Author: JP Dawes Artist

Coffee Time Tin Tile Assemblage

| JP Dawes Artist

The starting point for this tin tile assemblage was the center Beech Nut vintage Coffee paper from the front of a matchbook. Next was the paper clock face and the clock hands to represent a vintage clock. Because I knew I was going to use the vintage sheet music, I wanted to turn the whole tile into an interactive artwork that can be strummed. I don’t think you can actually make music on it but it does make sound . I punched holes in the tin with a nail and hammer. Then I individually strung silver wire top to bottom.

The music is again from my mother’s sheet music from the 1940’s. The Coffee Song (which wasn’t originally about coffee) reads ” Love while you may, too soon youth fades away, so come, come, sing for awhile my song.” All us coffee lovers remember how we could drink gallons of coffee in our youth but youth fades away along with our ability to drink gallons of this stuff. Nostalgic.

BLUEBIRD LAND ASSEMBLAGE

| JP Dawes Artist

I bought these wonderful antique tin ceiling tiles from someone on Facebook Marketplace. They were just too good to pass up. Most ceiling tiles you see are squares or circle patterns, these are a little rarer. I can think of a lot of assemblage compositions using these.

This first one is named Bluebird Land. If you can enlarge the photo of the finished piece you can see the antique music decoupaged at the top. My mother was a singer on WSOY radio when she was young and I have most of her music from that time period. It hasn’t fared well and is pretty ragged and crumbly. I don’t mind using it for projects like this since it gives it new life.

Assemblage Art

| JP Dawes Artist

I have always had a love for finding ways to use ‘stuff’ in my artwork. An art quilt heavy with embellishments, artist trading cards, canvas collage with embellishments, all found their way into my art.

I collect ‘stuff’ that is interesting on its own but always with an eye for ‘what if’. Metal decor items, old tin box. plastic bones, doorbell and a mirror. Hmmm, what will they become? I am having a lot of fun combining painting with some of these treasures. Stay tuned to see what is coming up.

Alla Prima paintings

| JP Dawes Artist

I heard about this art competition on a Facebook friend’s timeline. I liked that it was within easy driving distance for delivery and pick up of art work. Shipping artwork there and back gets expensive when the competition/exhibition is not within driving distance. Since I am actively building my painting resume this looked like something I should jury for. I only had a few days before the jury deadline. Thankfully I had work done and photographed to submit. These are the 4 works accepted into the competition. They are all plein air oil paintings done alla prima.

“Fall”-ing into a change

| JP Dawes Artist

The massive Bernina quilting frame and mid-arm machine are gone from the space. It is in the process of being transformed into a painting studio. ( Yes, there will still be a small space for stitching but I am slowly divesting those materials. ) I had set up a painting studio and pastel table in the middle bedroom but it was way too small to get much done. I had stuff there and more stuff here and what I needed wasn’t readily at hand. That meant trudging to the other end of the house. Now, I needed the exercise but it really cut into my creative time since I would go through the living room and something else that needed done would grab my attention.

Those terrific map file drawers are wonderful. I can’t believe I was lucky enough to find them. The plan was for all my DMC wooden drawers to sit on top . It looked smashing! But they were too heavy and caused the top file drawer to get caught. Darn. So a little change of plan was in order.

This is a good start, I will keep you posted on the progress.