Mixed-Media and Assemblage Art created by the altered mind of Jill Marie Stange
(Kecia, Kim, and Myself at Valley Ridge - August, 2008)This posting is to Kecia and Kim...You both are such wonderful friends. Many thanks to both of you for sticking up for me!!! There's strength in numbers, and power in friendship. I am swigging my 'JD Downhome Punch' as I'm writing this... and I'm raising up my bottle to you both, as I listen to ABBA!!! (And who doesn't know who Abba is, right??!!!)
The weather has been spectacular all week, although it is apparent that Fall is here. Even on warm days, you can feel the crispness in the air, and the leaves are beginning to turn color. By 7:00 o'clock in the evening, the sun has gone down, and the chilly darkness sets in.
I've been busy getting my charms completed for the swap at RaeVn's Nest Art Retreat next month. I decided I would make soldered charms. (Not that I'm the greatest at soldering, but what the heck!). I made two different collage pictures, and shrunk them down to 1" squares. I then sandwiched them between the glass, and began the tedious task of placing the copper foil around the edges. The weather was so gorgeous outside, I took my supplies upstairs and sat out on our deck to work. I didn't realize how time consuming doing that is. Probably because I don't do it very often, and I'm sort of a perfectionist. I didn't want uneven borders.
Friday morning, Kim called me to see when we could have another 'play date' in my studio. I love it when she comes over, so I told her to come right over. She had a project she wanted to work on for her retreat, and I was busy soldering all the charms. I was in my 'art mode' and was eager to work on my soldering project. After getting a few charms finished, I was having a difficult time getting the solder to flow. It was a battle! Nothing was working! I was getting frustrated! Finally, I gave up and decided to get a new soldering iron. Kim is always 'game' for a road trip, so we stopped what we were doing and headed to Hobby Lobby. I found a nice iron that was a much higher wattage than the little cheapie I had, and wow, did that make a difference. This iron is great. The solder flows so nice, and I no longer have to struggle to get the solder to melt. The afternoon passed by sooooooo quickly. Finally at 5:00, we decided to stop, so Kim could get home. But when we got upstairs, we had a nice surprise....Mike had steaks on the grill for us on our deck, and he persuaded Kim to stay and have dinner with us out there.
The three of us relaxed on the deck, enjoying our meals and the tranquil beauty in our backyard. We chatted and had a lot of laughs out there, and didn't come back inside the house until it became too dark and chilly to sit outside any longer.
Kim called me again yesterday morning, to let me know she got her advanced copy of the book she wrote. It had arrived while she was over here yesterday afternoon. Of course, I told her I couldn't wait to see it, so she came over in the afternoon so we could go through it together. It turned out great, and I am soooooooo happy for her. I can't imagine the feeling of having your very own book published! I am also honored to be one of the artists she invited to participate in her gallery. Her book is entitled, "Interactive Art Workshop: Set Your Mixed Media in Motion," and it can be pre-ordered at http://www.amazon.com/. 
I couldn't resist having some fun with a picture of myself last night. I was on my friend Kim's blog, and she had found this kewl website where you can make yearbook pictures of yourself. I was intrigued by how realistic her pictures looked, so I thought I'd give it a try. Here are the results. Wow, I really changed over the years, huh??? In fact, in 3 of the years, I seemed to have morphed into an African-American!! If you're bored some day, check out the site at http://www.yearbookyourself.com/, and have some fun of your own!!!
(The Good Eggs - L to R - My Mom, Uncle, Dad, and Grandma)
(Surely You Jest! - Starring Otis, Mugsy, and Popeye, with Sophie as the Ushers)
(A close-up of the Boyz)I used vintage family photographs, and jazzed them up with a little color and whimsy. For some of the pictures, I clipped out heads from family pictures, and pasted them over the existing heads in old CDV photographs. Examples of that are the picture of my sister and myself, my husband Mike and myself, and of course my 3 little "boyz"...the pugs.
(My Sister and Myself - The Evil Looking One!)
(My dad when he was 6 months old - He's 91 now)
(This is Mike and Myself)My section is wayyyyyy in the back, and there is nothing of mine shown on the cover, so you probably wouldn't even know my artwork was in there unless you really looked through the magazine.
( This is My Grandma in the purple dress, with three of her friends)They did use one of my pieces in their promotional advertisement for this upcoming issue in all of their other publications, though.
(The Picture I did for my Bio...with Otis, Popeye, and Mugsy)