You Can't Depend on Your Eyes When Your Imagination is Out of Focus

I stole the title for this piece from the great master writer Samuel Clemens, also known in wider circles as Mark Twain. Apparently, this was a quote he made - under what circumstances we'll never know. A genius with words, Twain will always be remembered for his comedic writings, his travel stories, the interesting autobiography released a couple of  years ago and the many hours I have sat reading his tomes, immersed in his intense eloquence. 

This piece was created from an old black, beat up jewelry box that had originally been adorned with the word "Dad" on the top and a picture of Snoopy. Sorry Dad and Snoopy, you had to go. I sanded it down and painted it blue, adding a touch of black paint to accent the box.

For the medical pieces I cut out, I found a wonderful book on anatomy that had incredible illustrations I just couldn't pass up. As controversial as it may be, I had to destroy another book (I've destroyed hundreds by cutting out illustrations for collage and mixed media pieces) to get at these brightly colored illustrations. The bowling man was extracted from a 1940's Popular Mechanics magazine and glued onto the glass with a thin layer of silicone.

As with several other pieces I've put together, I couldn't resist another skull finding its way into another mixed media assemblage. I adore skulls and skeletons and brightly colored medical illustrations and am always scouring thrift stores for cheap used books with illustrations that can be used in collage. 
At the bottom of the assemblage is the quote by Mark Twain: "You Can't Depend on Your Eyes When Your Imagination is Out of Focus." 
What does it mean? It means whatever you think it means. Art is interpreted differently by everyone, just as music lyrics, poetry and other forms of communication are. 

For me, the one of the keys to art is imagination. Write what you know, create what you feel.
 

Odd Moments

Sorry for the poor photo quality. At the time I didn't have a proper camera to take a picture of this. 
Using a cigar box painted a bright devil red, I cut a hole out of the lid for the plastic frame and glued glass to the frame. The background is map paper. A graphic of a head from an older medical book, a falling boy illustration from an old Reader's Digest Condensed book (keep your eyes peeled for these as they often contain some great graphic illustrations!) and some skulls rounded out the inside of this piece. I glued the Odd Moments pieces onto the glass using a light layer of silicone - the Odd Moments labels are actually vintage cigar label graphics. The devil was cut from a comic book. If you'll notice, the 3 dice read "666."
This piece's theme was a way to poke fun at superstitious beliefs about an imaginary enemy and its symbols.

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Spectacular

Here's a shadowbox I made from an older cigar box. I cut a hole for the frame out of the lid and glued a piece of glass to the underside of the frame. The cigar box was painted bright red. A couple of spiders from the dollar store were added and little rhinestones were glued on their bodies. Inside the box is a graphic of a startled woman and a hand and arm I found in a comic book with the spider glued onto his hand. This was a fun piece to make. 

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Through the Looking Glass