Drawer Angel Mixed Media Project

I had a great time making this Mixed Media Angel Assemblage project!

A while back, Larry and I stopped into an interesting estate sale, in Boerne.
It was a whole warehouse, of a life time of collections, including a retired trolley car, which had sold, to tractors, tools, books and maps. There were boxes and boxes of wonderful rusty treats!

 I asked the dealer what a piece of very rustic furniture, filled with a series of drawers, had been used for. He said it was for the owners tools.
Well, I wasn't interested in the whole piece, but I sure had my eye on the drawers.
In the end, he said if the furniture didn't sell, they would push the leftovers out into the field and burn them!

 I knew I needed to go home with some of the drawers, so I asked him to sell me five of them, and he did. Of course, afterwards, you know you should have asked for more, but since they belonged in the furniture piece, I couldn't get greedy!
I filled my bags full of rusty "saved from the fire" treats and headed home to curate.

Just look at the wonderful..."you can't reproduce that" color, in the bottom of this drawer...yeah, you better look now, because in the end, it got dusted out and eventually covered up with a beautiful angel!
At least I memorialized the color with this picture!

I had just received my Anthropology catalog, so I used a beautiful red headed model for the inspiration for my drawing of  my angel and started pulling found objects that I have in a drawer called, Magic!
I don't subscribe to magic, but what happens with the collections from that drawer, can be magical, to me:)
I layer and layer and build and build, until I get closer to what I want to happen in a project.  

This angel wears a necklace and a brooch, to go with her pretty dress, made from some of  my original watercolored rice paper.

I made some fabric twists or "beads" and placed them in the box, above her.
In this project, I had the perfect place to feature one, out of a whole box, of colorful spools of fly tying thread, and some brass gears, used for building fishing reels.

Those finds were from at a great estate sale where a man's hobby was tying fishing flies.
Larry loves to fly fish when we go to Colorado and was right to bring me those items from the sale.
To me, a great sale is one where the garage or out buildings, are full of items collected by someone with a wonderful passion and imagination!  

So, after cleaning and sealing the drawer...of course I left the label detailing the items that were kept in it... and decorating it with the beautiful angel, the transformation is pretty amazing!

 It can stand alone, or be hung on a wall.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the development of one of my projects!
I will be listing her in Hastypearl, soon!

I have enjoyed hearing from some of you that have enjoyed my new blog.
Feel free to comment at the end of each entry!
Yeah, you can do it! We're all learning together!

Have fun!
L

South Texas Garden in Spring or....Another Form of Mixed Media Art! Hastypearl

South Texas Garden in Spring

 

or

 

Another Form of Mixed Media Art!

 

Hastypearl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For me, assemblage art can happen in a studio or it can happen in a garden! For 37 married years, I have in various South Texas homes, attempted to conquer our regions set of challenges and create gardens. Every region has its own set of challenges. For us in the beautiful Hill Country in South Central Texas, it starts with shallow soil, resting on limestone. Night time temperatures in the summer can stay in the 80's. As a semi arid region, next to a desert, rain is often slight, and when it comes, it can come in amounts so high, that run off is its only alternative. Then, the final blow, for those of us who choose to reside in the country, are the ravenous whitetail and axis deer. Both, ignore the available lists of deer resistant plants! Still.....                                           

                                            
 

the gardening community is strong. Texans gardeners don't give up easily for anything. My goal in my only three year old organic garden, is to take seriously our threatened water sources. I understand that we have less turf than most of our neighbors. Years of experience has taught me to utilize the rich catalog of plants that come from our neighbors to the deserts west in Texas and south in Mexico. We don't however, have to ONLY use xeric plants, but can judiciously compliment with more hybridized choices as well. Hey, a girl HAS to have roses! So, we call on Heritage roses that are found blooming untended in abandoned cemeteries and homes. For me, a rose HAS to rebloom AND be fragrant to make the cut in my garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 While we have a deer proof fence in the back yard, other visitors are frequent. Last week, we had a run in with a porcupine that resulted in an early end to his days. Rattlesnakes will go the same way. They are dangerous to humans, to our dogs and expensive to our wallets. Otherwise, we coexist with lots of creatures. Skunks, road runners, raccoons, fox and hawks all pass through and visit our pond. We are in a north/south migratory path for many birds that reside here during our mild winters and return home to the north, in the spring. The same is true for butterflies. Monarchs head north from Mexico through Texas and find their favorite food, milkweed, if homeowners don't irradicate it, in favor of a perfect and water thirsty lawn filled with neat and tidy hedges that are pretty useless to most wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 

 Over the seasons, I will post pictures of the unfolding of our long growing season. With probably just under an acre under cultivation, we have for the first time in our marriage, gotten some help. As backs and joints wear out, its nice to leave the heavy lifting work to the young and fit, leaving energy for the CREATING part that brings me so much pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

 I do have some helpers in the garden. Lola, our beloved Airedale has forgiven us the addition of Goldendoodle, Darcy, but just barely. Frequent potty trips with our newest family member bring opportunity to enjoy the strong but short lived fragrances that linger at night. Stargazing in our broad, dark, country sky are astounding. While I admit, I'd probably rather be in bed, there are those rewards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This beautiful tree is the Huisache. It is covered in the spring with yellow pom pom flowers that smell like buttery, honey, especially at night. I'm sure that that makes for absolutely happy visits for the night time pollinating, moths. The white blooming tree in the first picture is a Whitebud, like the native Texas Redbud that starts the spring off with its beautiful red flowers.

