Finding Your Way Home from the Carnival of Life

 

29” x 29” x 1.75”

Framed under glass in a 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame.

Available 

Life often feels like riding a roller coaster at a carnival. Around every turn lies the unexpected: dice remind us of chance, and odd companions like the snapping crocodile, the dragons, or chattering teeth, symbolizing the distractions and detours that keep us spinning through ambition and chaos. At the center of it all Home is quietly representing peace, purpose, and refuge. 

Made with vintage Parcheesi game board, train tracks, vintage cars, alligator and dragons, dice, novelty, teeth, wooden figurine flinging  tin globes, antique monkey toy holding a lenticular mouth which grins and frowns at different angles, rhinestone hearts, stars, vintage horseshoe pin. The rhinestones and rhinestone hearts and stars on the Parcheesi board will reflect off any light source making them twinkle like stars to help guide your path home.

Nesting

 

21” x 26” x 1.75”

Framed under glass in a 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame.

Available 

This Assemblage explores the connection between nesting birds and nesting people. It serves  as a reminder of our shared experiences, instincts, and desires, while also highlighting the importance of creating cozy and intimate spaces in our lives.

Made with cup and saucer with sun, spoon, antique house key, bird eggs, moss, candlestick with candle, old watch face, flower, brass heart, rhinestone star, vintage home designs, hand made bird nest, vintage ruler, chair, found branch.

Seeing Things

 

11” x 32” x 1.5”

Framed under glass in 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame.

Available 

Sometimes it’s not just about having 20/20 vision. It’s about perceiving beyond the obvious, catching glimpses of magic, memory, or possibility.

Made with vintage eye chart, antique eyeglasses and eyeglass cases with hand painted background scenes portraying a  porcelain doll holding a star fetched by a  ladder from the night sky, breaking out of an egg from a nest, and an old lead figure cowboy riding off into the sunset on a swan.

Every Picture Tells a Story

 

24.5”x 26.5” x 1.75”

Framed under glass in 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame. 

Available

It’s not just an album of pictures, it’s an album of captured moments of family and friends who possess colorful personalities with vibrant stories to tell.

Made with original pages from Victorian photo album, an antique Kodak bellows camera and wooden glass negative holders, vintage doll, parts and figurines, typewriter keys, antique ink, tin, and pen, used tube of oil paint, Shell, vintage landscape prints.

Universal Antidote

 

16” x 18” x 1.5” 

Framed under glass in hand milled 2.5” deep pine frame.

This assemblage transform a vintage Boy Scout first aid kit into a whimsical guardian of exploration and healing. During those times we get lost the viols hold the antidote needed to get back on path to well-being.

Made with a vintage Boy Scouts of America, first aid kit tin sitting on a tree branch, Vintage, hiking map, antique sunglasses, corked glass viles  filled with a night sky and a bright star to provide light in the darkness, Bird feathers, flowers, blue sky, with clouds, Pine branch, and seashells. Antique porcelain dolls pose is guardians of the spirit holding spoons to administer the proper dosages.

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Never Give Up

 29” x 42” x 1.5”

Framed under glass in 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame.

With a little ingenuity and audacity the impossible can be possible.

Made with 1956 National Geographic celestial map, vintage marbles, vintage and handmade ladders, tin zeppelin, vintage jewelry and rhinestones which twinkle like stars in the night skies when any light source reflects off of them.

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Rose Colored Glasses

 

19” x 20” x 1.5”

Framed under glass in hand milled pine frame.

This piece reminds us how perspective shapes reality. Surrounded by roses, These rose colored glasses symbolize  optimism, nostalgia, and the human tendency to soften life‘s edges through beauty and memory.

Made with antique glasses, old diary pages, roses, and a vintage wooden box.

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The Balance of Life

 

19” x 31” x 1.5”

Framed under glass in hand milled in hand milled pine frame.

Life is a balancing act. It begins innocently enough, but it’s time progresses. Life begins to roar and the next thing you know you’re juggling responsibilities trying to keep work, relationships, and personal well-being and harmony. Dropping even one “ball“ could cause everything to tumble. Sometimes it feels like a horse race; you’re clinging to the reins to  stay in control of the chaos. Timing is everything along with focus, coordination, courage, patience, and must’ve all a sense of whimsy and humor.

Made with clarinet parts and vintage organ pipes, keyboard, vintage, iron, and wooden horse, sheep, old clock, dancer, bear, clinging to a chair, globe, seesaw, antique toys, brass Lion head, wooden balls.

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The Fortress

18” x 18” x 1.5”

Framed under glass in 2.5” wide hand milled pine frame.

