Winter UFOs

In the craft world, UFOs are "Unfinished Objects."  We've all got them - that stack of half finished projects you started long ago but for one reason or another never finished, yet haven't quite been able to discard them. 

The pandemic plus a bitterly cold winter, has led to LOTS of staying-at-home time to sort through and cull all that stuff that's piled up over the years. Which unearthed a bunch of my UFOs.

Sometimes I cut up or repurpose old unfinished (or failed) collage or assemblage pieces and use them as fodder in new works, but here are three that I decided to actually finish:

Collaged Wooden Box

I started this box in a Shake Rag Alley workshop taught by Madison collage artist Rita Yanny back in 2007 (who says I'm not a packrat). Rita brought 4x8x5 wooden boxes to use as substrates which I painted using mixed media paint layering techniques, something I was just learning to do at the time. Not surprisingly it never really came together. So this time around I instead collaged the sides and top with various papers, actually using up some of my old UFO collages in the process (yeah!). Built up the flat top with some wood blocks and a wood ball, and added "feet." Left the original paint showing on the edges of the lid and base just for funky effect. I guess this was more of a redo than a completion, but I like the results much better than the old paint job.

Chunky Mixed Media Book

 
In 2010 I attended a Create Mixed Media Retreat sponsored by Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, where I took a workshop with Leighanna Light who does wonderfully fun and funky handmade books. This particular book is made from a single strip of accordion folded unstretched canvas. Leighanna mixes up a lot of dissimilar materials, like adding metal to cloth, hence the old tin plates on the front and back covers. Didn't alter the covers though I did add a bunch of sticks to the spine. I did, however redo all the interior pages. Mixed feelings about the results. I've always liked the cover, still do...just not so sure about the inside pages. Sigh. Maybe some things are just not meant to be.

Mixed Media Collage Portrait

This piece is probably the first time I felt I was successful incorporating one of my portrait drawings into a collage, something I had been trying to do for a long time. I created it in a Shake Rag Alley workshop with Andrea DeMeng in 2016. Although I considered it finished at the time and even entered it in a WRAP show, I later felt some alterations were needed.

Here's a (really bad) photo of it at the end of the workshop - 

The workshop project was to make this hang like a scroll (it's about 6 inches by 17 inches). Andrea had designed a clever hanger but for some reason I never could get mine to hang straight. So I ditched the hanger and mounted it on a piece of lumber - happily happened to have a board in just the right width. Then in my recent modifications I added the hat and the hand holding a flower, touched up the facial features, and simplified the clothing. Now it feels done to me. I'm planning to enter it in an upcoming WRAP show so we'll see what kind of a reception it gets.