 

 

 

 With alkaline soils, the more common acidic hollies are impossible to grow in my garden, but instead, we are happy to have the deciduous Possomhaw Holly. The red berries next to the Huisache are a great combination, don't you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is our greatest time for wildflowers and the rains dictate how lush the show will be. This year we are again behind on rain, so in our area, unless supplemental water has been made available, they will probably be sparse. Finally, I have found a way to have roses in my deer exposed front yard, by using antique climbers. I'm pretty good at keeping the tags for all of my plants, but pretty promptly forget the varieties. Ill leave that to some really wonderful garden specific blogs. My job here, is to journal along my creative process throughout the year in the life of my garden.

I hope that you enjoy what you see. This is just a start. There will be much more to come.

See, art comes in many forms:) 

Have fun!

L

Mixed Media Assemblage Box, Tisket Tasket

 

Estate Sale shopping is something that we love to do when we have a free Saturday afternoon. I'm pretty picky. I really don't want to bring home found objects that I can't or won't use. Larry and I had hit a number of estate sales one Saturday and hadn't been too inspired. We stopped late in the day at a sale that wasn't on our list, but was close to home. It turned out it was an antique shop owner from a small town nearby. She was thinning her stash and I was glad!

 She had this little metal framed embroidery work that spoke to me. My guess is that it is probably from the 40's or 50's. I bought it and started thinking about what I would do with it for Hastypearl.
I had an empty galvanized box and the rest is what you see! A Mixed Media Assemblage Box, called "Tisket Tasket"!

All of the vintage fabrics and notions are from women's sewing boxes that I buy at estate sales. It fascinates me the things that are saved.
I recently sold a wall hanging that had a small piece of the hook part of a bra, and slip strap. I often see that particular wall hanging repinned from my "hastypearl" Pinterest page!
Women can somehow relate to keeping just one more button...just in case.
I can't help it!
My mind goes "imaginating" about these womens lives. All of the years and their collections are not important to their families, so I "collaborate" with them and their collections live on!

I know I'm often drawn to bright colors, but I love the soft pastels of this box.
The final fun thing about it is the pouch of lavender that is inside. I love how the fragrance mixes with the history of it all. Yep, helps the "imaginator" start up all over again!
A great way to celebrate, Mom's!


Hope you are all well and enjoying these early days of spring!
Texas has a way of "tip toeing" in and them SLAMMING us with hot days.
The butterfly count is building and I heard my first hummer this week.
The martin houses are set up along with the Dawn Song, cd set to repeat! Maybe this will be the year they choose to grace us by moving in ?

Having a puppy has put me in the garden...a lot, but that's a good thing!
While we take our potty walks, I have gloves and shovel in hand for weeding or dividing perrenials and in general, just making good use of the time.
The books and 37 years of experience say for puppy to potty after eating, drinking, sleeping and playing. In other words...run for the yard ALL of the time!
If anyone can think of any time that that list leaves OUT in a puppies life...please let me know in the comments below:)

Have fun...L

Darcy Doodle

 

We welcome Darcy, the Amazing green eyed, Goldendoodle, to our family. 
She's been with us for a week now. I forgot how challenging having a puppy can be!
Every day, sometimes more than once, we walk our property line. The first few days were more like a drag, than a walk, but you can see her independence after a week.

Lola, our very alpha Airedale, has surprised me with her loving attitude. It took her a while, but they are full out playing with each other now. It takes courage to be 8 lbs and play with a new 75 lb friend, but Darcy is proving a formidable playmate. Not to worry, she too will one day be 75lbs!

We will survive and use our adapting skills, daily!
Welcome, beautiful girl.....Don't you just want to give that long snout a big kiss!

I would like to mention Mustard Seed Ranch Goldendoodles for helping us find our perfect companion!

Mixed Media Cards Let's Brighten Things Up A Bit Hastypearl

Mixed Media Cards

 

or Lets Brighten Things Up A Bit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had fun making these greeting cards, that are newly available in my Hastypearl shop.
The Physical Development illustrations, were actually from my husband Larry's, childhood library. 

I collaged the images on top of some of my hand painted rice papers. The colors on the finished papers are always amazing. Anyway, these are blank note cards and I think are pretty  humorous!
I guess they just take me back to some pretty funny high school gym classes!
Boy have times changed!

                                  
                                                                 Available Here 

Hope you are Having fun!
L