House No. 193: Sparklehouse

House No. 193: Sparklehouse

sequins on paper

3 in. x 5 in. x 3 in.

193/365; 07/12/11

Today is the anniversary of July 12, 1979, the day disco died. What better way to remember than a disco ball house?

It is so very hot in Virginia today. For today's house I would have liked to make a life-size igloo to curl up in, but we don't even have an ice maker.

It is so hot that my pets are all furry puddles splayed about in the rooms of our house that have window units. And that is where you will find me too when I get home.

All of this has nothing to do with today’s house except that one can glue sequins while reclining in front of an air conditioner, which is my one requirement for projects at the moment.

House No. 173: Neoclassical Mansion

House No. 173: Neoclassical Mansion
pencil, colored pencil, ink, and paper on found object
5 in. x 4.5 in. x 1.25 in.
173/365; 06/22/11

Today's house started with a dollhouse fireplace that the WerePanda and I bought at Replacements during a trip through North Carolina.

And some paper samples from my endless supply.

Add some illustration, and voilà, a neoclassical mansion fit for the American Southeast.

By the way, if you like the decorative arts, you must go to Replacements to see their private collection. It is amazing.

House No. 126: Achromatic Trio

House No. 126: Achromatic Trio

ink, pencil, and collage on repurposed matboard

8.75 in. x 6.5 in.
126/365; 05/06/11

The process that I used to make this piece started with a piece of vellum. It is very similar to a thick piece of tracing paper. It is actually used to diffuse light for photography, and I had a piece of it that had been damaged on a photo shoot that I was on. I had been holding on to it in my collections for awhile. 

I worked on both sides of the translucent paper before adhering to the matboard, which was another classroom salvage.

The white is correction tape that I pull out and transfer with a pencil to make varied lines. Again, I like that the process is indirect and makes me give up some control of the drawing. (This is something that I do a lot in class with my students, removing them from the direct process of mark making. It really frees up the artist to lose complete control.) The process is similar to printing and transferring.

I made the white, transferred marks with the correction tape on both sides of the vellum, and I colored with graphite to the point of going through the paper. I love how shiny the pencil gets on the smooth surface of the paper and how the marker soaks up the light almost completely, making the surface a very flat black.

The texture and quality of the surface, along with the change in tonality, indicates depth in a mostly flat drawing.

House No. 125: White on White House

 

House No. 125: White on White House

collage on matboard

8 in. x 8 in.
125/365; 05/05/11

Today's house relies on texture rather than color, line, or contrast. And it was rather difficult to photograph because of it.

The matboard that I used as a background for this house was salvaged from my classroom, and the paper and strings were also upcycled. The paper is from the same source as House No. 121: Spring Cottage. The strings were left over from the tags from House Number 71: Tagged Houses.

House No. 124: Connect the Dots House

 

House No. 124: Connect the Dots House

collage and encaustic on chipboard

18 in. x 12 in.
124/365; 05/04/11

Those of you who know me in life outside of the innerwebs know that I am super Safety First Girl. Somehow, I threw that caution and conscientiousness to the wind whilst working on today's house.

I was not exactly thinking about what I was getting hot, and I had glue and packing tape on this piece that probably should not have been heated and inhaled. 

That customer card is from the late Minerva Books in Petersburg that closed down a couple years ago. I loved that bookstore. Sigh.

I just love the way the wax pooled and beaded-up on surfaces, especially the metallic paper that is most likely toxic when heated but oh, so pretty.

Below, you can see the packing tape that shriveled up from the heat. I ended up getting a headache and feeling light headed and nauseous. I'm not sure how much of that was from toxic fumes and how much is from working over a hot pizza stone and oven

House No. 107: Foil House

House No. 107: Foil House
collage of repurposed card stock and foiled paper
3.5 in. x 3.75 in.
107/365; 04/17/11

It’s not apparent in this photo, but this house is very thick and sturdy and has a bit of dimension. It's quite satisfying, really. Once again, the metallic scrap is from my bottomless magpie nest, and everything but the glue is upcycled.
I pulled out the colors that I used on this house because when I saw them next to one another they looked very seventies color palette. I thought I would have a go. I especially like the maroon foil and thought it would make lovely shutters.

House No. 102: Metallic Colonial

House No. 102: Metallic Colonial

collage of repurposed card stock and foiled paper
3.5 in. x 2.85 in.
102/365; 04/12/11

Some more shiny paper and other scraps fished from my magpie nest were the materials for this simplified colonial style house. I often like to do very detailed work, but I also like to occasionally break a houses down to its barest elements, an icon or symbol for “house.” And today, I also broke down “tree.” Or green lollipop. It can go either way.

