Retro Rose

I can get pretty involved with digital - images, searching, noodling around - in my cozy office with the big screen,  but one of the things I have come to value about our monthly Art Day - is that no matter what I've been doing, the Art Girls get me back in the studio for some 3-D, hands-on time. It's such a different energy and working with 'things' always refreshes me in its own unique way.  

The core of Retro Rose has been living in the studio for some time.  I believe she was designed as a jewelry hanger. Her lovely pink torso is glossy ceramic and her stand is some metal that looks like brushed aluminium.  The overly large plaster rose teapot [found on a Dollar Tree sojourn some time ago] called to me as the perfect 'head'.  I was drawn to the texture, the overblown, out-of-proportion nature, which added just the right amount of 'offness' I am always responding to.  I glossed some of the green trim to engage with the gloss of the torso.  A little hand on top was just right for another signature element that I like.  

Bits and pieces of jeweled drops and hanging wired pieces, pearls and chains found their way here and there. I high-glossed the main rose and the smaller rose is made from natural seashells with their own gloss - deconstructed from an odd centerpiece I found at Goodwill.  

But she wasn't done and I searched for the element that completed her.  I  found [or they found me], tucked away with some images, the cardboard figures of classic film stars. I've had these for years and am pretty sure they were a gift from my dear friend, Michael.  If not, he surely would have given them to me.  I sprayed a ceramic-like high gloss on the figures to, again, match the gloss of the torso.  We have Betty Grable [I think!] in blue, Bette Davis and Sonja Henie.   Retro Rose has happy energy for me.  Fun.

Retro Rose Assemblage 21" high

Detail - Betty Grable, Bette Davis, Sonja Henie