Our Lady of Guadalupe

Being a reformed Catholic school girl, I still love the Saints and Icons, and Guadalupe was always my favorite. I've been wanting to do this piece for my lifetime, and finally did. This is 3.5 ft X 2 ft, and the painting can be called "folk art" at best, I do like her hands; I spent some 8 hours just on them.

The red roses are glass painted with old nail polish.

Gallery Show--Pendleton Arts Center (NOT current)

This was a show I had at the Pendleton Arts Center, in Pendleton, Oregon, a few years ago. Once the library, this was housed in a beautiful Carnegie building with lots of natural light. It was a very successful show. I do not have photos of some of the work, sadly, nor most of the work, as the show nearly sold out.

The titular piece:

Detail--the center has small stones from a canyon in eastern oregon. This piece was meant to resemble a thunderegg.

Grid of 50 5 in x 5 in panels, each of the state flowers, represented in gilded glass and pearls, vintage jewelry pieces, and beach glass. I experimented with stained glass paint in this piece, and decided to never use it again; it is a gummy mess. I have no idea the current whereabouts of this piece. I suspect my former gallery forgot to give it back.

This was the first time I showed the piece The Secret Garden, a grid of 24 7in x 7in panels. I traded this piece for a painting by James Lavadour, who called this a masterpiece. My favorite is the gardenia, the bottom one, in the solo shots. Broken shell, shell, moonstone cabochon.

More pieces, the square panels are 12in x 12 in:

This was from a series of 4 pieces made from glass, etc from the formerly abandoned Hot Lake Sanitarium in La Grande. It is now a fancy spa, but it was a scary place when I visited. 2nd is a detail shot. Small circle is a tile from the tiled ballroom floor. I love the blue corrosion from the copper foil and the acrylic gel medium. It is a pity I cannot control it.

Architectural pieces using stained glass scraps from an elderly farmer hobbyist:

 Elegy for Frank Lloyd Wright:

 This one has a flower made from a smashed shell:

Abstract Orchid, glass from an old store in Pendleton.

Abstract color field:

How I spent my weekend

How do I spend my time? Well, doing crazy things like this, of course!
Not at all finished, but getting there. The piece has fine inner designs and I like the control I've started to develop in my newest work. Glass/foil/pearls.
I'll rephotograph it in better sunlight; it's 7:30pm.

Archive: Mermaid Tiara

This was a latter day addition to the collection. The shell, with rocks embedded, was from the time I lived on Molokai. Blue windshield glass, gilded with silver foil, antique coral strands, beads and carved flowers, pearls, both real and vintage,  on a plastic headband. The original tiaras are MIA, but I will be locating them, and the other missing items, posting them when I can. This is terrifically wearable!

Archive: Mermaid Hair Ornament

This is a wearable hair comb, obviously one of the pearls is missing from the wires at the top. I wore this in my hair when I lived in Hawaii. Nice to see it again.

Archive: Mermaid Bottle with heart lid

I love the mother of pearl heart on the lid of this jar, which is an old porcelain bottle dug up from somewhere, and a threaded plastic top that fit it like magic.

Archive: Mermaid's Cauldron

This was once a silver chalice, but over time, the stem broke, likely from the weight of the pearls and shells. I like it as a cauldron or bowl.

Archive: Mermaid Bottles

There were 3. These were the bottles Essential Oil on Hawthorne used to come in-- fabulous and square. Now they are rounded, and do not work for art. These still smell vaguely of violet.

I hate that you can see a bead hole on the blue bottle,  left hand side, something must have fallen off, because I was obsessive about hiding them, and no space between. It still bothers me!

Archive: Mermaid's Comb

I think the comb may have lost a couple of teeth, but it was always broken, which I love. Shells, coral, buttons, pearls, moonstones= Has it all!

Archive: Mermaid Scallop Shell Sceptor

The starfish one is more spectacular, but this is nice too. Iron bar, painted with silver pigment and epoxied on to shell. Shell is covered in shell buttons, shells, pearls and crystals. needs a little minor clean up, being stored for a decade or so!

Archive: Mermaid Toiletry Set

Archive: Forgotten Mermaid Piece

Poor Candleabra needs some repair, but it is completely feasible. Still love it,

Archive: Mermaid Art

In the late 90s, early '00s, I worked with pearls. Vintage/freshwater, whatever I could get my hands on. I had seen Eleanor Antin's installations at the LAX museum, and was creating the work of an undiscovered civilization. I abandoned this labourious process, but bits of it can still be seen influencing my work. a few pieces need repair, and I am missing the Starfish Sceptor (with a real starfish instead of a scallop), the third square bottle and the 2 really nice tiaras. The one shown here is a later work, as it uses gilded glass, which only overlaps in 2 transitional pieces. I don't own them anymore. The collection is a mirror, a brush, a comb, 3 bottles, a compact, a hair ornament, a silver bowl and a sceptor. Displayed on silk organza.

Here is the whole collection, I will post individual shots as I edit.