Jen Bowles Design

Polar Bear Collage

One of my favorite pieces of art that I've made and is actually on display in my house is a collage hanging in our Hall of Woof:

The main image is a vintage flash card and the rest of the collage is comprised of various paper scraps, some old (like 1880s old), some new scrapbooking paper.  Maybe part of the reason I like it so much is because I see it about 20 times a day ~ it's hanging opposite the bathroom door so every time you come out of the bathroom you see it...

As part of my efforts to create more art this year, I'm also trying to figure out which medium to work in.  Making more of these collages seemed like a good start.

Wes Welker, Polar Bear

Inspired by a small (4x4) collage by Sarah Ahearn that I purchased a few years ago and have in my studio, I created this polar bear scrap collage.

The central image was cut out of a children's dictionary from the 1970s.  Again, I used new and vintage paper scraps including bits of a nautical chart and the No. 83 (Wes Welker's number) from an 1880s ledger I bought years ago at the Metrolina Flea Market in Charlotte.  I miss that place...

I cut out the text from the original illustration and used it in the collage.  I painted the sides of the canvas and used a white pen to draw a few snowflakes.

My boys love animals and are currently into bears of all kinds so I hung this in their room. 

Art = Love.

Thanks for stopping by,

Newest Treasure: Assemblage Birdhouse

Recently, my mom and I ventured to Sudbury, MA on a rainy Sunday morning to visit the 'Art Around Town' Open Studios event sponsored by the Sudbury Art Association.  By far, the highlight of our trip was the time we spent visiting the home studio of Cathleen Bradley of studio cb.

After about an hour and a half she pretty much had to kick us out (not really, Cathleen was uber-gracious; letting us poke around, answering questions and sharing resources).  Good thing we made purchases to  atone for our lingering!

cb's artistic talents and outlets are many but one common thread is her dedication to repurposing and reusing materials.  Whether by transforming plastic bags into textiles or fashioning old toys and farm implements into birdhouses, her creative re-use skills are incredible.  And we found her artwork to be incredibly capitivating.  Imagine how thrilled I was to find a piece that I loved (that I could also afford) to bring home with me!

Yep, along with baling wire and reclaimed wood from a nearby farm, that's a vintage tin bird whistle and an Ornithology themed View-Master reel!  And it spins!

It's hard to say which element I like better ~ the carved 1/2 bocce ball that forms the base or the weathered wooden "leaves". 

Without hesitation, we put our names on the studio cb mailing list with hopes of a return visit to take a class.  I heard there might be power tools involved...

Thanks for stopping by,

Vintage Coastal Summer Vignette

Now that all of my cherubs are officially out of school for the summer I knew it was time  to swap out the disjointed Spring vignette I had on top of our living room builts-ins.

Of course calling an old Boston Marathon picture of Bobby Law, a pair of dirty socks, the Apple TV remote, a glass bird cloche and assorted plastic speckled eggs a 'vignette' may pushing it...

Last week I gathered several of my favorite Summer pieces from around the house and came up with this, a proper vignette ☺.

I'm never quite sure what to do with that small window.  A wee bunting or banner perhaps?

The shell topped bottle was given to me in a swap a few years ago.  I bought the fish bottle in 2009 in Provincetown.  I've been filling it with small white beach rocks ever since.  I think this might be the summer I finally fill it to the top.  I picked out three Summer themed books from my stash to anchor one end of the display.  I've never actually read any of them but I do have three copies of the Bobbsey Twins At The Seashore so you never know...

Looking from the left:

You can see from this shot that my display shelf is actually the top of one side of the built-in shelves that flank our fireplace.  Ok, you can't see the fireplace or the other set of built-ins, but trust me, they're there.   The 3 container glass canister is from West Elm and was a Christmas gift from my mom.  I plan to fill it with treasures from the beach.

I'm not sure that the Bobbsey Twins actually look like they're at the beach on this book cover, but it does have vintage character so I like it.  On the right side, a beachy photo holder that I love.  I bought it at an art fair a few years ago from Catherine of By The Sea Driftwood.  I pretty much love all of her work.

A few more details from the right side including a huge whelk shell that we found on our first (and so far, only) trip to Kiawah Island. 

I picked up the vintage Zero fan last year at a local flea market.  $5 thankyouverymuch.  The glass jar on the left is a yard sale find that holds several pieces of sea glass.  That's actually probably two summers' worth of sea glass which tells me two things:  1. I need to visit some different beaches and 2. It's going to take a long time to fill that jar.  Fortunately I love the hunt.

