I have two pieces in the members show at the Art Center!

Oh my goodness! I was so nervous but excited dropping off the two art pieces for the Art Center's members exhibit that opens this Friday evening.

I decided to take the plunge and create bigger pieces per artist and teacher Dianna Fritzler for the exhibit. And it turns out, I loved it! I don't know why I fought it so long and hard!

"Rail Tales" Collage on canvas

The first piece, Rail Tales, was inspired on a Saturday morning at the train station downtown Grand Junction; daughter Melody standing in the doorway of her train car.

That inspiration stayed with me as she sent occasional text messages and photos along the way: Glenwood, Denver, Chicago, and several stops in Pennsylvania. It was her first train excursion and she had a wonderful experience.

"Mom, seriously, this is the way to travel!" Considering she was annoyed when she first learned she would have to take the train rather than fly. Tsk tsk. "You were so right!" Don't hear that very often!

It is a collage with painted brass, powdered pigments, cornhusk (from a really good tamale actually), and alcohol ink on yupo.

The ground is canvas painted wiht copper, gold, antique gold, and ochre metallic paints. I like this piece!

The second piece I put in the show is called, "Quiver." As I was making it, my husband walked past and said, "oh, a quiver of arrows?" I looked at it and thought, yes of course, it does give that sense!

"Quiver" Collage on yupo

I had such fun with the metallic paint on Rail Tales that I decided to stay in the copper metallic theme for the second one.

The ground is antique copper metallic paint on yupo. The collage is made up of cork, painted yogurt top, and of course cut-ups of some of my smaller alcohol inks on yupo, sticks I rescued from the trash bin at collage artist (and teacher) Gayle Gerson's  house during the Rocky Mountain Collage Society workshop on Cornell Boxes.

I smooshed the cork into the wet paint on the yupo before it dried then turned it over to give that mottled effect with the metallic on the cork. I attached the sticks to the cork with scraps of waxed linen thread from our bookmaking projects.

When I accidentally got some of the copper metallic paint on a piece of netting it was love at first mistake! I love tactile art and have sooo wanted to incorporate it someway into my art pieces. I tied the netting to the piece using the same waxed linen threads that I used to attach the sticks to the cork.

Lovin' these metallic paints and inks!!!!! And I am so thankful that we have an Art Center that opens up to member artists -- including us beginners -- from time to time. We are soooo fortunate!