We’ve all been there. Bottom line is our hearts often need to be strategically and meticulously protected requiring a special key, specific code and above all a level of understanding to unlock it.

Made with vintage brass, locks, keys, and vintage Erector Set parts.

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Bedtime Stories

 

25” x 28”  x 1.5”

Framed under glass in 2 inch deep, hand milled pine frame.

No matter what your age, the ritual of bedtime stories invite and inspire readers to travel to magical places that exist only in our dreams. The bear stuffed the sun into the sack with the rabbits assistance as the draft launches the tethered moon- being jumped over by the cow- into the night sky to begin the journey. The sea urchin, balancing a book and candelabra top his head, leads the way, providing light and garden for the travelers. There is also a vacant chair on board awaiting your arrival.

Made with pages from the vintage book “Tales from Storyland” by Wyatt Piper daughter with vintage rhinestones twinkling in the sky, a wooden boat, a float to antique books contains a wooden chair, rope, a son in a velvet sack, books, old, brass, candlesticks, vintage wooden bear, giraffe with moon, and rabbit figurine. The rhinestones in this piece will reflect off any light source causing them to twinkle like stars.

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Every Picture Tells a Story

  

24” x 26 x 1.75”

Framed under glass in 2” deep hand milled pine frame.

It’s not just an album of pictures; it’s an album of colorful people and places with vibrant stories to tell.

Made with pages from vintage Victorian photo album, Kodak bellows camera and glass negative holders, vintage doll parts and figurines, used tube of oil paint, paint brush, vintage ink tin and pen, sea shell.

Mind Games

 

24.5” x 26.5” x 2”

Even as adults we still play games to get what we want. Weather in relationships, our careers, or daily life issues, when we reach a stalemate and a resolution has not been reached. We rely on a combination of games as ploys to win the game. Among my large collection of vintage games, I chose those which best represent the tactical behavior of mind games. 

Made with original game boxes, vintage game, spinner, chess pieces with bisque doll heads, and crown. Framed under glass in 3 inch deep hand milled pine frame.

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Keeping Your Marbles. Losing Your Marbles

 

28.5” x 18.5”x 1.5”

Framed under glass in 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame.

Self portrait of the human mind.

Made with vintage phrenology chart, vintage marbles, old sink knob, clock parts, pages from vintage engineering book.

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Peep Show

 

37”x 19”x 1.5”

SOLD

Framed under glass in 2.5 inch deep hand milled pine frame.

Peep shows have been around since the 1400s. Some were designed as whimsical children’s toys and others for a bawdy good time. Whatever your reason for looking through the peephole you will most definitely be amused. Notice the lenticular lips throwing you a kiss and the eye in the camera lens winking  at you.

Made with old game boards, camera lens and parts, old doll eyes, bisque doll parts, and a collection of vintage characters including a horse in a tuxedo, a dinosaur in a party hat, a pink elephant, a flying pig and more in various acts of play for your enjoyment!

Big Shoes to Fill

 

23”x 31”x 2”

Framed under glass in hand milled 2.5”deep pine frame.

In our ever-growing family trees, there are always a few standouts who inspire us to fill their big shoes. There is even a mirror in the center of the flash to see your reflection filling their shoes!

Made with vintage wooden shoes, rulers, Mid century tower camera with bisque doll arms, vintage flash unit with mirror, tin leaves, family tree chart, original vintage photos.

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Train of Thought

 

15” x 29” x 2”

Framed under glass in 2.5” deep hand milled pine frame.

It’s all too easy to go off track and lose your train of thought these days. As the wheel of thought in the caboose demonstrates we all have a lot on our minds; global concerns, Separating the good decisions from the bad, finances, work, relationships, And finding our true passions in life, just to name a few. Keeping our train of thought on track takes focus as the microscope shows peers both into the conductor’s (aka you and me) brain and outward towards the path ahead. 

Made with original pages from the book “The Wonderful Locomotive” by Cornelia Meigs published in 1936. The little man tending to the gears made of clock parts is a vintage Mr. Ready Kilowatt which was an electric company mascot. This piece also features train tracks and an old wooden engine with a tin caboose which carries the thought wheel made from an old game spinner and a selection of vintage objects, watch face and spinner. The conductor is an antique bisque doll head who wears an old tin top as a hat and peers through an old microscope. The engine stacks are made with parts of the microscope

.

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Running with Scissors

 

13” x 25” 

Framed under glass in 2.5” hand milled pine frame

Your mother always warned you not to run with scissors. This is what can happen if you do.

