Friday, July 23, 2010

Found Objects #1: Rainbows and Neutrals

FlowerPower 1. Items include nylon pinwheel flower and vintage painted wooden trim from the old shed/coop we took down.

FlowerPower 2. Items include the pinwheel, some of the wood from above, an old iron engine piece and a battery of some sort.

FlowerPower 3. Items Include a few of the items above in addition to some iron pieces picked up along the train tracks. I especially like the intricately cut piece of Victorian wooden trim.

D I G I T A L   P H O T O G R A P H Y — Taking down an old shed on the property earlier this spring, and bulldozing the backyard, clearing away decades of old wild roses and brambles, I found a ton of interesting stuff. Well, interesting to me. I had to keep grabbing stuff and bringing it around to the front of the house away from the guys that were doing the work so they wouldn't throw it in the dumpster. As it was I did a dumpster dive every night and always found a few things that had 'gotten away' from me. Everything was junk to them, as perhaps, it actually is, lol.

I love to find stuff, arrange it and take photos, seeing what works and doesn't. It's a great exercise in subject and placement, and I find satisfaction in creating distinctive abstract images out of not much at all. I've kept all of the individual pieces, and have used some of the iron/steel pieces around the gardens. I've planted basil in the circular rusted engine parts, in pots set into the opening, and have had many compliments... The heavy iron 'J' is an old railroad item, and have about 25 of them lining one of the gardens on top of the wooden railroad-ties borders. The rainbow pinwheel will probably end up on a piece of wooden art in some manner, and the decaying wood with flaking original blue paint will definitely be used as borders on my wooden art. I've been drying out those painted pieces since April and they will look really great under several coats of polyurethane. You'll also see a piece of bone here and there, either from 'wild' animals, farm animals or just food items tossed out in a pile. This old house was a working farm until the early 20th century so there were all sorts of old dump sites too.

I will probably print out these studies and use them on wood along with the original objects for a sense of depth and to illustrate the passage of time. I love looking at an actual object at the same time I'm looking at a photo of it from another period of time. Many, many of my pieces have photos of my earlier pieces incorporated into them to give a timeline in a sense, and to give future art historians something to study, lolololol.

I have several groups of images like this from this same week of deconstruction, and will post them soon.

8 comments:

  1. I particularly like the first one - (your jpeg Flowerpower2 but captioned as Flowerpower1)
    The old wood has a patina'd feel to it and works so well with the pinwheel and stone background. I'd hang it on my wall.

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  2. lol, i arranged them to look good on the page without thinking of their file names! the one you liked is the one I'll probably print out the largest to use on wood. Most of my 'bases' this time around seem to be shaping up to be multiple pieces of wood, so I'm not sure how anything is going to look when it's done. I plan on taking photos of the process. So far I've only cut some of the wood and done some preliminary sanding. i have more than 1,500 images I've worked on during the past year to sort through. I'll probably print out 200-300 and then see what works with each other.

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  3. OH CASEY, I REALLY, REALLY LOVE THE FIRST AND THRID PICTURE THE BEST. IT COULD BE PICTURES OF MY BROTHERS' OLD SHED PARTS. I ALSO LOVE THE COLOR MIX. LIKE PHANTOM SAID, I'D HANG IT. IT WOULD BLEND WELL WITH MY COLORS. JUST BEAUTIFUL. IF I HAD TO CHOOSE ANY ONE PIECE OF OF YOUR ART , I'D HAVE TO SAY ONE OF EACH.I REALLY LOVE YOUR QUILT ART. KEEP IT COMING. GRANNY

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  4. thank you! we had several old sheds around my old family house too, and I used to love to get in them and 'excavate' old stuff. I guess we end up doing things as an adult that you loved as a child, if you're lucky!

