. . . recycled art material

I almost hate to tell you how this piece was created. . . but I will. I apply blue painters' tape to the edges of my canvases and papers when I paint so I will have a nice clean edge. I have been saving these tapes and created this piece by applying strips to a piece of black matteboard. I have experimented with cutting the tape into different shapes and sizes and will show more of this later. Five days and five pieces of art. . . that's good for me. I'm taking today off and going to the Brookside Art Fair with Betsy.



My poor sainted husband works about 200 hours a week. He usually has a half day off during the week, and only goes in occasionally and briefly on Sundays. So yesterday, he had a choice of driving me around to take pictures or mowing the lawn. He chose me. He likes to drive and explore and where I wanted to go was not somewhere I would feel comfortable going alone. This picture was taken at a decrepit used car lot where he knew the owner and the owner let me have free reign. There was an old bus in the back and this is a cropped enhanced shot of one of its tail lights. Then we found a massive dump site for rusted metal. I asked the lady in the office if I could take pictures. She was grumpy, initially, and wanted to know what kind of pictures I intended to take. I told her I was an artist doing a series entitled "heavy equipment" and I was looking for rusty old broken down machinery. She told me, "Honey, you've come to the right place," and let me have at it. The next place was a recycle center. I came in the side entrance and started snapping away. A woman came running up to me and told me I couldn't take pictures. I explained again, and she said I would have to speak to the owner. Again, I explained to Bill, who told me I couldn't take pictures. When I asked him why, he said that I could be from the City and be looking for violations. I said, okay, no problem. I pointed to a wheelbarrow full of copper pipes and gauges and said that was cool. He said, Okay, take a picture of that. Then he said, wanna take a picture of that big pile of stuff? So, yeah, I did. We became fast friends discussing the problem of stolen metal being turned in to him for money, and how he required ID from anyone bringing in recycled materials. Oh, the places we went. . . lots of inspiration for additions to the "heavy equipment" series. Also learned that if you tell people you are an artist, they are interested (but think you might be weird.)