Opened Lock 022

This lock has been around for a long time and I'm not sure where the key for it is.
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It is still in the opened position which I suppose is a problem if anything is ever locked with it.
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As a symbol, an opened lock is interesting. Originally I thought of it in terms of a lock that had been closed and is now opened. But I suppose that is more about the key.
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I hadn't considered the latent potential to lock up something that had otherwise been free and open.
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Now I am seeing it as a lock without a key, a trap, menacing.
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As is true with other symbols and the meanings we find in objects, our state of mind is the filter, the projector, and the screen on which the story plays out.
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Scalloped Cup 021

I spent all day today in the studio working on the collage pieces, and then I got side tracked with dinner so I ended up doing my drawing really late.

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But here it is, an upside down tea cup with scalloped detail.

Cologne 020

I think I like to draw glass...

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Tuscany

Lunch Counter 019

I was in Chicago today for several meetings and had some time for lunch and a sketch. I had only taken really small pieces of cardboard and the bud vases on the counter with cheerful flowers - a harbinger of Spring on such a cold Winter day- were clearly a vertical composition. So I used two small pieces to make a bigger one.

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I was talking with another artist friend of mine who does photo transfers and breaks one image up into a grid and prints out each piece in order to enlarge the original image. He goes to some efforts to make sure that the pieces of the image are in the right order - so the question arose, what happens if they are scrambled up? Would it result in something even more interesting?

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Finding variations and alternatives is simply creative problem solving, or more importantly problem finding. We as artists are looking for problems that we want to explore. It can lead to interesting places. And more questions.

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I am interested in the meaning that we assign to objects. For this project I am choosing objects that hold some meaning for me - personal meaning and memories. I am also aware that other people who look at these drawings will have different associations than mine, and that is part of what I want to explore.

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I am also taking these drawings and combining them with other elements to make collage pieces out of them. In this way my hope is to take it out of the realm of being about my memories, and make it about the idea of memory, the concept of associations we make with objects, and the process of imbuing objects with meaning.

Celadon 018

When I visited my friend Mari in Japan, we went to one of her favorite antique shops that was not in a tourist section so the prices were more reasonable.

I found an item that I liked and decided to purchase, and then the shop owner said that with the purchase, we could select small items from a certain table for free.

This small celadon porcelain vase was one of the items. The top has a small hole to be used as a bud vase and is designed to come off like a lid - for easy cleaning.

The color is a blue-green that I am crazy about.

Parisian Crystal

You can click on any of the images to see a larger version, and then use the "back" arrow to return to the blog.

This very delicate cut glass apéritif was a souvenir from a trip to Paris to see my friend Mari.

She had only been in Paris for a year studying French yet I made her negotiate the price with the vendor at the flea market. She did very well and the woman sold them to me for a good price. Of course I remember that trip when I look at the glasses, and my friend who is also my sketching buddy.

Dice 016

From yesterday.

I was so excited when a friend gave me a stack of game boards and a bag of game pieces. Monopoly, Clue, dice, houses, and other bits and pieces.

They are wonderful objects to put into collage pieces as symbols of other types of games that we find being played in life. A metaphor for the human experience.