The Pearly Story Behind "Dusting in Pearls"


I always feel like a walking paradox. I can get out in the garden with my shovel and sledgehammer and love every dusty dirty minute I'm out there. I spend the majority of my life dressed in my "grubbies". Yet there's a part of me deep down inside that still likes "the frillies", "the pearlies", and "the sparklies"--all the pretty things. Maybe it's all the great classic Hollywood movies I watched as a kid. I don't know. All I know is that I can be dirty and sweaty and still want to put on heels when it isn't practical; buy the prettiest apron even if it will get dirty; and don pearls when all I'm going to be doing is dusting and vacuuming the house. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to. I've decided to claim it, celebrate it, and have fun with it... and create some "pearly" goodness along the way.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Club Shangri-la


While going through an old family photo album to scan in the photos, I came across a vintage souvenir photo folder from "Club Shangri-la" in Oakland. My grandmother had saved it as a momento of a glamorous evening out. I made a digital print of the high-res scan of this folder and it is the foundation of this new collage art painting.

The dancing couple is an original watercolor painting based on the illustrations of that time period. The couple IS NOT a reproduction, but is the original watercolor sealed onto the canvas with a water-resistant protective glaze. The woman's ball gown is hand-embellished with silver paint sparkles that glimmer as if the ballroom lights are glinting off silver sequins. Her belt is adorned with black German glass glitter.

The hand-embellished giclee canvas has been painted with warm red, gold and brown tones. Gold and silver metallic elements have been added, as well as a light dusting of a fine ruby glitter that makes it shimmer.

To give the "Club Shangri-la" the look of a marquee, a string of small iridescent ruby beads have been attached to the edges.

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