Finding a quote charm with a line from Alice in Wonderland, I was inspired to create a work even more whimsical than my usual fare. I started with a steampunk vibe and ended with a Alice in Steampunk Wonderland feel. It’s a combination I plan to explore more in future artworks as the thought of blending the two rather captivates me and my imagination goes wild!

And now for the official artsy talk…

Curiouser and Curiouser

Steampunk Assemblage Art… with a touch of Alice in Wonderland. My steampunk version of Assemblage Art features the industrial and Victorian aspects of this engrossing science fantasy sub-genre leading to some rather fascinating collages. This time I’ve added a bit of whimsey with the word tag “Curiouser and Curiouser” from the famous tale. Look closely and you will see approximately 100 embellishments – both vintage and new – as well as dozens of metal beads.

On a 14.0″ x 11.0″ stretched canvas, the depth of this piece is 1.75″. The background has multiple coats and spritzes of paint with stenciled textured designs, hundreds of tiny beads, and rust paste providing additional dimension. Multiple layers of embellishments are then added to complete this 3D collage.

Vintage elements include coin charms, adding machine keys, chess knight bracelet link, bits of two beaded purses, jello mold, 2 types of chain, pill bottle, speaker, lock, various metal mechanisms, buttons, numerous 1980s jewelry makings, bracelet leaves, and beads.

Newer pieces complete this pure steampunk look with items such as gears, clock face, mortar tie, metal flowers, bottle cap, rabbit head, tin heart, winged heart, cabochons, word tag “Curiouser and Curiouser”, watch buckle, gnome face, frame, miniature chess piece, flower face, juggling pin, binoculars, grapes, leaves, bolt head, wood rings, metal bell, wood half round, buttons, and metal beads.

Hangers are attached and, while I prefer the no-frame look, this is ready for framing. This piece will also display nicely on a large table easel.

Dimensions: 14.0″ x 11.0″ x 1.75″

$119.00

Available for purchase at my Etsy Shop

All Assemblage Art pieces sold at Art Creations by Vicky are original works from artist Vicky Hensley and one of a kind.

 

Usually when I finish creating a piece, I feel good about the end result. If I don’t feel good about it, I don’t list it and place it on the “redo” list. But sometimes when I finish a particular artwork, I simply fall in love with what I have just created. That’s how I feel about The Garden Wall.

As I created my background, I knew I wanted it to be a representation of spring. But how did I envision that? I didn’t have the slightest idea – these things happen step by step for me. But as I was looking at the completed piece, I saw many signs of an emerging spring season – all placed unintentionally. That’s the way it works – and I’m thrilled with the result!

Now for the official description…

The Garden Wall

Texture takes a starring role in this 14.0″ x 11.0″ Assemblage Canvas with a background built first with stenciled designs utilizing dimensional paste that is then covered with multiple coats of paint, spritzes, and waxes. And the embellishments! This assemblage canvas contains around 90 elements plus dozens of metal beads. Its depth is 1.5″.

A bird sits on a branch at the center of this piece and the stenciled background is meant to give the impression of an old garden wall with its brick and rose patterns. As I created, my mind pictured an emerging spring season.

Just what is assemblage? It’s the creation of a larger art piece from smaller objects. Best described as a 3D collage on canvas, my assemblage art pieces contain numerous vintage “found objects” as well as newer embellishments.

Here those vintage items include pieces of two different beaded purses, child’s tin pie pan, round brass box lid, antique lace, coin charms, imitation Robin’s eggs, paper milk bottle cap, beads, and jewelry makings from the 1980s.

Newer pieces include various metal filigreed shapes, door knocker, several types of leaves, small metal beads, cheesecloth, cabochons, beaded flower, wooden round and half circle, and metal wings, branches, heart, bird, and spacer.

And engraved into the word charm, you’ll find, “dream as if you’ll live forever.”

Hangers are attached and, while I prefer the no-frame look, this Assemblage Art piece is ready for framing. It will also display nicely on an easel.

Dimensions: 14.0″ x 11.0″ x 1.5″

$119.00

Available for purchase at my Etsy shop.