House No. 101: Silver House

House No. 101: Silver House

watercolor on repurposed paper, card stock, and foiled paper
8.25 in. x 5.85 in.
101/365; 04/11/11

I dove back into my magpie collection and fished out most of the silver foiled paper to make today's house. It took forever to dry because the foiled paper is largely not porous and did not let air get to the adhesive.

I like the contrast of the painted matte paper against the shiny silver and the movement created by all the scraps and angles of cut paper. This house felt like play.

House No. 89: Tiny Tent

House No. 89: Tiny Tent
upcycled styrofoam thread spool, glue, repurposed paper samples and twine, toothpick
2 in. x 6 in. x 2 in
089/365; 03/30/11

I expect a wee band of merry players to exit this tent, wearing tights and shoes with turned-up toes and playing crumhorns, and hurdy-gurdies and rauschpfeifes. And sacbuts, but just because sacbut is fun to say. So, I guess this is either a tent for medieval minstrels or the members of Arcade Fire.

To get the full effect, try looking at the tent while listening, here.

House No. 38: House of Rain

 

 

House No. 38: House of Rain
printed cardstock, glue, plastic box, metallic thread
3 in. x 3 in. x 3 in.
038/365; 02/07/11

Today's house is a transatlantic collaboration piece done with Kirin of Illustrating Rain. The inspiration for the finished piece was the name of Kirin's site.

Here is how we collaborated separated by nearly 4,000 miles: I sent to Kirin a PDF template for a house, which, in turn, Kirin returned by email beautifully illustrated. I printed and assembled the house, glued it into an upcycled plastic cube, glued separated gold thread around the top so that it would look like rain (That inspiration came from the French expression il pleut des cordes or Les cordes de pluie, which translate as it's raining cords and cords of rain.), and photographed it in my backyard.

It was a treat for me to work with such a talented and whimsical illustrator. Thanks, Kirin! Please visit Kirin's 365 project site, In Animate Me for more terrific work.

House No. 27: Shadow House

 

 

House No. 27: Shadow House
paper, repurposed corrugated cardboard, twine, staples, glue
8 in. x 13 in. x 6 in.
027/365; 01/27/11, International Holocaust Remembrance Day

And they said, “From now on you do not answer by your name. Your name is your number.” And the delusion, the disappointment, the discouragement that I felt, I felt like I was not a human person anymore.
Lilly Appelbaum Lublin Malnik

Today is the 66th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp by the Red Army.

Today's house is a reliquary for all that was lost.

 

 

Poster Image from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum

House No. 25: A Room of One's Own

House No. 25: A Room of One's Own

ink on cut and glued repurposed cardstock

8 in. x 7 in. x 10 in.

025/365; 01/25/11

In honor of Virginia Woolf's birthday, my house today is a home for creativity. In the paraphrased words of Woolf, one must have a little money and a room of one's own to create.

Our creative room is not only a physical space in which we may work but the room to evolve and grow and the space for independence and free thinking. Woolf made her room in a lodge at the bottom of her garden at the country house she shared with her husband.

My house today is loosely based on that writing lodge where Woolf wrote some of her best known works. I realized while working on it that today's house is the first in which I have done an interior.

House No. 23: Shanty

House No. 23: Shanty

Repurposed scrap wood & wood glue

3 in. x 3.5 in. x 2 in.

023/365; 01/23/11

Today's house is the antithesis of yesterday's McMansion. Plus, it doesn't smell of fried food.

This was a collaborative piece. I designed, measured, and glued it together, but my husband worked the power tools. That's what she said.

It's rough and tumble, this little shanty, but I think it's sweet. The wood has so much character on its own.

House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

repurposed paper, foil, and miscellaneous scrap on chipboard

6.5 in. x 6.5 in.

004/365; 01/04/11

Being a human magpie, I collect every shiny thing that I come across. I have organized boxes of paper, candy foils, laminated papers, the interiors of tea bag envelopes ...

For today's house, I thought that I'd break into my collection, which actually includes a few pieces of Dresden foil scrap that I didn't end up using. The metallic paper being an homage to the Dresden handicraft, I decided to make today's home in one of the styles of Saxony.

I find the most unique part of the house's collage, and what makes it look like the houses of that region, is the foiling of the half-timber that ornaments the walls.

Update 04/20/2011: Better photo.

Now with 100% more natural light.

 

Ahh. So much better.