Art in the Bathroom

Art doesn't alway go on a canvas. At least mine doesn't.

My house has been trying to recover from the 80's. It's been a long process, hampered by either lack of time or money. My master bath was one of the worst offenders. Something about that carpet (yes, in the bathroom) and those weird shell light fixures made me want to get in and get out of that room as fast as possible.

It has taken awhile, but my bathroom is now referred to by my daughter's best friend as "the pretty bathroom". Ok, I have two more bathrooms to work on, but that's on down the list.
The art happened on the mirror. One of those huge wall-to-wall mirrors that I did not want to try and take out. So I started gluing pieces of glass on it. You can see what happened. I'm pretty sure there's not another one out there like it.

I should have taken a before picture, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. The walls were all white, the cabinets brown, the old carpet tan and those dangly shell light fixtures were just depressing. The room now has a light laminate floor, soft green paint and freshly painted white cabinets. The mirror mosaic is made of bits of glass and mirror. The glass has a mixture of textures and colors, mainly in greens, blues, whites and golds. I love it! My personal little spa. I even have a new toliet paper hanger. The first one in that bathroom for the 12 years I've lived there. It's the little things that make me happy.




You can see the lovely old fixtures in the photo to the left. I was soooo happy to have those go away. Below is a detail of the mosaic.













Anyway, it may not be for everyone, but I have been very pleased with the way it all turned out.

A New Adventure

Inspired by my sister, Sharon, I have decided to try this blogging thing as a way to send my artwork out into the world. I'm sure my parents must wonder where they went wrong. My sister took the title "writer" and I took the title "artist" somewhere along the way many years ago. My guess is that my parents would have preferred "nurse", "teacher", "engineer" to the ones we chose. "Attorney" really wasn't an issue as my Dad would have refused to add another lawyer to the world. The interesting thing is, as we get older, we cross over. Sharon has begun playing with art and I have been bringing out my hidden writer.

Anyway, if you are looking for the next Bob Timberlake, go ahead and close this blog now. My vision of the world tends to be a little more abstract and more symbolic. For years I have analyzed, fretted over, painted over and thrown away more artwork than I can count because of someone else's opinion. I'm done with that.

I have read and studied the process of creativity for years. From what I have gathered, whether the creativity is in art, science, teaching, etc., the final step is releasing it out into the world. It doesn't matter what other people think. The work is just supposed to leave home. It's not easy. It's very similar to the process of raising your children and then sending them off on their own. You really, really hope they do ok.

So, here I go. A few at a time, I will be pushing my babies out of the nest. When appropriate, I will try to explain what they are all about. Sometimes you will just have to get to know them on your own terms. There is no chronological order. This is not an autobiography. It will be about which bird is ready to go at the same time I am ready for it to leave.

Bear with me for a while. I am saving up for a new camera so the photos aren't great. Titles for my work also give me some issues. If there isn't a title listed...I'm open to suggestions.



This is one of my favorites. Underneath the white is the original painting which was alot of dark colors. I finished the original while I was an emotional mess. Later, when the world righted itself I couldn't stand the first painting so I gessoed over it. It's hard to see in the photo, but there are different textures all over the canvases. Since I'm all about recycling and reusing when I can, the leaves are made of old metal printing plates. I use the plates often because they are just the right weight to hold a shape and not be too heavy. The stems and blooms are wire wrapped in strips of old magazine pages that have been painted. It gives the stems a nice texture. Recurring themes in my work are growth and rebirth and nature.

Check out the link to my sister's blog "Thoughts from the Farm" and the Bloomtown Farm link. Warning: If you read hers and mine you might get an idea of what our parents go through!