Anatomical Heart Shadowbox #8

found wood, fabric paper, vinyl, paint
8 x 10 3/4 inches

Anatomical Heart Shadowbox #7

found wood, paint, paper, vinyl
8 x 10 3/4 inches

The image here is from a 1970's National Geographic picture of a flock of flamingos in Northern Africa...upside down.

Anatomical Heart Shadowbox #6

found wood, old book pages, paint, vinyl
8 x 10 3/4 inches

The book is The Christmas Carol, this edition published in 1899.  I glued it down then sanded it before painting the heart in and adding the vinyl lines on top.

Anatomical Heart Shadowbox #5

found wood, paper, vinyl, paint
8 x 10 3/4 inches

I think this was the first one I made last  year...so I  put the frame on first, then painted it and added the design without painting the lath.  I like the natural look and the more roughly painted edge inside.

Anatomical Heart Shadowbox #4

found wood, paper, paint, vinyl
8 x 10 3/4 inches

Inside the heart here is a reproduction of found fabric from the farm.  I think it's got a certain sophistication.

Anatomical Heart Shadowbox #3

found wood, vinyl, paint, newspaper
8 x 10 3/4 inches

That pile of 1961 Wichita Eagle newspaper has really done me right!  It takes paint so nicely...I love working with it.

Don't forget, I'm on Instagram!  

Anatomical Heart Shadow Box #2

found wood, paint, paper, vinyl
8 x 10 3/4 inches

The heart has an enlarged reproduced map of France from the 1930s, found in one of my kin's textbooks from that time.

Anatomical Heart Shadow Box #1

found wood, pencil, paint, vinyl
8 x 10 3/4 inches

I enlarged my popular anatomical hearts and added a bit of a frame to change it just that much more.  The background is siding from my house that needed to be removed and the frame is made from lath taken from our (ongoing) bathroom demolition.  I simply white-washed the wood, sanded it, and added more paint in the heart lines to pop it out.  I traced the lines around the vinyl with pencil to give it a little oomph.  The frame is nailed on with rusty nails (uh, because I left them outside all winter) that came out of the same wall as the lath. 

When I started making these, my husband called me an Art Earthworm--taking trash and making it useful again!  I took it as a huge compliment.

Lessons Learned in the Kitchen

Lessons Learned in the Kitchen
found wood, wallpaper, vinyl, paint, paper
9 x 26 inches

This new-old stock wallpaper looks like it could be in any grandma's kitchen left over from the '60s.  Maybe she taught you how to make cookies there.  Probably not in heels, though.  That's ridiculous.

The flowers cut out here came from a found greeting card.

See this piece in person, as well as many others I've recently posted, at the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, Kansas, this weekend.  It's my first showing there, and I'm looking forward to tapping into my inner Prairie Girl and enjoying a weekend of sweet breezes and cool art!

Magic

Magic
salvaged wood, paper, paint, vinyl, colored pencil
19 x 10 inches

 Layers of hand-cut papers with vinyl and highlighted with colored pencil.  This flower is called Indian Blanket and it's red and yellow when found in the wild.  The dots were all cut out in open spaces left over when cutting out larger pieces over the years.  No waste!

Four Seconds

Four Seconds
found wood, newsprint, paper, paint, ink, vinyl
10 x 26 inches

Everyone has really enjoyed the first piece (One and Four Girls) that used this series of a woman doing eye exercises from the 1930s, but it's a rather large commitment, so I made a smaller version in a neutral palette...and I love this image so anytime I can use this woman I will!  

The base is found wood, of course.  To that I glued (pH neutral/archival glue!) several pages of "Used Equipment Directory" from November 1969--the Craigslist of its day, I suppose.  Then I drew petal shapes on with my favorite roller pen (uni-ball eco, FYI), sanded it, painted it white, sanded it again, put on digitally cut vinyl and filled in with more grey paint.

I think we can all relate to her expressions here...just imagine what she just heard to get this reaction.

Shifty!

You can really see the pattern here, and I love the chippy edges and layering!

Not Watching

Not Watching
found wood, wallpaper, paint, vinyl
20 x 26 inches

Is she really not watching?  Or maybe she wants you to think that.

Astro

Astro
flooring, acrylic paint, spray paint, vinyl
33 x 33 inches

This is my show piece--I rescued this sub-flooring from a Dumpster at 36th and Cherry here in my neighborhood (they let me really get anything I wanted from it--thanks, guys!).  I painted it white and stared at it for months and months.  Then I painted it every other color, sanded it a lot, and decided to add the hearts (white and metallic) when I knew it was meant to have Spunky Siren on it.  Many more layers of paint and sandings later, I added her lines in vinyl in three parts and painted inside the lines (mostly).  I added the final bling of metallic stars all over to give her a story--a story different for every viewer.

Some Sort of Buttercup

Some Sort of Buttercup
found wood, newspaper, paint, vinyl
11.5 x 35.5 inches

Three layers of vinyl lines over painted, found newspaper on found shelving pulled from an apartment complex coming down on The Plaza.  Newspaper is a 1961 Wichita Eagle found in my neighborhood.  The wood was painted approximately one million times.  Buttercups do not have a stem like this, FYI.

detail: This piece gets the "reminds me of Andy Warhol" comment more than the others.
I'll take it.

Mixed Media Quickie Number Thirty-One

Special Offering
found envelopes, book cutouts, vinyl, paper
8 x 10 inches

As with my last collage, I have been waiting a very long time to finally use this vinyl line drawing of my great aunt in something.  It was originally just a test for the cutter but I don't throw anything away, and this is why.  Tells a bit of a story, different for everyone.

Mixed Media Quickie Number Thirty

Please Return
found letter, magazine and book cut outs, vinyl
8 x 10 inches

I have been trying to work in this green chair for months now.  FINALLY!  This piece reminds me of something that would be found on a porch, or in a mailbox on an abandoned house, and the chair is definitely on that porch.  But it's a bit mildewy.

Instagram!  @eightyacresart

Right now I'm on my way to Des Moines for my first Vintage and Made Fair!  Send your people or yourself!

Mixed Media Quickie Number Twenty-Eight

Believe It or Not
painted newspaper, catalog cutout, found ads, paper
8 x 10 inches

I don't believe it.

Mixed Media Quickie Number Twenty-Six

Cleaned Out My Pocket
papers, used tea bag, comic book, wallpaper, staples
approx. 8 x 10 inches

I love working tea bags into pieces.  And staples!  I bit of a different feel than glue (although there's plenty of glue in this, too!).  The background paper is from a composition book that had my grandpa's name on the front, but it was unused.  (c. 1920)

Mixed Media Number Twenty-Five

Vacation Days
magazine/book/newspaper/catalog pieces, found photo, metallic marker
approx. 9 x 14 inches

I found this little ripped up photo on a walk several years ago of a little guy doing something Catholic (I think?).  It was one of the first found photos in the wild, and I can't believe I put it in a place I could rediscover it this many years and a studio move later.  The other papers span from the 1920s to a calendar from the 2000s sometime, found on the farm, at my other grandparents' house, in a friend's attic, in some old high school papers I kept, and at a thrift store or two.

----->INSTAGRAM!  FACEBOOK!

Mixed Media Number Twenty-Four

Cycles
found wallpaper, book/greeting card cutouts,
black and white photo on matboard, vinyl
10 x 13

This might be the last collage made with the old guys as the background.  Maybe if I find more, but the two I have left aren't quite right.

And, yeah, those are teeth there in the bottom left.  PILES OF TEETH.