Patti Edmon Artist

I don't know what it is about buttons... I have hundreds of them. And light switch plates... Maybe because people buy them? I am finishing up a dozen  for Street Scene and these three, part of a bird series, were so much fun to do! I love playing in alcohol inks and Lumieres, bringing sticks in from the yard, and grunging scraps of papers and beads; the challenge of a small 'canvas.'  I visit blogs to soak in the depth and extraordinary feeling of creation, whether it be dark or whimsical, and I keep saying I'm going to pour my soul onto journal pages, alter with abandon, collage wildly, paint with huge fat brushes on giant, well, a space bigger than 3 x 5, but, always after I get the switch plates done. I don't make a lot of money (obviously) on these, but it is very gratifying to know that people enjoy them enough to put them in their homes and that I'm paying for a portion, even if it is tiny, of my art supplies.  I just read a great quote by Dorothy Parker: ...

One word of warning when using alcohol ink...and most of you probably already know - wear gloves!! I went to church this morning looking like I'd just changed the oil in my car, which wouldn't be bad I suppose.... But, it doesn't wash off!!

Finally, after two months, my Assemblook  (deMeng terminology:) from the Random Arts workshop is complete. I knew if I didn't finish it I'd put it away and diminish all the time, energy and creative resources I'd spent learning from Michael deMeng, such a fabulous teacher.  Altering a book seemed like a fairly simple task, until I realized that there would be four layers of foam board on each 'page' and that, like the rest of my life, it would be an open book. (It will close - not the huge opening in the left side) but then I'd have to do the cover - ha). After many batches of the uszzzzzhhhh!!, mixing paint to look a bit like verdigris, burnt paper and other tricks of his trade, sticky from adding mica, Wholey Paper and everything else I could get my hands on, I feel a sense of completion. Now, I only wish I could take another workshop.... Left-hand 'page' Click on the Right hand page to view in Flikr Right hand 'page' 

It's amazing how many household objects are ideal for altered art; if it can be embellished then it's fair game. I've been working on a series of light switch plates - some for consignment and a few custom pieces (yes, yay!) and it's quite habit forming. Vintage, retro, funky, fairy, pick a theme! The Roundup plate is for Jeff Rogers, a commercial and fine art photographer, who also happens to be one of my best buds. Working small also has the advantage of requiring smaller windows of time - I can satisfy the daily need to create whether I have twenty minutes or two hours.  

I started making altered art puzzle pieces long before I realized you could buy blank ones in craft stores. I found a couple of old puzzles in the basement that my kids had outgrown, i.e., with pieces large enough to paint, distress, collage, grunge, add vintage buttons, embellish with photographs, type, etc. There is a great satisfaction in making recycled art, although I admit to purchasing more than my fair share of art supplies, I'm always gathering the old stuff others discard, the kind you can read about in most every artist's book on collage, collecting, assemblage technique. I have the same feeling they described, of always having been a packrat, now I'm one with purpose.