American's Making Do

Making Do!

The other day waiting for my wife to retrieve the phone she lost at Target I suddenly focused on the car facing us. It was a pick up like I purchased new in 1994 and replaced in 2003.

As you can see in the photo, it has seen pretty hard days yet somehow manages to soldier on. What intrigued me though was the "creative" use of different items to more or less make it legal. The little lights poking through some kind of wire, wire holding the headlights in place and other touches as well. If the cops ever stopped them I'm sure it would fail every safety test known to man. While it is funny or clever I might wonder what would happen if he was behind me when he tries to stop. The odds are not good.

Christmas Tree Leg

As I grapple with new ideas, paints, designs, I realized that many artists are combining "found" items more and more. I was never happy with a simple, plain birdhouse. I wrote about how just the simple addition of "feet" changed the look before a drop of paint was applied.

Then I found some interesting trees, snowmen that were half cut at one of the shows and used them in place of one of the feet. The front had a three dimensional feel, the back was flat and easy to mount on my birdhouses!

This Santa Birdhouse has Santa carrying a decorated tree. I found scraps of Christmas decorations and found ways to use them. Why settle for "same old" look when you have items just laying around begging you to use them!?!

For me at least, its the sense of adventure, pushing the limits I have and being more than willing to try what others have already done but in my own way. All art is derivative whether we want to admit it or not. One style leads to another then leads to another. There's noting wrong with this. While you can't copy you sure can use someone else's  techniques for your very own projects. Before you start your next project, do like I did and poke around those hidden recesses in your work area. You might be very surprised at what you'll find!

Please visit my craft store at KrugsStudio.etsy.com and my fine art store at AlanKrugFineArt.etsy.com. Thank you for stopping by and reading!