Made with vintage paper dolls, antique porcelain dolls, scissors, bisque doll parts.

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Peep Show

 

31.5” x 17.5” x 2”

framed under glass in pine frame.

Peep shows have been around since the 1400s. Somewhere designed as whimsical, children’s toys and others for a body. Good time. Whatever your reason for looking through the peephole you will most definitely be amused. 

This piece is made with an old skittle ball, game, board, camera, lens and camera parts, vintage, doll eyes, bisque, doll, leg, a rabbit, carrying a candle stick with candle on it, Ted, an alligator in a mask, a bear, wearing a mask, a horse, dressed in a tuxedo, ventricular, lips, kissing, then, smiling, vintage, yellow peep, vintage, ceramic bird.

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Sampler

 

18” x 28” 

Framed under glass in hand milled pine frame. 

Made with pages from the vintage book The Book  of Wildflowers, flowers, glass viles, pewter chalices, scissors, string, antique blue Bromo-Seltzer  bottle.

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Space Cowboy

 

31”x 41”

Framed in hand milled 3.75” deep pine framed sealed under plexiglass.

Made with vintage Strat-O-Flyer kite, Mid century honeycomb rocket ship with tin space cowboy Astro gun handle, Tom Mix cigar label, string, gems from vintage jewelry, which glitter like stars, when any light source reflects on them. Hand, painted acrylic, background of the cosmos.

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Animal Magnetism

 

19”x 28”

Framed and hand milled pine frame sealed under glass.

You either have it or you don’t

Made with Vintage, animal, figurines, vintage British brand, labels, old Spell-It card, game, vintage  magnet, iron toy wheels.

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Horse Play

 

                                         20”x23”

Framed in hand milled pine frame under glass.

The origin of horse play.

Made with original game board, piano keys, vintage tin monkey, scooter and noisemakers used as wheels, wooden horse with vintage game pieces balancing on head, gold frame moulding.

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The Collector

 

                               16” x 17” x 1.75”

Framed under glass in 2 inch deep hand milled pine frame

A true collector is always devising new ways to reach the unreachable. In this case, a ladder was used to collect the planets and stars from space, and vibrant clouds during sunset, then secured the specimens in glass vials. A telescope to locate these treasures and tweezers to carefully extract them is a must to include in every collector’s box of gear.

Made with original pastels, glass vials, telescope, tweezers, old wooden box, glass marbles, vintage blackboard.

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Travel Plans

 

                                                       23” x 23” x 1.75”

Framed under Glass and 2 inch deep hand milled pine frame.

When wanderlust is your compass.

Made with deconstructed briefcase with hardware, diagrams from midcentury aviation book, original old stamps and handwritten postcards, maps from old geography books, hand painted airplane, Anagrams, and clock hand

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Souvenirs

 

16” x 17” x 1.75”

Framed under Glass in 2 inch deep hand milled pine framed

Sold 

Made with original foreign currency, vintage souvenirs including Napoleon, the Eiffel Tower, geishas, china bird and palm trees, cigar box with landing gear and propeller. 

Cakewalk

 

18” x 24” x 1.75”

Framed under glass in 2 inch deep hand milled pine frame.

Life isn’t always a cakewalk. But it makes the surprisingly easy accomplishments, all the more sweet.

Made with old cake recipes from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, Knife and fork, a page from the antique children’s book Tin Tan Tales, bisque doll parts, brass candle holder with candle, cake. 

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Get Off Your High Horse

 

                                  18” x 28” x 1.75”

Framed under glass and hand milled 2 inch deep pine frame.

It’s important to surround yourself with a posse that keeps you grounded as you gallop through life.

Made with vintage wooden horse, rulers, piano, keys, old, children’s blocks, original acrylic of blue sky, and a rope to shimmy down off your high horse.

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Theater of Dreams

 

                              21” x 25” x 1.75”

Framed under glass in hand milled 2” deep pine frame.

All drama, whether real or imagined, deserves a stage.

Made with piano keys, vintage frames, old clock face in brass casing, blocks, vintage, cow and sheep, bisque doll parts, chair, jewelry, doll eyes, wooden balls, original acrylic painting of galaxy in background.

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Travel Writer

 

  15”x26”x2”

Made with old flute case, maps, original vintage postcards and postage, old ink pens, pencil.

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Novel Approach: Drama Queen, Drama King, and the Fool

 

21”x21”x 2”

Made with vintage prints, typewriter parts, ink pens and nibs, antique book, candelabra, book pages. 

Every great story includes a drama queen, a drama king, and a fool to shake things up.

