TrashieART: Self Portrait

Posted by donnadennisonphotography on September 20, 2012

TrashieART.

It has been a little while since I have made anything. And I got the creative itch last night. Here is what I came up with.

I took a photograph I had and used the “stamp” filter in Photoshop to turn it solid, flat, and black and white. Here is the original photo:

And here is the photo after using the “stamp” filter in Photoshop:

Next I made a stencil, using an old file folder from my office:

Then I spray painted the stencil onto a flat, hard canvas board. and used black acrylic paint to go over the spray paint, adding a thicker, less graffiti like texture.

After I had the portrait painted onto the canvas, I thought it would be cool to use the nespresso pods as hair….adding depth and texture to the piece….a different medium. So I cut the black pods, and a couple of red ones, into long strands. And then simply glued them on appropriately onto the image.

And here is the result:

Thanks for stopping by. Now go be creative…and turn your something old into something new.

old wooden chest makeover

Posted by donnadennisonphotography on July 23, 2012

my neighbor (and friend) purchased the below wooden chest 16 years ago. she decided it was time to let it go. and i decided i would give it a makeover and use it for storage.

here is what the chest looked like before:

and here is what it looks like now…

I have several magazines around my apartment that i am saving for trashieART purposes. they came in handy for this project and became the key element for this chests little facelift. i carefully chose some photos from the magazines that spoke to me…a little dark and mysterious.

once i had my photos chosen, i simply cut them out, and sealed them to the wooden chest using clear medium glaze. a thin layer on the wood itself, sticking the photos on…and then a layer over the photos….using my fingers to press out any air bubbles that might have accumulated under the magazine pictures.

and lastly, i had some red and black indian paint….and i mixed a small about of the black with the red to get a deep color…and painted a few of the wooden panels on the chest. adding some color to top it off.

and voila:

trashieART. it’s that easy.

LGBT upcycle ART.

Posted by donnadennisonphotography on July 19, 2012

wikipedia: The rainbow flag, sometimes pride flag, LGBT pride flag or gay pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, andtransgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements in use since the 1970s. The colours reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, and the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride in LGBT rights marches. It originated in California, but is now used worldwide. Designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978, the design has undergone several revisions to first remove then re-add colours due to widely available fabrics.^[1]^[2] As of 2008, the most common variant consists of six stripes, with the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The flag is commonly flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow.

and what do the colors represent?

living as a proud, gay woman, i wanted to make something that expresses pride. love. diversity. inclusiveness. hope. and courage.

i had two already used canvases left to re-purpose. many cleaned out nespresso pods…full of color. and a beautiful piece of stencil street art i found via google…which represents the diversity of love.

i started with the two old canvases i wanted to do something with:

and the many used nespresso pods i have:

i printed out the stencil art i found, and would later transfer onto the canvas:

i cut it out, and figured out where i wanted to place it on the canvas…and then transferred it onto the canvas using liquid pouring medium glaze.

and lastly, i glued the nespresso pods appropriately on the two canvas, to make the rainbow flag, surrounding the two women.

and there you have it. all used materials re-purposed to make something new. trashieART.

overflowing with nespresso pods

Posted by donnadennisonphotography on June 26, 2012

looks like there is some art to be made. just cleaned out more used nespresso pods.

stay tuned…

out with the film…now what?

Posted by donnadennisonphotography on May 30, 2012

i had some old film rolls from back in the day when film dominated…before our digital world took over. so here is a small little piece i put together with an old canvas, old films strips, some paint, some detailed design paper, medium glaze, a stencil of wings, and of course, those little nespresso pods.

another drawer turned shelf

Posted by donnadennisonphotography on May 30, 2012

your trash turned to ART.

on one of my ride-abouts, someone had placed their entire kitchen counter/sink out on the street corner. i was on my bicycle, so i couldn’t take much of the treasure, but i took one of the smaller bathroom drawers, knowing i could make a cute little shelf out of it.

before: