My Friend David Designing His Life Gracefully

http://gracefuldesignsonline.com/index.html

Hello,

I would like to put out there that a dear friend of mine named Dave and his lovely wife Beth have a beautiful website - featuring all kinds of down to earth items such as herbs, rocks, along with beautiful handmade jewelry, and other earth friendly items for sale.

Dave started a blog - and he and his wife are on an amazing adventure traveling through the western part of United States (They are from New Jersey - Atlantic City area).  I always knew Dave was a good writer - (both he and his wife Beth are outstanding Artisans/Craftsmen) and I look forward to reading his posts and following their adventures.

Check out the site - read the posts.  You will be glad you did.  It is good reading, and a good place to purchase reasonably priced hard to find - one of a kind American Made items as well as to exchange ideas.

Sincerely,

oxoxox Daisy Rita

PIGGING OUT

I’ve come to start referring to my collages as “paper paintings” – I collage on all kinds of items, (canvas, cigar boxes, plates as well as piggy banks).  

 

Although I had a lot of holiday projects to complete for the Christmas season – and a painting to prepare for the art exhibit – I still found time to get to work on my collage pig series.  On several pigs I finished the first phase of the collage - which was laying down the first layer of paper.  

 This is a side view of Pig #1 For Baby - here you can see a cut out of a little girl holding a crescent moon along with miniature prints of a butterflies I've painted. 

This is a photo of the front of Pig #1 For Baby.    On this pig I collaged a lot of images such as butterflies - birds and birds nests - beach scenes - kitties - as well as a 4 leaf clover.

This is a view of the pig facing left.

This is the view from the rear.

 This view is taken from the bottom on an angle. 

This is a photograph of the mixed media collage of Violet and Tino - all ready and framed - to be entered into the Galloway Township Cultural Arts Center's Art Exhibit this Saturday (January 14, 2012) - This painting as well as many more paintings by some really amazing artists will be on display open to the public at the Galloway Township Library - for nearly two months.  Come on out and give your eyes a treat.  We have some amazing artists in this area.  The phone number for the library is (609) 652-2352.

Thank you to the Judges for the "Honorable Mention" Award.  It really is an honor to win an award.

Tino and Violet Collage Finished - Prior to Framing

 

This is Violet and Tino prior to framing.  This is the finished piece.  What I had done was a reverse collage - (I'm not sure if that is the correct term) - I had collaged all the items "behind" the glass.  In reverse to what I would have done had I collaged them on top of the glass.

First I used modpodge to collage the pastel painting to the glass - then around the immediate edges I glued red and pink papers - followed by floral papers.  I came across a wrapping paper that had flowers that reminded me of Violet's Shirt.  I tore the flowers apart and glued them all around the image.

Once the image was dry I then used white acrylic paint to paint behind Violet's image and red acrylic paint to paint around the collaged edges.  I believe the back painting helped enhance all the other colors.

Preparing Violet and Tino for the Art Exhibit Next Week

After weeks of preparation - I am finally finishing up the mixed media portrait of Violet and Tino.   The portrait was originally done in pastel on an acrylic painted background.  Here I took the painting and modpodged it to glass.   For the matting I am reversing the collage elements of with various papers depicting pinks, and some floral to tie in the floral on Violet's shirt as well as the blues.

As you can see I am working at the kitchen table - as it is freezing outside - making it too cold to work in my studio in the basement.  Hopefully Violet and Tino will look good enough for me to exhibit in the Galloway Cultural Arts Center next week.  

Altered Cigar (Treasure) Box #1

Hello to all - I recently spent several weeks refurbishing two old cigar boxes that I have been saving (for that special person/persons) and after deciding who the recipients were going to be (my nephews) -and  after many hours of day dreaming - collecting small items (that I believe a young boy/man would like) and printing my own artwork -

This was my first altered cigar box and it was created for my nephew Joshua for a Christmas gift.

I set about gathering various papers and using my very favorite glossy "Modpodge" to put it all together.

Pictured above is the outside of the first box.  I decided to leave it as a cigar box and I polished it and cleaned it up a bit to bring out the wood sheen.  For this I used "Old English" and a cotton cloth.

Below is a photo of the top half of the inside - I used various patterned paper and metallic gold paint to do the trim.  I personalized the box by gluing in scrapbook postage stamp letters and I also glued in a Lego piece as well as a sea shell, pirate coin and small prints of my own paintings of beach scenes.

  Here you can see the detail of the inside bottom.  In the top left corner I glued a small Jack-in-the-box figure - at the far right corner I glued in a Star Wars miniature figure.  Since my young recipient likes to travel - I glued a Garden State Parkway token on the bottom left corner - and to the right I glued a miniature tire from an old toy car.  At the center on the bottom I glued a small figure of a Bearenstain Bear leaning on a baseball bat.  I also printed out and glued in two of my artworks - The Sun and Ferris Wheel.

 The idea was to keep the integrity of the outside of the cigar box looking the same - for I felt it was beautiful just the way it was - and my hope is  that when my nephew opens the box - he would feel the magic of  all the thought and love that went into creating it.  I also left plenty of room for him to add his own treasures over the many years to come - so that the Treasure Box would then be a keepsake he would always have as a reminder of how special he is.

oxoxoxoxm Daisy Rita

Altered Cigar Box #2

 This is the second cigar box that I altered to transform it into a treasure box to give to my nephew Matthew for a Christmas gift.  Just like the first box - I kept the integrity of the outside of the cigar box by just polishing it to bring out the grain in the wood - as I felt is was beautiful just the way is was.

 Detail of the brass closure on the cigar box.

This is a view of the treasure box when opened on the inside.

Just as I did for the other box - I personalized this box with Matt's name using scrapbook postage stamps - I also added a pirate's coin, a sea shell and  in the middle I added a charm of a theater mask.  (Matthew likes the theater).  I also printed out small versions of various paintings of mine and glued them in.  After all the items were in place - before the final varnish - I had painted the inside trim with gold metallic paint.

 

Below you can see my painting of the lifeguard boat, the Sun and Ferris wheel. 

 In this photo you can see the small toy that I glued in in the right hand corner - a miniature boat ridden by an elephant and in the middle is a Lego glued in place.

 

Below you can see the overhead view of the bottom half of the box along with various vintage stamps I glued in two small printed out versions of my paintings - "The beach path" and "Lunch on the Beach".

This photo is a detail of the bottom half - you can see a vintage game piece glued in the corner and a penny collaged in with the other various vintage postcards and postage stamps.

As same as the first altered cigar box - I tried to personalize the inside - I tried to create a beautiful box that would inspire magic and love when opened - at the same time - I left plenty of space for my nephew to have a space to collect and keep his treasures for years to come.

oxooxxom Daisy Rita