It's no secret that I absolutely adore anything vintage. My house is filled with pieces that we've picked up at various stages of our lives and at various venues. Old tool chests and suitcases mix with a classic Dutch watercolor landscape inherited from my great-aunt along with the old coffee grinder I grew up with.
So it's no surprise that I find myself drawn to try and create something new and exciting out of other people's junk and discards. However, before I could try my hand at any kind of art assemblage, I had to have a palette of sorts to work with. And finally, after months of scouring Etsy and Ebay, antique malls and flea markets, I've created my palette:
Yes, I admit – it looks more like an unorganized junk drawer but if look closer, you'll find my palette is actually quite organized and inspiring (at least to me):
While my physical palette consists of anything and everything that catches my eye and piques my imagination, my color palette somehow stayed quite neutral, all quite by accident.
In case you're wondering how in the world I might combine some of this junk I just showed you into something new and exciting, let me show you a few pieces I've been working on.
This one was inspired by an old, beat-up office clip board my friend Amy brought me. Boring no more, wouldn't you say?
This next one started with this old, rusted salt shaker top that Todd found while at the Clark County antique show. It just begged to have wires sticking out of the holes.
This next piece I could almost see in my head as soon as I spotted this old baking pan at a vendor's booth:
And finally, I've posted about these "frozen Charlotte" dolls I found on Etsy last year. This one begged to be turned into a little guardian angel:
Can't wait to see where this assemblage journey takes me next... Needless to say, if you're cleaning out your attic and come across something you think is old and useless, don't toss it – maybe you can turn it into something special instead!
And then of course, there's Holga:
Granted, you hardly have any control over things such as focus and lighting, and forget about trying to view your shots instantly like on a digital to see if they're any good. But given that this was my very first try at using these cameras, I'm quite pleased. Can't wait to experiment some more!
Being a graphic designer, I'm naturally drawn to typography, especially when it's so cool and weathered like this:
Look, my and Todd's initials:
Am I weird to love old, rusty things with flakey paint? Probably, but I don't care:
Yes, no beach shots in this series; that's because I didn't take any with my digital camera. We did play around with my new Holga and Diana F+ but shooting on good, old-fashioned film means I have to wait a while to see whether any of those shots actually turned out. Stay tuned...
