If Only I Were a Root of the Tree of the Sky

This project started with the inspiration that came from a piece of birch wood I picked up at the Restore. This wood was way (WAY) more expensive than I usually indulge in for substrates for an art project but the piece spoke to me so it came home.

While I knew that I wanted to use the board as the substrate for a collage, I also decided that I wanted to add some objects. I used my mini-table saw on my Dremel to cut a channel into the board for a box structure.

For the box, I selected what I believe is a single cigar box (Independence) and then covered it with paper. Inside the box I constructed an assemblage out of wood, stick, lens, and bottle cap with a chain and a decorative jewel that could either be a tooth--or a heart. From the chain I dangled a little bell.

The wood came with a knot hole that I had to deal with. I decided to go with a astronomy feature and just left the space as it was.

The collage work on the entire project was the interesting to accomplish. After the collage was finished I spent a lot of time painting on the work to get it to its completion. 

Thus we have If Only I Were a Root of the Tree of the Sky, a line from the poem "Egret" by Andre Breton.