Positively Treasures of Time
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| Treasures of Time |
2012 has unwound his hands of time, and 2013 is all wound up and ready to begin her new adventure of time!
With each new year, reflection fills my mind and heart. I find myself collecting memories and sorting through them. I admit, I am a collector. A collector of stuff from all eras. Everything from old buttons that once adorned faux fur coats, to loopy keys of obsolete machines, dear old jewelry boxes, abandoned vehicles and houses of years gone by. I collect watches that no longer keep time but still capture my eye with their unique designs and colours, door hinges with twists and bends that used to help doors welcome friends and relatives in for a visit find their way into my treasure boxes , shiny belt buckles with curly cues complimenting tooled leather western belts, patina tarnished pieces of antique decorations, forgotten bottle caps, colourful fortrel material and intricate lace of dresses once loved, anything that may have tantalizing texture and delightful designs.
With each new year, one finds herself making decisions. The saying, "Out with the old and in with the new" comes to mind. I have decided to dive into my collections and to start purging. Throw out what is junk, and keep and do something with the treasures that I just can't part with and display them in an artful way.
I have been contemplating doing multi-media collage and finally, have decided to use my photographs and to alter some of my collections to create art. The photographs are of my kittens, now two years old. One photo is of one of our lost cats. He was so tiny, shy and scared as a kitten, he reminded us of the character from Hogan's Heroes, Le Beaux. He ended up being the most cuddly, friendly brave cat of the litter. Unfortunately, he has disappeared from our life, but has appeared in my art, in pen and ink, and now in my collage. He is a good reminder that people and animals can change with a lot of love and attention and courage, and that they should not be dismissed if at first they seem shy and uncertain.
I began the pieces by using different textures of lace and rickrack. The colours were irrelevant, as I knew that I was going to gesso over the whole piece to make the piece cohesive, and add colour at the end. Mod Podge was recommended to do a collage of mixed media. I made my own using a 50:50 ratio of glue to water and then mixed them together in a jar with a lid. I used old buttons, keys, beads, a door latch, belt buckles, a watch band, a plug in switch cover, an old diaper pin, a ring with a dove from matrimonial cake from a wedding favour, an old wire twisted, a ornament from a wind chime, two dominoes, wire fasteners from an old coat, a bottle cap that I bent to make a flower shape, all attached to a 8x8 canvas.
The second piece features Le Beaux's sister, Painted Smile, and his brothers, Jacques Cartier and Fluffy. Painted Smile is now our house/barn cat because she is a constant target for the the others to torment, fight with and chase up a tree. I am sure if you are a regular follower that you are probably sick of my cat lady stories. So I will say no more about the cats. On this piece, I used my Grandma Edna's antique curlers, buttons, keys, a diaper pin, a watch that I wire wrapped, originally for a decoration, two old watch bands, my old barrettes, and several other treasures. There sure a lot of memories tied to these little trinkets. It sure was enjoyable to create these pieces.
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| Please Be My Friend |
2012 was a year for trying new things, and my goal for this year is to continue to try new things. Last year, gee that sounds weird, since last year was only yesterday; I found myself in watercolour lessons, drawing lessons involving gesture drawing, contour drawings, still life with pastels, chalk and oil, watercolour pencils, graphite, and I attended art talks and critiques.
For the first time, I drew my father-in law's 100 year old house from an unusual perspective in pen and ink, and felt brave enough to give it away as a Christmas gift. I am proud to say he was tickled pink and has displayed it in his entrance way so all of his friends can see it. They were very encouraging with their compliments and some asked if i would draw their houses...I don't know, there is so mush math involved... well maybe I should....
My 2012 art adventures enticed me to joined an on-line art challenge to create 29 faces of September, I shared many of my photographs and stories on my blog, created animation videos and Photo Story videos, created art on my iPad, and tried mixed media in my art journal, on canvases and have even done some clay work.
Lately it has been a challenge to blog, because my computer is still not fixed, so thank you for being patient with me. My son bought me a keyboard for my iPad for Christmas, so I may be able to blog more with it until my computer returns home to me. The challenge is getting my photographs onto the blog. Oh, well, that's life in the technology age!
It has been a really fun art year for me, and I am going to continue to develop my skills and share the developments with others. I feel positively motivated, inspired and ready for new art adventures!
When people comment, I don't have time to do this or do that, I know shake my head and say,"If it is important to you, you will find the time and make the time!" 2012 and my newest pieces are a salute to making time to do what I love...creating, exploring, reflecting, writing...My art has become my treasure of time. My time, and now your time!
Happy New Year! I hope we can continue to be blogger friends. Best wishes and here's to a new year full of love, happiness, good health, art,...Let's keep sharing and exploring, creating and reflecting, encouraging each other and doing nice things for others and ourselves! Positively treasure the time that you have on this beautiful, glorious earth!
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| Grandma Beck's Mitts |
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| Mom's Tarts |
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| Happy New Year From My House to Yours |
The art is soul property of Renee Dowling.
To use her images or to commission her to do a mixed-media collage for you,
please contact her at
You are so creative!!!!! I too have been a bit of a 'collector' but have been on a bit of a purging kick lately. However, your beautiful creativeness may save a few items .... that is if I can think of anything creative to do with them! Haha! Here is to the happy return of your computer soon and a wonderful year of blogging and artwork! Happy New Year Renee!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Terri. This is so fun, you should give it a try. I bet you would have some really cool treasures in your garage/shop on the farm. My next adventure when I am done this series is to find old maps and atlases to make art with.
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