Happy Summer and Happy Treasure Hunting!

Thanks for stopping by,

Friday Happy Spot

There's a spot in our breakfast area/family room that makes me smile whenever I look at it.  Yep, I pretty  much just love everything about it--not that's there's much to it.

Well here, let me show you...

Can you see it?  It's the shelf vignette just past the chandelier.

That's the spot.

When we revamped this area last fall, I decided it would be the perfect landing place for one of my recently displaced Ikea shelves.  I take great pride in noting that I installed the brackets and shelf all by myself-- with the help of a drill and a level.  And it's still there ☺.

Although there are only three things up there, they are 3 of my favorites.  And they were all cheap.

I love, love this painting.

  The colors.  Swoon.  I bought it at the Tri-Town Rotary flea market for $1. Yes, $1 orignal art.  Cannot. go. wrong.

This milk bottle collage print is from the Pottery Barn Outlet in Gaffney, SC.  $9.99. 

Considering I first saw it (and instantly coveted it) in 2004 at The Island Cow restaurant on Sanibel Island as part of their wall decor, I was thrilled to find it and make it mine.

The newest item, though I'm sure it's really the oldest thing up there, is the whelk shell. 

I broke my own rule and *gasp* bought it last year when we went to the Outer Banks.  I made the exception because the owner of the shop where I bought it assured me that he had personally found a whole big bunch of whelk shells on the beach in Corolla after a big storm the previous winter.  At $3, totally worth it.

So there it is: my $14 happy spot. 

Priceless.

Have a great weekend!

 

St. Patrick's Day sign

It was a wonderfully warm and sunny day here in coastal Massachusetts--which means Spring Fever is on!  Before I go full-on Spring and Easter decorating though, I have one more St. Patrick's Day project to share ☺.

Fittingly, this St. Patrick's Day sign is "green", as in eco-friendly. For the base of the sign I used an old game box, Scrabble I think.  I had to cut three pieces because the box alone wasn't long enough and we were all out of extra large pizza boxes in the recycling bin.  I taped everything together and then glued on old book pages.  After the glue dried, I painted a wash of spring green paint to the book pages.

The lettering was originally going to be glittery but I didn't have the patience.  Instead I used a combination of green paint and green Sharpie. 

I wanted to do something a little bit different than shamrocks, thus the rainbow.

You can't have a rainbow without a pot of gold, right?  I outlined the coins with a gold glitter pen to help them stand out.

And there you have it, a green, eco-friendly decoration for St. Patrick's Day! 

Thanks for stopping by,

Handmade Valentine Projects: Day 12, Valentine Word Art

Today's project just kind of happened.  There were a few different ideas spinning around in my head:  the uber popular subway art, Valentine's Day themed song lyrics and using the new, tiny tipped brush I bought for $1 at AC Moore to paint cursive words.  Add that to a scrap piece of plywood and some acrylic paints and this is what you get:

The lyrics are excerpted from The Beatles 'All You Need Is Love'.  I sort of painted them by the seat of my pants, without a lot of thought to spacing or exactly which lines of the song I wanted to highlight.  I started from the beginning and pretty much painted what fit (with at least one word omission) until it became clear that not all I wanted to paint would fit--so I skipped a few lines of the song and finished up with 'all you need is love, love is all you need'.

I'm looking at it as an experimental piece.  It could probably benefit from a darker background color to give more contrast with the writing.  Maybe some sort of mixed media heart in the center instead of just a painted one.  But I do love how the script turned out.  I freehanded all of it, and it took a while to complete but I just sat at the table while the kids did their homework so it didn't feel like a big deal.  I got more comfortable as I went along and by the end was hitting my stride.

Maybe I'll paint another one with a Springtime theme...and a bit more pre-planning☺.
Thanks for stopping by,

Handmade Valentine Projects: Day 2, Winged Door Heart

I'm kicking it up a notch for day 2, going big and going outside!

Today's project is a Valentine themed door decoration:  a Winged Door Heart. 
Just what every front door needs.

Please ignore the ugly brass lighting, needs to be painted or swapped out.

First, the inspiration.  Or should I say, Pin-spiration.

Source: callingallsleepyheads.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

The original project features a painted burlap shape, stapled together, stuffed with plastic bags.  Cheap and cute.

Here's my version.

