see, I used a wooden box that had a half moon already carved out of the top; a little metal mold that I used for the top of the "nicho." I found a pair of metal humming birds that I put under that; two little birds from who knows what, a plastic biblical figure that I placed inside the mold, a couple of wooden branches for either side and a Mexican bingo card with a tree on it for the background.

All in all, a pretty fun piece to do.

Rocketship #7

While at a Goodwill store, I found an interesting old, what looks like a metal coffee filter of some kind.

It had three cool legs on it already, and I could tell right away that it was going to become a rocket.

I went down to Home Depot, found some small plastic plumbing "elbow" joints that I used for the thrusters.

The number 7 was a chrome house number that I found at the same place.

I then coated the entire piece with a iron acrylic paint. I added some rusting solution and a patina to the number.

The inside of the piece is stuffed with multi-colored Christmas tree lights that blink. It looks pretty cool in the dark.

The baby ate your dingo

I'm not sure what part of my brain this came from. All I know is it's weird and freaks my family out. LOL!

The catalyst for this assemblage was finding the little kitchen gadget that looks like an alien torture device. From there it pretty much assembled itself.

Reaction from family members so far has been pretty negative, but I think it's just because it's so stinking weird. I love it. As usual, the photo in the background is not part of the assemblage. Just a little "atmosphere" for the photo.

The title is courtesy of my son-in-law, Ken. "The baby ate your dingo." I knew it was the right title the moment I heard it.

Fly Me To The Moon

This UFO assemblage piece was fun to do. It's created from a hodge podge of found objects that I picked up a few weekends ago. The body is made from what I think is some kind of light housing. The candle stand was perfect for it, since it already had a moon and sun incorporated into it and the "UFO" sat on top of it just right.

I added a golf tee to the top of it for an antenna, some random bolts, a string of beads around the edge and some sequins. I coated the entire piece with copper paint and then added a solution that gave it an aged, copper patina to it.

It ended up having a definite "steam-punk" look to it.

Here it is on the workbench, assembled but unpainted...

Here's the finished product:



Add a Hubble photo for a little atmosphere:

"I Saw The Light" A tribute to Hank Williams

"I Saw The Light" Mixed media. Acrylic, found objects.

This is the first piece of mixed media artwork that I started on a little over 5 years ago. I drug it out of storage a few weeks ago and decided to finish it.

It's based on the song "I Saw The Light" by Hank Williams, a legendary country singer who wrote that song many years ago.

He died at the age of 29 after years of alcoholism. I was going to include some whiskey labels on the sides of the guitar until I found out that Hank had a painful birth defect in his back that helped drive him to drinking.

I know it sounds weird, but out of respect to him and because of that, I decided to leave them off. I still need to finish the head piece.