almost (finished)

This piece was called "almost" because it was almost there, but not quite. I did not want the background to be silver or gold, pigment or foil. I've been crazy about this antiquing paint, and I think the dark, juxtaposed with the monochromatic light, is hot.

http://ceciliacannon.blogspot.com/2014/01/almost.html (original)

Boulevard of Broken Glass

There are tons of apartments cropping up like mushrooms on my street. The silver lining is the large amount of free wood, provided you don't mind odd sizes.

I was inspired to start making little buildings, and a village started to form: a house of pearls, both freshwater and vintage, experiments with patina paint, and a horseshoe I found on an afternoon with my work cohort; a silver glass house made of bus shelter glass gilded in silver, a house with bricks of copper foiled glass and a key; a landscape-on-house.

this will be a continuing series. It's the antithesis of those horrid little holiday villages people put under their Christmas trees. 3-D, but only front sides are detailed. Sides are painted or gilded. Sizes vary: 3"-5" x 6"-10"

mango pit beach

I've been producing a lot of new work lately, and have been slow to document it. 

When I lived in Hawaii, on Oahu, there was a beach south of Kailua, around a bend, surrounded with mango trees. It was an isolated, sparsely populated, if at all, local beach, and I spent some delicious afternoons under an umbrella in the sand. Here, in another imageistic piece, I attempt to capture the feeling of the beach I always thought of as "mango pit beach". I left the fruit stones out of the piece.

Green bottle glass, sea glass gilded in gold foil, blue windshield glass, pieces of Japanese fishing floats, stained glass scraps, mirror pieces, sea glass gilded in silver on found wood, painted with gold pigment. Hawaiian seashell.

35 x 35"

STAR

Variegated foil, tin, glass, gilded glass on wood.

Sea Urchin (mermaid piece)

What's with the mermaids, anyway? Besides the belief that I am one, my favorite story growing up was Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". No, not the Disney-fied happily after after nonsense, with a wedding and singing crabs, but the dark allegory of his forbidden love for Edvard Collin.

The one where the heroine has the choice: kill her beloved's beloved, and she will be a mortal. Instead, she throws the knife into the sea, her sacrifice making her a daughter of the air. Sacrifice is true love, and my idea of romance.
Sea glass from Hawaii, antique red coral from a broken necklace,windshield glass and a perfect sea urchin.

Little Drop of Poison

Another shadow box. Collage of gilded glass in gold/silver, part of a Venetian glass vase, crystals from a chandalier, bus shelter glass, buttons, pieces of vintage jewelry. Elevation of humble cast-offs into something, new, whole and beautiful.

landlocked

mermaid/water piece

the shell was once very important to me, but the personal magic is gone. 6" x 8"
In the private collection of  Jemiah Jefferson. Author, bon vivant. My heterosexual wife.

Ma Vie En Orange (carnival)

Here, I take orange on as an issue. It is not a color I lean towards in my personal spaces/clothing and I rarely use it in my work.

Multi-media collage, as per usual. On found wood, painted with chrome paint, haloed in silver pigment. This is one of the larger newer pieces.         16 x 24 inches or so.

(red roses for a) blue lady

I like this best of recent kind. Broke my favorite perfume's bottle, quite by accident, and used its wonderful blue painted glass as a central medium for this piece. The blue is less intense in person, but still painted blue through clear glass. Opaque black glass scraps from a friend's art work, windshield glass, found glass, jewelry pieces . Silver pigment around edge.

"The house where nobody lives"

Last piece in the Josephine Apt. series, "The house where nobody lives" (leave the key in the slot). House of gilded glass, plastic, broken jewelry, wire
set on a triangle of found wood. Background is painted in gold pigment, interference violet pigment, topped with gold foil, textured with fishnet. Keys. Glass. 2nd photo is close up before layering of foil.

