FUNDAY MONDAY April 7, 2014... # 3 Thinking Outside The Box.

 Funday Monday blog prompt - thinking outside the box. and I mean this in terms of the tools you use - not just your everyday brushes and paint. Do you ever see a stick and wonder what kind of mark it would make? Do you ever - while cleaning the kitchen - wonder about the texture and color the coffee grounds might have? the burnt embers in your fireplace? If you are a musician - do you secretly listen to theTango music of Gordel, or maybe Katie Perry? If you are writer, do you look at The Enquirer. We'd love to know how you think outside the proverbial BOX. Show us what you have done if you can! We all learn from each other.

Vickie  has asked us to write about how we are thinking outside the box…That is pretty much how my life has gone over the many years I have been thinking for myself…or at least as far back as I can remember. I was never one to follow the rules or color inside the lines and because of that I spent many hours in the corner as a child and in trouble, albeit minor, as I grew up both at home and at school. I was never a follower, always swimming upstream, going against the norm and I hated when others tried to tell me how or what to do. That is not to say I have not learned and been influenced by others. But I have taken the information I have gleaned from others and played around with it, sometimes following the directions but many times making my own directions. But I learned and then if I liked what I learned I went on to do my own thing and if not I discarded the information or stored it away for future reference.

I stepped outside the box with my yard and with my ideas and my husband's very hard work we now call it our garden because it is no longer just a yard. It is an art gallery, a woodland, a butterfly garden, a place to display my collection of eclectic stuff and a place to relax with a good friend and a cup of coffee. I call myself a mixed media artist because I like trying everything and using everything to make art like 'stuff'. In fact I have calling cards that describe me as "a collector and creator of stuff." I have just never decided what type of art form or medium I like best so I do it all. 

Gear based statue

I like using what is available and not waste resources so I have gotten in the habit of looking at everything with a fresh eye which is something I learned from a couple of friends. Everything under the sun can be used for other purposes other than what it was originally intended.  Car parts can become stands for art work,peanut butter pretzel jars can be used for wonderful stackable storage, credit cards make great tools for spreading glue, paint or mark making. Oatmeal containers cut down make great holders for tools such as pencils and brushes. tissue dipped in Elmer’s glue and adhered to a piece of cardboard make hard durable surfaces for art work when dry. Tyvek and brown bags make great jewelry or faux metallic or leather surfaces.  And the list goes on and on.

The doll on left is made using a stick for an arm and branches for antlers. Here base shown below is wrapped with fibers from a palm tree root.

If you think outside the box art can be made with anything you can put your hands on.