I used off white canvas/duck cloth.  I have a bolt from a thrift store that has come in handy for a number of these type of projects.  I primed the cloth with white gesso then painted with regular acrylic paint--but just one side.  The back side is plain, no need for extra effort since this is hanging on an exterior door.

I freehanded the heart and the wings in pencil directly onto the cloth.  Cut out your pieces (front and back).  Stitch with a sewing machine~I like the detail.  Then stuff. 

I love the idea of using plastic grocery bags for stuffing.  Who knew??  I did use regular polyfil for the wings, too small and fussy for grocery bags.

Hopefully you can get a sense of the dimension in this photo.  Pleasantly plump, I'd say.

To attach the wings to the heart I used a combination of hand stitching and hot glue.  Again, not pretty but also not visible.

There you have it, a fun, whimsical winged Valentine decoration for your front door.

Even if Ebby says it looks like a giant blood spot as you drive up the driveway ;-).

Winter Cloche

It's stormy today but here along the coast we're just getting rain.

I can't say that I'm too upset about that.  I've decided that I'd be happy with a mild, make that very mild, winter.

The other morning we did wake up to a light dusting of snow.  The kind of snow you can just sprinkle some ice melt on the steps and call it clear, no snowblower required.  It was also the kind of snow that made a lovely backdrop for photos of my new winter cloche.

My Mom participated in the 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas mini workshop offered last month by several talented artists/bloggers.  Lucky me, I had a birthday and was gifted this wonderful winter cloche my mom created during the workshop.

My favorite thing is the blue silk bow around the glittered deer's neck

I also really like the {bleached} white bottle brush, pearl bedecked trees.

And the fence is adorable.

As is the sparkly, pearly topper.

Yep, I love it all.

And really, I'd be happy if this cloche was all the winter I experienced this year!

Winter Wonderland mural

Once again, it's almost Christmas and I'm running behind on my to-do list.  It's actually my to-make list that's in disarray.  I really need to start Christmas gift crafting in January!  Maybe one of these years I'll learn...

In the meantime, I was looking through pictures of Christmases past, and what to my wondering eyes should appear:  my Winter Wonderland mural from 2005!    

Yep, I painted this mural in our soaring foyer in North Carolina the first Christmas we were there.  It was going to be painted over in January so I decided to go for it.  I loved it.  The kids loved it.  The guests we invited to our Christmas Open House that year loved it.  I'm guessing had we left it there the people that eventually bought the house from us in 2008 would not have loved it.  It was May after all.  Although, the mom told me she planned on leaving the robots I painted on the walls in the boys room.

There are no winter (or other seasonal) murals on the walls in our current home so I thought I'd share a peek back (once again...) at our whimsical Wonderland.

Enjoy the season!

 

My {Thrift Store} Desk: Before and After

I bought my current desk at the Salvation Army either two or three years ago. 

What I liked about it:  lots of surface area, great drawer space and fairly dirt cheap at $30.

What I didn't like about it:  the dark color and the faux/laminate wood grain.

It took me until this summer to finally tackle the task of painting my desk.  Apparently I'm easily intimidated by certain projects (see: painting kitchen cabinets...).

With a little help from Bobby Law, my desk was hauled into the garage, finally marked for renovation.

After months of searching, I'd found my Mouse sander and put 'er to work sanding down the desk and {removed} drawers.

Next step: a coat of stinky, stain blocking primer.  I think it was Kilz.  It was definitely latex and I definitely need more of it.  Perhaps the less stinky kind though.

After priming I let the primer cure for a few days.  Sometimes laziness can be to your benefit.  In the meantime I had to decide what color to paint the topcoat.  Rather, which shade of blue to paint the topcoat.  I think I currently have about 7 different shades of blue/turquoise paint in inventory.  I decided on a rather bold and bright choice:  Rapids by Valspar, aka the color of Ebby's walls.

I did two coats and a couple of coats of Minwax water based poly.

Ah, so much better.

My next conundrum was the drawer hardware.  I considered replacing it, spray painting it another color or filling in the holes and using Hobby Lobby grade crystal knobs.  In the end my mom helped me decide that the original pulls with their vintage-y patina would look best.

I totally agree.

With the addition of a few updated desk accessories, I was back in business.

You know, if I had a business.  Or could figure out what kind of business I could be in.    

I'm loving my "new" desk.  My new red leather desk chair {from Office Max, here} and unobstructed view of the Bloom garden give me even more reason to spend time here.

 

Because, you know, it's important to have a colorful, comfortable place to sit while you browse on Pinterest.