SOLD

Color Your World

 

21” x 25”

Made with used tubes of oil paint, paint brushes with birch tree twig, drift wood and shell handles,  old paint brush  with hand painted globe on brush hanging by a nail on original acrylic painting of space, vintage metal paper binder, vintage world map.

There’s no finer artist than Mother Nature.

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Finding your Way

 

22”x 25”

Made with found twigs and leaves, mushrooms and acorns, vintage bisque doll parts, ladder, cuckoo clock part, vintage animal figurines, star map, brass keyhole with eye peering out, original pastel drawing.

Sometimes getting lost is the best way to be found.

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Down the Rabbit Hole

 

24”x36”

Made with wooden rabbit, top hat, book pages, alarm clock, playing cards,mirror, bisque doll parts, vintage illustrations, keys, tea cups, spoon, dollhouse furniture, candelabra, bottle, and numerous miniatures.

We all find ourselves falling down the rabbit hole from time to time. Try to make the best of it like Alice did.

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Water Music

 

22” x 28”

Made with violin, deconstructed trumpet parts, faucet, barometer,compass,  watering can spout with “water” made from vintage jewelry crystals , music stand holding vials of seeds, vintage flower prints, old sheet music.

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The Exodus

 

24” x 30”

Old Zeppelin model, vintage trains and train tracks, various vintage animal toys, trees, palm tree,  canoe with bisque doll, rock,  old celestial and star maps, crystal stars, chains.

Studies have shown that animals are much more attuned to the environment than humans are and can sense major changes in weather triggering instincts to move to a higher ground. Perhaps something unworldly will assist their emigration to “boldly go where no man has gone before,” unless they allow a few of us to hitch a ride. 

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Wheel of Fortune

 

23” x 23”

Made with old parcheesi game board, antique trumpet parts, wooden mold, vintage game spinner, painted wooden bird, wooden block, crown, antique bisque doll parts, jester, tea cup, spoon and saucer with heart in cup, spoon, wooden chair with rabbits, old fortune teller cards, wooden goblet.

Life: Spin the wheel. You never know what you’re going to get. 

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The Architecture of Personality

 

19” x 29”

Made with rulers, parts of old cuckoo clock, calipers, wooden leveler, vintage optometrist test glasses, marbles, old wooden gear, watch parts, marbles, plastic nose pencil sharpener, ears and mouth, pencil, old blueprint, anatomy drawings, doll eyes.

It takes a strong foundation to keep a personality disorder in order. 

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Scenes from Home

 

25” x 31”

Made with hand cut wooden rulers, pages from vintage House Plans Magazine, midcentury doll house furniture, vintage paper doll parts, sheep, celestial print, food wheel made from old kitchen whisk, old toys and game pieces, brass dog head gazing into mirror with doll eye in his mouth, chair with pencils and ink pen nibs, glass with grapes, tea cup and bedazzled shoe under couch, lion door knocker with dog at door.  In attic there is a collage of old prints, an old wooden box, candle, chair, tin beach ball. 

I have depicted the home and the various rooms as a stage set where acts and drama-both comedic and dramatic- play out on a daily basis. 

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The Dream Slayer

 

18”x 20”

Made with vintage dollhouse furniture, old map of the heavens, bisque doll and doll arm, antique lead military horse and rider, old tin ball, souvenir globes, marbles, vintage letter opener “sword,” dinosaurs, rabbit blowing trumpet, ladder, old pulley, chain, watch parts.

When the magic hour arrives and the sleeping hours begin, that’s when the dream slayer heeds the warning that danger is near. The soldier rises from bed,

assembles their army, grabs a sword and slays the nightmare under the bed. 

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One Trick Pony

 

15”x26”

Made with vintage architecture prints, antique lithographs, vintage animals, chair, midcentury dollhouse doll, old game parts and marbles, tea pot, parasol. 

We all have one spectacular act that can be performed only once in our lives, hopefully with an audience. I think this pony outdid himself. 

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Hot and Cold Personality

18” x 24”

Made with vintage hot and cold handles and faucet, handle, antique etchings, illustrations from an 1900 edition of the book Pilgrim’s Progress, brass halo, and vintage items pouring out of the faucet. 

Due to the current state of affairs in this world we all are trying to share, I’m pretty certain I’m not the only one whose personality is running hot and cold these days. 

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Making Cents of it All

24” x 26”

Made with vintage money, antique The Fortune Teller game box cover, brass scale, vintage bull and bear figurines, “crystal ball” with dice, copper pennies, vintage metal cent symbol, cards from old card game.

Sold