Cigar Box Wednesday

Pull tabs. Mostly modern, but if you look close you may see a few of the vintage ones from the '60's and '70's. A few in colours, mostly silver.

Here's a clever idea from ECrater

I not sure what I'm planning to do with them, but they seem like one of those things that might be just right for an assemblage project someday. Any other ideas?

Thanks, Dad

Thanks Dad altered book 10x12" closed

The idea for this altered book was born almost 6 years ago when I found the 78 record album of Songs of the Service at our local swap meet. I started collecting ephemera for it and decided early on that I wanted it to be, in part, a tribute to my father who served in the Army Air Corps from September of 1941 to October of 1945.



It was one of those projects that sat patiently in it's box waiting for the right time. When I decided on the theme for my upcoming solo show The Pity of War, I knew the time had come.



I used craft acrylics in leaf green, toffee and cream and scrubbed them over 4 of the record sleeves, the remaining one was done in red, blue and cream.
Vintage photos, medals, stripes, buttons, dogtags and papers were used to decorate the sleeves and covers. The sleeves hold old sheet music, a 78 recording of "The Army Air Corps Song", a "Theory of Flight" book issued to new recruits in the Air Corps, and a newspaper from D-Day, among other memorabilia.



Pictures of my Dad are scattered throughout, culminating on the last page with a wedding picture of my parents on October 28, 1945, my Dad proudly wearing his uniform with his beautiful bride on his arm.



The show, which opens April 8 at the Cambria Arts Center, will feature two altered books, this one and one based on WWI called The Pity of War, in addition to 18 mixed media collages.

Arts Obispo Artists' Profiles

Arts Obispo has started something new. Every day one of the Open Studios artists will be featured on their blog. Each week two prompts are sent out and the artists are invited to respond. I was picked to be the second artist featured and here is the article they posted.

“In my studio I am…” by Erin Perry

In my studio I am a dreamer and an alchemist. I take the found detritus of the street, the shore and the second hand. I collect the rusty, the worn, the tattered and torn. It sits on my art table and marinates – sometimes for days, sometimes for months, until the dream takes shape. I mix in canvas, paint, pastels, cheesecloth, paper – and all is transformed into mixed media collage and assemblage. Working with these materials, I have developed a fine sense of history and an empathy for the people who first used and touched the items. This has been especially poignant for me the last several months as I have worked on “The Pity of War” a solo show for the Allied Arts Gallery in Cambria. The collages and altered books in this exhibit focus on the two world wars: the WWI poets, the Holocaust, and the bravery and resiliency of civilian populations.

Here's the link. Check out interesting stories from your favourite Open Studios Artists!

Life on a Different Coast - La Manzanilla

Sunset on the Pacific Coast of Mexico from the patio of our
hillside retreat in November of 2005

Cemetery Saturday

photos courtesy of outdoors.webshots.com

Taos Cemetery

Old wooden crosses with carved names and decorations.

photo courtesy of Bill Jones

Eternal rest in the sagebrush, watched over by an adobe bell tower and the ancient mountains.

From the Bookshelf

I'm sure many of you are familiar with this series that has done such a wonderful job of preserving old photos and memories of towns and villages in areas across the world. (I was delightfully surprised on a trip to England to find 2 volumes on the town of Witney, near Oxford, the locale for the Thrush Green series by Miss Read). For those of you who love Taos, or those that would love to get to know Taos, this is a real treat and a fine addition to this important series. Authored by our own Lyn Bleiler, lots of research and love have gone into this project. I know you'll enjoy it as much as I have.

See - Sea Glass!

My friend Joen gave this marvelous thing to me for my birthday a few weeks ago. It's a frame with glass on both sides and she filled it with sea glass! She is an inveterate beachcomber and rarely comes home without her pockets full of sea glass and moonstones.

I found the perfect place for it in our kitchen window. The early morning light flows through and the glass sparkles and shines as though it had just been washed by an ocean wave.

Pay it Forward

from Amanda of Scrap Panda

About a month ago Amanda of Scrap Panda sponsored a Pay it Forward on her blog. I joined and put it on my blog . The above delightful collage is what Amanda sent to me. It arrived last week and I've been smiling ever since. That little panda cub is so engaging and I love the cardboard scraps with the gesso. Thanks Amanda!

Over by Christmas

Over by Christmas

When the guns of August 1914 began to roar, England found itself with an under-manned professional army. Within a few weeks recruiting posters were to be found across the kingdom and Lord Kitchener was declaiming "Your country needs you!" Young men rushed to heed the call before it was too late. Popular opinion stated that the war would be "over by Christmas". When Christmas came, there would be nearly four more long, horrific years of conflict.


I painted the background of the canvas using a block stencil, in alternating red and blue to give an illusion of a brick wall. Blue and red were spattered across the surface, which was then given a coat of cream glaze to age and soften the colours. Xerox copies of recruiting posters, and family groups saying good-bye before boarding troop trains were adhered with matte medium.

Red, blue and white rosettes anchor the top corners, a silver shilling with the imprint of George V centers each one. Early optimism that, with hindsight, breaks the heart.

A Great Deliverance

A Great Deliverance 18x24"

Six long years, during which not only the military was in conflict, but the civilians of England, France and other countries across the world faced daily danger as well. Six long years that came to an end in Europe on May 8, 1945. V-E DAY!

I got the idea of using a French style bulletin board theme for the piece. The canvas was painted with Titanium Ecru and then spattered with ultramarine blue and quinacridone crimson. The ribbons were stapled on in diagonal patterns. I printed out vintage photos of the day's celebrations from London, New York and Paris. These, along with Xerox copies of newspaper headlines, were glued to the canvas under the ribbons.

A ribbon rosette topped with a period florin (2 shilling piece) anchors the center of the board.

The title is taken from King George VI's speech that day; "Today we give thanks to Almighty God for a great deliverance. Speaking from our Empire's oldest capital city, war-battered but never for one moment daunted or dismayed, speaking from London, I ask you to join with me in that act of thanksgiving."