A ROYAL MESS! (the process of preparing for my upcoming show!)

  

Ok....so sometimes someone (aka Musician and Painter Friend ...Elizabeth Foster) asks me to 

combine the two sides of myself and do a Music show and an Art Opening at the same time!

and I said yes! 

YIKES!

 don't get me wrong....I was honored to be asked by Elizabeth as she is way talented as both a  professional painter and songwriter from SC where The back to back shows will be 

this weekend! However I was  struggling ...i had several  music shows booked through October and November  and I wondered where the time and inspiration to make 30 some pieces was going to come from? 

But God Is Good People....and He made a WAY ...where it seemed like there was NO WAY!

As you might imagine ...my process can be a lengthy one. 

I  gather scraps and bits of wood , frames, boxes, buttons, photos, metal...etc from all over the 

place...sometimes on my travels for music...you'll find me sifting through a local junk shop

 or antique mall. For this show I found several old rectangular frames & jars of old buttons out in Nolensville ,TN. @ new favorite local shop..... The Roost 

I also went in search of  wood and images with my friend Harvy at The Tennessee Fairground  Flee Market ....and had a blast sifting through piles of old photos

Also While in TX  in October ..I stumbled  upon some old photos in Austin  @ my new favorite place.... "Uncommon Objects"!

                                                

I also sorted through the bins and shelves of a local GoodWill store and found a roll of antique 

wallpaper and 6 box shelves! So the only new things i purchased were some Vellum and bookbinding glue from local art store Plaza Art Supplies!

and then i looked at what i already had in the house...a box of  old sewing patterns I found in Knoxville...some scraps of screen from an old door i fixed up...and  several old hymn books given to me by a dear friends Mark and SallyWingate. 

and then through  slow but exciting process of cutting, pasting, sanding, nailing, drilling, and final assemblage inevitable happens....my usually clean & Neat Cabin.... became my studio!

for weeks....i just kept telling myself...it's my studio! not my house!

                                               

and the first few pieces  started coming .....& felt  like a continuation of my last body of work...

.and then the miraculous happened ...and something started to change....

                                                                  
                                                                

This was a shifting  piece for me.... something clicked inside... and i started incorporting the vellum and
the sewing patterns and little pieces of string on the bobin found it self winding through some old eye hooks...like a sewing machine! .. she would be called ..." The Singer "...the double meaning... the play on words ....the sewing machine parts...it was all there!
And I started going back to pieces i had already deemed finished...and reworking them....adding  bits of patterns and string....and scraps of screen.......PUSHING ...and PUSHING....until the baby was BORN!

  " I am A Pilgrim "

                                           

                                                                         

           

                                                                      "SEWING GOOD SEED"


     


                     " ATTATCHMENTS"                                                    


and then the Light box idea hit me.....to take these old Box shelves and turn them into collage lights to be
hung on the wall....illuminated from behind ...with the old wall paper wrapped around them! and then it was time to push again! Use the vellum and don't just past and image in there....build it out with screen and buttons and scraps of book binding from the old hymnals and patters from the sewing...PUUUUSH!

                                                                       "Let In The Light"

     

        
                    "Even The Angels WIll Listen"                                     
             ( more scraps and bits have been added)                                

so there is a little taste of the process for you.....it's a little exhausting and messy...but i wouldn't have it any other way! I love it when the Spirit shows up and leads me on a Junkyard Journey....and i hope you
will check out this new work ...all for sale through Sundance Gallery in Greenwood SC....artist reception is this Friday 6-9pm... 146 Maxwell ave ! Upstairs from Meridian Studios...