Lily Pad and Water

I enjoy touchstone pieces, the imagistic ones done several times throughout one's career. The lilypad and water is one of such pieces for me. Japanese simplicity from gold gilded beer bottles, silver windshield glass, Japanese glass float pieces, and other found glass. center piece is a large pearlescent jewelry piece. JAS piece.
12" x 12"

Icon//BVM

I take a lot of guff for using Catholic iconography, but, though I left that org a long time ago, I still dig the Saints. It is my take on an art history staple.
Plus, I found this plastic, and it looks like a Virgin, kind of like the Jesus on grilled cheese, except not. I used varegaited gilding foil to highlight the figure, leaving the face and hands clear.
trim is from a 1940s sweater, metal and pearls. Cross above is made of rusty nails, cloud below figure is made of vintage shell buttons, vintage velvet violets, rusted metal, and beads. The found wood is weathered with peeling paint, which gives the piece that old/new feeling I love.

pay attention to purple

More newish work. I like purple and green together.

Final piece, updated. Now with more purple!

Portland en Bleu

I haven't posted any new work lately, but this one made me really happy, so I am bothering. Glass scraps from a friend's fused glass class, windshield glass, errant jewelry, broken chandelier bits on silver pigment painted found wood. This one is on display@ my work, as someone bought it, and I wanted time with is before she comes to pick it up.

Pâte de Verre Skull

I took a class to make a glass sugar skull, using the pâte de verre technique: packing molds with frit, kiln fired. I didn't particularly enjoy the rushed class, and it was after a particularly arduous work day, but I love the final product. This is not a found art piece.

These were to be Dia de los Muertos painted sugar skulls, but they didn't give us much time, nor the greatest of tools, to do the detail work. Alas, especially in painting, I am a perfectionist, so, after washing my mold out twice, I chose to use a color instead of white. Cotton candy pink, of course. The teeth don't show in the photos, but are there. See the side view to note how thin this is, the lacy edge, the nearly transparent eye sockets.
It was fun to try something different, and I really enjoyed magpie-ing the scraps outside, which have already made an appearance in the last piece I posted. The color in the 2nd and 3rd photo are almost exact.

This will become a larger piece, in memory of my sister, who died when we were children.

"C'est seulement pour toujours, peu de temps du tout"

"It's only forever
Not long at all"-- Bowie/Labyrinth

Glass. Plastic.Gold/silver/electric blue/Black and white cocktail dish from the '50s
the close up silver field has gold backed glass and blue windshield glass breaking it up, single cube style.

24" x 24"
(originally added wrong image)

Tattooed by Life

The FuturePast style. Is it old? Is it new? Is it sacred? (yes)

Copper foil accented with gold pigment painted glass. I like the juxtaposition of the shine/matte.
Sculpy Scarab in Art-Deco style @ center with halo of vintage and fresh water pearls. On found, round wood piece.

I changed my mind (a mermaid piece)

I changed my mind. I made this for the newly married couple, and it belongs to them. I will get to spend a long weekend staring at it, and give it to them on Tuesday. (*if you are reading this for the first time, I originally called this post 'conundrum', and was being selfish and wanted to keep this for myself.)

Shells, white coral, freshwater seed/rice/round pearls, a few vintage faux pearls,  pre-ban antique red coral, windshield glass, silver foil on gold painted found wood piece. 5" x 8"

Butterfly

Just a blue sky with a butterfly.
Found wood with gouges. Blue windshield glass gilded with silver/gold foil. Monet gold tone/rhinestone butterfly brooch (broken).

Thanks to whomever thought this pretty enough to post on FB; hello strangers: look around-- there is lots of great found glass collage work here.

Roses, because it is (almost) winter

Cigar box. Paper roses on outside and inside of lid, inside" collage of glass, broken jewelry, metal,  wood, buttons, keys, chandelier bits and other found objects inside.

The oxidation of foil on glass is fascinating-- lower left rectangular chandelier piece: a Blue Valentine in my rose garden.

Future Past Series #1

Silver foil gilded blue windshield glass, silver filigree skeleton key, on silver pigment painted found wood.
Simplicity can be so wonderfully intricate and intense.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."--Oscar Wilde

Between the Bars

Josephine Apartment series with mesh, broken jewelery, glass of all sorts (found), metal, plastic. The gold pigment, which the wood is painted with, is closer to the outside photos than the indoor. Some repairs had to be made, so the pieces do differ, slightly, from indoor to outdoor.

coup de grâce

Final finished piece from the "Josephine Apartments" series. There are at least 2 more part of this series, one begun before leaving, one created post. At least 2 are not yet on the blog, so, a total of 11 pieces.

Blue Note Cigar box

Cigar box with many items.