Broken Into Travesties Of Reflections

This is the second project that came about as a result of taking the Michael deMeng on line workshop, Peculiar Portraits of Improbable People. 

I had this cool antique wall mounted clothes drying rack that I always thought could be a dress structure. Combined with this vintage lamp piece and a cradled board, the project got started.

I auditioned a number of photos from a model shoot I did years ago. I had played with altering the images in Photoshop Elements and decided this rather plastic version was going to work for this effort. 

I cannot get enough of some techniques when I work and one of them is to lay down a background collage using sewing patterns. Then it was on to the collage.

The welding goggles gave me the idea of a reflected sky. After laying on the drying rack, I had to decide to either leave it, paint it or collage it. I went with a collage effect using some dyed coffee filter paper I made by eco dying.

Thus we have Broken Into Travesties of Reflections. It is 41"H X 23"W X 4"D. It is made up of a 20"H X 10"W Cradled Board, Metal Lamp Trim, Welding Goggles, Wall Mount Clothes Drying Rack, Glass Jewelry Case Top, Lens (2), Nails (26), Paper and Paint.

The title for this piece comes from the poem A Draft Of Shadows by Octavio Paz.

He Reached The First Of Many Outer Edges To The Sea He Sought

This project came about as a result of taking the Michael deMeng on line workshop, Peculiar Portraits of Improbable People. Because the piece really starts with a portrait, I selected this photo from my collection of cabinet cards. 

The unusual shape of the photo made me select the antique bread board (serving tray) from my stash. Ultimately, although I liked this, I felt it needed more so I went for the 20"H X 10"W cradled board. 

I decided although I liked the mixed media work, I wanted more dimension to the substrate so I added the corrugated cardboard.

At this point I was pretty sure this piece was drifting towards a water piece. I selected this burner to be the topper so that I could create the sky above the sea.

This old drawer handle was ship like while the strap remnant made me think of an anchor. I added the hook and the skull to give an almost pirate-like atmosphere to the work.

I found a couple of plastic sails off a Pirates of the Caribbean toy ship that I could mix media into something interesting.

I worked on the collage of the cabinet card but I think the addition of the compass really made it thematically pretty cool. 

Thus we have He Reached The First Of Many Outer Edges To The Sea He Sought. It is 28"H X 12"W X 2"D and consists of 

20"H X 10"W Cradled Board

Corrugated Cardboard

Bread Board

Wood Drawer Handle

Belt Buckle

Skull Bead

Pirates of the Caribbean Toy Sails (2)

Lens

Spice Jar Lid

Compass

Military Patch

Burner

Metal Details (4)

Bead

Nails (26)

The title for this piece came from a poem by Mark Strand.