JP Dawes Art

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.

Back to my first love of oil painting

| JP Dawes Artist

I received my first oil painting set when I was 15. I had been taking art classes in high school and learned how to build the frame and stretch the canvas. Then of course I had to prime it. The inexpensive way we did that in the class was with white house paint after it had been wet and dried to get the wrinkles out. Those were the times when exterior paint had lead in it. Not exactly what I would want to use now.

Thankfully gesso is reasonably priced now and there are also plenty of options for commercially prepared canvases. There are primed stretched canvases, primed canvas boards, canvas or linen covered panels, primed birch panels and unprimed birch panels. If you aren’t a traditionalist there are lots of choices for you now.