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  5. AND I WAS LUCKY. THE OLD SHED WAS SO OLD IT WAS BEING HELD UP BY THE JUNK INSIDE.[YOU,MY BROTHER AND MYSELF WOULD CALL JUNK TREASURES] ANYWAYS MY BROTHER LOVED THAT OLD SHED SO MUCH THAT HE PAID A FRIEND TO COME OVER AND THE TWO OF THEM BRACED IT UP AND PUT A NEW FRONT ON THE BUILDING. THE ONE GOOD THING THAT CAME OUT OF THE SHED BEING FIX UP WAS ALOT OF REAL JUNK GOT THROW AWAY. PLASTIC BAG, PAPER ETC.IT WAS A WONDERFUL DAY TO SEE IT CLEANED UP AND STILL SEE ALL THE OLD THINGS PUT BACK INTO THAT SHED. IT WAS BUILT WAY, WAY OVER 100 YEARS AGO. HIS ATTIC HAS ALOT OF HISTORY ON THE WALLS. THERE COVERED WITH NEWSPAPER DATING WAY WAY BACK. IT WAS PUT ON THE WALLS TO KEEP THE COLD OUT. MORE LATER

    GRANNY

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  6. I have some old newspapers that I found under linoleum in a friend's attic. it had been there since the 1920s and was in remarkably good shape. I love the ads in them, the old cars, and the old medical remedies. I would be fascinated by your brother's attic I know it! it's great he found someone to help shore up the shed too

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  7. A LADY FRIEND OF MY BROTHER TOLD ME ONE TIME A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN I OWNED THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR TO HIM SHE KNEW THAT WAY BACK IN THE RAFTERS WAS A LARGE STAIN GLASS LAMP. THE KIND YOU'D HANG OVER THE DINNINGROOM TABLE. SHE SAID, YOU REALLY NEED TO GET THAT OUT OF THERE AND ASK HIM IF I COULD HAVE IT [MEANING ME]. SO ONE DAY I DID JUST THAT AND HE SAID SURE TAKE IT. SO THERE'S GRAMPS ON HIS KNEES CREEPING EVER SO CAREFULLY BACK ON THOSE RAFTERS WITH NO FLOORING AND MANAGED TO DRAG IT OUT TO THE PART OF THE ATTICE THAT DID HAVE FLOORING. MY HERO. WHEN I SAWIT I KNEW I HAD SOMETHING REAL SPECIAL. IT HAD YEARS OF DIRT AND SUCH BUILT UP ON IT BUT I DIDN'T CARE. WE CARRIED THAT BEAUTIFUL SHADE EVER SO CAREFUL DOWN THE OLD WOOD STAIRCASE. THE STAIRS HAD EVER SO SMALL STEPS. WE CARRIED IT RIGHT OUT TO THE SIDE YARD. I GOT A PAN OF HOT WATER AND SOAP AND STARTED TO CLEAN THE GLASS. OMG! HOW BEAUTIFUL. AFTER I GOT IT OH SO SHINNY, I TOOK A GOOD LOOK AT IT AND KNEW THIS WASN'T JUNK. I MADE THE MISTAKE OF RUNNING THROUGH THE HOUSE YELLING TO ED HOW BEAUTIFUL THE GLASS WAS AFTER SPENDING OVER AN HOUR CLEANING IT. THEN,I SAID, I BET IT WORTH $1000.00. HE LOOKED AT ME AND THEN SAID, I BETTER KEEP IT THEN. I NEVER FORGAVE HIM FOR NOT LETTING ME HAVE THAT LAMP. I HAD THE PERFECT DINNING ROOM TO PUT IT IN, BUT HE WOULDN'T UNTIL THIS DAY GIVE ME MY GRANDMOTHERS OLD LAMP. GRAMPS AND I WOULD SPEND SUMMER IN OUR HOUSE UP THERE AND SPEND OUR WINTERS IN OUR HOUSE HERE BY ORLANDO. THE ORLANDO HOUSE IS WHERE I WOULD HAVE HUNG THAT LAMP. IT WOULD HAVE HAD ALOT OF LOVE. NOW IT'S SITTING IN THAT DARK ATTIC COLLECTING DIRT ONCE AGAIN. ISN'T THAT SAD. WHEN HE DIES HIS GIRLS WILL JUST SELL IT FOR THE MONEY.

    GRANNY

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  8. oh Granny, I'm sorry! i hate that story! i can't even watch shows like Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers, because all they focus on is the monetary value. I probably have stuff worth money in my 'collection' and yes, i'm poor and could use the cash, but the objects mean so much more to me. I'd rather go without than sell something that has been in my family for 100 years. Same thing with broken antiques. If something has been around for 100-200 years, I am surely NOT going to be the one to toss it in the junkyard, even if it's cracked or shattered. I have boxes and boxes of broken things I swear I'm going to use in my art someday.

    I'm really sorry you haven't been able to enjoy that lamp. Once your brother told you you could have it, he shouldn't have ever gone back on his word.

    we live and learn!

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