SPRING CLEANING - or - SHOWING OFF YOUR SOUVENIRS

It is that time of year again - time for Spring Cleaning.  Time to clean out the drawers, organize, and clean,

Below see the collage I did for my niece Mallory using souvenirs she collected after spending a year in Europe.  She didn't want to put them into an album - she wanted to be able to look at them and share them with her friends.  She recently moved into her first apartment, so I put this together as a housewarming gift for her.

This is an inexpensive way to create a piece of art that is uniquely your own using your memories.   I have done several of these for friends using souvenirs from trips or special events.   I use the original material selectively and copy others, changing the scale and dying the paper.   I then add embelishments that might include rice paper, thread, or anything that is appropriate.

This is another example of what I call a "memory collage".  My father rebuilt pianos, and also knew how to tune them.  This was something he loved doing and I inherited his book on piano tuning - which included notations my dad had made in his handwriting.  I copied some of this and did a collage entitled "Showing of the Piano" - which is a term piano tuners use when the piano is ready to be played.  This collage keeps my father's memory alive with something he really loved!

Do you have materials stuck back somewhere that you would like to organize and "show off" in a piece of original art?   I'd be happy to put something together and work closely with what is important to include for a reasonable fee.   If interested, contact me at vickiemartinarts@comcast.net

Also, if you have done collage along these lines, share them with me!