The ABCs of Ephemera Altered Book Project

I am excited to say that my altered book "The ABC's of Ephemera, A Visual Lexicon of Personal Symbols" is A) complete! and B) being shown at ArtSpace gallery in Richmond from Sept 25 - November 1.

As I started this book with the theme "personal symbols" in mind, I realized that certain images crop up in my work over and over again. I decided to use ephemera as a unifying element. As I wrote down the items that I like to use, I realized that the stuff that I collect runs the gamut from A to Z. Thus, the alphabet book concept was born.

This is the G-H page. Hands, hearts, gears, games... get it?

I tore apart an old 45 record album holder, and a vintage coin book and then reassembled them into a new book form and altered that. The spaces originally intended for coins gave me places to put little objects. This one is from the I-J page - insects, jewelry, ink.

Special thanks go to my partners in crime from the Mixed Media Experience, Terry, Darlene and Carol for getting the ball rolling on this project!

Back from the Tides Inn

My friend Marty and I set up shop at the art show at the amazing Tides Inn this weekend. It's only a two-hour drive from Fredericksburg, but once you are there, it seems like you're a million miles away. Was it all a dream? We had fantastic weather and lots of boaters were out on the water enjoying the beautiful day. This was the view that we had from the room where the art show was set up.I concentrated less on jewelry at this show, and brought some of my collages, journals, greeting cards and glove form hands. I did bring my Relic Babies jewelry and the Crystal Cupcakes. I sold the Relic Babies with mixed emotions. I get so attached to each one!

We had a some time to explore on Friday. The town of Irvington is a quaint shopping village with a quirky design within walking distance of the Inn. Even the town dentist has a sense of humor!Friday night's dinner was at the Trick Dog cafe, which had come highly recommended. The barbeque was fantastic. Inside, you can pet the trick dog for good luck. He got an enthusiastic petting from me.

Now it's back to the real world. Something tells me it won't be long until I find myself in the town of Irvington again.

I am still working hard in the studio. Today I spent the day pricing and packing for the show this weekend at the Tides Inn in Irvington, Va. Everyone tells me how gorgeous it is, and I can't wait to get there.

I have a bunch of new hands ready to go, plus my new line of jewelry, which I've been working on for some time.
These are my Relic Babies. They were excavated from the site of an old European doll factory that operated from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. I think they are just hauntingly beautiful. Here's a look at what I did with them:

I'll have them at the Tides Inn this weekend, and after that they're coming soon to a gallery near you. More on that in the next post.

Fall Preview

I have been busy, busy, busy in the past week! I actually carved out a few days in a row of studio time in order to get ready for some upcoming shows. I'll tell you more about the shows in my next post.

I got inspired while spending so much time in the school supply aisles last week, and so I created some journals. I started with some tiny ones. They are just 3.25 x 4.5 inches. Fairy-sized!

I used Claudine Hellmuth's new line of studio paints, and I just love them. I used the resist technique that she shows on her blog for the backgrounds. I can't wait to get the rest of the colors!

The fairy stamps are from Tim Holtz and the little girl comes from Island Stamping. I bought everything at Handcraft House, one of my favorite places to go for a little half-day outing.

In my next post, I'll show you some of the larger journal covers that I did.