At Home with the Artist: DIY Gallery Wall

So I have been waiting to spiff up our office for a long time. It's hard because it's really more of a working room. We use it a ton and there's always stuff laying out or projects or paintings being done. It's hard to style as a result. I have always known I wanted to do a big gallery wall on the wall farthest from the door. It was on my list to do this summer. I had to wait to complete it until last week since the large painting I wanted to hang up was still being displayed at a show. Here is my before picture of the wall:

First step, I laid everything out on the floor in front of the wall and rearranged it several times until I got the configuration I wanted. All the pieces were made by me, except the picture collage in the middle, which my brother made for me and there are a couple of photographs, one from online (it was a free printable) and one a student gave me.

After I had it all laid out more or less where I wanted it, I start hanging and moving and hanging and adjusting... etc...

Hung up the largest painting first!

And then I just kept hanging, moving to the left...

And here's the final product. I love the way it makes the room seem more cozy and really add some personality to that wall. 

At Home with the Artist: Europe Trip!

At home with the artist or should I say traveling abroad with the artist! My amazing husband took me to Europe this summer. It was a whirl wind tour of five different countries; Italy, France, England, Wales, and Ireland, with short stops in Prague and Iceland as well. It was amazing and the fulfillment of a life-long dream for me. So here is just a sample of the hundreds of pictures we took. Don't worry, if you want to see them all, I have no problem showing them!

Look at us, so excited for the travels! Our first stop was Rome, we only had a few short days there but man did we see a lot, and walk a lot!

Me at the Parthenon!

Trevi Fountain

Of course the Colosseum.

After we spent all day in the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. It was amazing...

What a great view of the city on our last day in Rome! After this we journeyed by plane to Paris, France where we had more adventures, loved the food and did some relaxing. Because of a last minute flight cancellation (we're still irritated at Ryanair!) we made a quick stop in Prague on the way, so technically we went there too!

We did tons of sight seeing in Paris, including the Arc de Triomphe...

Notre Dame where you could light a candle and say a prayer along with enjoy the amazing architecture.

And of course the Eiffel Tower!

And yes we did kiss at the top!

We spent a ton of time at The Louvre as you might imagine.

And we did spend a part of a day lounging around in the park and sketching!

After our Parisian adventures, we looked forward to heading to England where we spoke the language and the temperature was much cooler. Instead of flying, we took a train the Calais, and then a ferry into Dover to see the white cliffs and then another train into London.

Check out those white cliffs!

While in London we made sure to see all the important sights, we took a bus tour and walked around on our own. We even went to the Natural History Museum for an afternoon.

 First thing on our list was Big Ben, then...

Trafalgar Square (which I cannot pronounce for the life of me!)

The London Eye

I had to have my photo with the red phone booth!

We took a river cruise on the Thames.

And last but certainty not least, we visited Platform 9 3/4 where of course I tried to escape from Keenan and journey to Hogwarts to spend the rest of my life! 

Our last stop in England was really in Wales. We made a day trip to Cardiff to do yet another dorky thing and take in the Doctor Who Experience. Which was amazing and I highly recommend it for anyone calling themselves a Whovian. I got to fly the Tardis for crying out loud!

Now on to our final destination, Ireland! We were so looking forward to this because other than kissing the Blarney Stone, our goal in Ireland was to relax and enjoy the breathtaking scenery and quite atmosphere. 

We flew into Dublin a rented a car. Eek! My husband drove on the wrong side of the road (from what we're used to) in a manual all the way to Wexford! It was a bit nerve-wracking to say the least. He was amazing and we had no serious issues at all. 

We stayed at this amazing B&B farmhouse and castle. It was beautiful, completely quite and serene and so cool!

We climbed up into the old castle ruins and it was just life a book come to life!

While we were there we did a walking tour of Wexford. The history of Wexford town was amazing and learned so much I didn't know in an hour or so. The image above is a church that the clergy weren't able to afford anymore so they took the windows and roof off and as a result it was legally declared a ruin and they didn't have to pay taxes on it anymore. Those sneaky priests!

Of course you can't visit Ireland without visiting Blarney Castle, which we did. Again, Keenan drove for which I was so thankful because the bus ride to Cork would have been horrendous!

You better believe I kissed that stone!

While at Blarney Castle, don't forget to check out the gardens and trails. They are seriously like some sort of fairy tale. I kept telling Keenan to watch out that he didn't step in a fairy circle and get transported to another realm. He laughed at me of course, but how could you not believe in magic in a place like this!?

Our last adventure was to fly home. From Dublin we flew into Reykjavik, Iceland and then onto Toronto and then a drive home. Whew! One cool thing was that we flew over what we're pretty sure was Greenland. Look at those amazing snow capped mountains! What an awesome adventure, I still can't believe we did all that, it was perfect!

A Peak Inside my Portfolio: Assemblage Series Finished!

Again, another throwback to a much older post. I finished my assemblage series many months ago and even exhibited them since then! However I am just now getting around the writing the final post about them. It's summer's fault I swear! In my last post which you can find here, I showed the painting of the woman with the ribbon hair, now completely finished it looks like this: 

And this mixed media piece incorporating natural elements, which is finished:

I also worked on three other pieces during this class, they all incorporated fiber arts and natural materials. This first one is a comment on decisions involving love, specifically in my life, but my hope is that viewers will see there own choices and love reflected in this piece as well. 

In progress...

In progress...

In progress...

And finished product, please ignore the other piece in the corner, it was on display when I took the picture. The second of my pieces involved the idea of grief. I used a combination yarn, branches and wax. Sadly, I don't have a good image for this one!

The last piece I worked on was a bit of a culmination of the the whole series. I wanted to depict moments or frames of life and how each moment is a choice and the all connect together and create a 'tapestry' of my life and the choices made therein. As you will see, I went through a ton of steps and reconstructions to create the final piece.

Composition work...

Redo composition

And more composition change.

Finally starting on the final piece.

Got all the pieces on and decided I didn't like it... ripped them all off.

On the right track!

Continuing to work...

Final piece. Although it's not my favorite, I do feel like it communicated my idea successfully and was a good end to this class and series.