Mix It Up!

 One of the very creative artists in the St. Michaels Art League (SMAL) loves 'mixed media' and has chaired a show during the month of January called 'Mix it Up!'  January is a tough time to do a show because everyone is just 'recovering' from the holidays...and it takes a while to create something new.

Somehow she manages to get enough people to jump on board with this and we turn out amazing, creative pieces. Nancy works hard to make this all work and I wanted to support her efforts so I rummaged through a pile of old art pieces to see if I could mix something up.

I found an old small canvas that I had worked on in a class a few years ago. I don't remember the class assignment, but I do remember that I had had fun working on it. The finished piece had been sitting on an easel in my shop one day when I was doing some woodworking and, as I remember, something slipped and a piece of wood went flying toward the canvas and tore a hole in it. 

It was still hanging around, so picked it up and thought I would work on it for the show. Originally, I had begun by painting the canvas... thinking of an underwater scene. 

A few weeks before I had been on a 'field trip' with my art group. We had gone with cameras in hand to a harbor. I was more fascinated with the 'stuff' lying around than with the boats.  Here are just a few of the photos I took that day.

I cut and pasted... and ended up with this scene! 

I love it that I could find a fish and fish eye in all that tangle!

But, now I had a gash in the canvas. I needed to repair and update...  I found the old photographs on my computer (how I love the search button!), and tried a few things. I was able to cover the ripped canvas with some chains. And then, just for fun, I cut out some bubbles and glued them on, too.

"Environmental Concerns"