All Assemblage Art pieces sold at Art Creations by Vicky are original works from artist Vicky Hensley.

Over the last two weeks, sales have continued to be very strong for my little art shop and that means I’m spending more time than usual replacing sold work.

I regularly spend time in my art studio every day but sometimes when I need to increase my output, I travel to our cabin and just sink into creating art. I set up a temporary art area in our dining space and work hours a day creating.

So far, my time here has been quite fruitful. Today I’ll list five new Mini Assemblage Canvases which I will feature later this week. I also have three larger canvases in the works as well.

I’m deep in the zone and feeling very peaceful.

Here’s a photo of part of my temporary art space – it’s messy work! I bring sectioned carriers full of embellishments and bring three sets of paint. It’s all about preparing for whatever artsy mood hits!

In the photo above, I’m about one-third into the piece that is front and center and you can see a bit of another canvas (upper left) that is ready for embellishments.

More later!

Vicky

It’s been a very good week for art sales here at Art Creations by Vicky. My newest works have sold as well as a number of others. Without a doubt, there remains a good variety of pieces to choose from – just not my usual number. 

In addition, I offer a few of my Mini Art pieces on a custom basis. Each differs slightly from the original and my turnaround is usually two to three weeks so keep those in mind if you have a niche to fill or a gift to give.

I’m already creating even as I prepare the sold art for shipment. There’s a large lighter blue piece in the works as well as another with the bronze, gold, and copper combination. If you would like to see more of a particular color scheme, let me know. You don’t need to commit to purchasing – I just want to know the color combinations you most enjoy.

Back to the art studio – new Assemblage Canvases coming soon!

Vicky

Imagination sits on this 12.0″ x 4.0″ canvas. It’s a popular size and I just don’t keep enough of these long and narrow finished works in stock (trying to fix that). The light blue mixed with bronze gold speaks to me especially with this very light blue background. I have yet to purposely create such a shade of blue even though I try! It’s definitely a color scheme I’ll attempt to use again in future work.

Now for the official description…

This 12.0″ x 4.0″ Assemblage Canvas tells us that “Possibility begins with imagination.” And the imagination can run wild with crowned wings, hearts, roses, and even gears for a touch of steampunk. This particular size is especially popular as a unique accent piece for your wall – it’s lovely displayed alone or works beautifully in a wall arrangement.

The depth of this piece is 1.50″. The background is textured with stenciled modeling paste and a length of cheesecloth. A number of paints, spritzes, and waxes were then added before finishing off with 34 embellishments and dozens of tiny beads.

Embellishments include word band, two crowns, winged symbol, leaves of various sizes, two hearts, beads, gears, cabochon, cone, paper/fabric roses, and old hors d’oeuvres forks.

Hangers are attached and, while I prefer the no-frame look, this Assemblage Art piece is ready for framing. It will also display nicely on an easel.

Dimensions: 12.0” x 4.0” x 1.50″

$59.95

Available for purchase at my Etsy shop

All art sold at Art Creations by Vicky is the work of artist Vicky Hensley and one of a kind.

My sister inspired this Assemblage Canvas which I’ve named Bird on a Branch. That’s where it started – a bird sitting on a branch and I created around it. My challenge? To easily notice that bird once I added dozens of other embellishments. I’m feeling good about that – challenge met!

Now for the official description:

It all started with the bird on the branch and ended up as a romantic spring abstract in Italy of course (notice the Leaning Tower of Pisa?). Working with a new color palette, I started with blues and a bottle green and finished with a background that borders on deep turquoise.

Texture takes a starring role in this 12″ x 12″ Assemblage Canvas piece with a background built from multiple coats and spritzes of paint and waxes over several stencil designs utilizing dimensional paste. I wanted to evoke roses growing on a brick wall. I then added further definition to the background by adding a large filigreed leaf, a vintage lace collar piece, and pieces of an old pearl collar.

And then came the embellishments! This Assemblage Canvas contains around 75 found objects or newer elements plus dozens of metal beads. Its depth is 1.75″.

Just what is Assemblage? It’s the creation of a larger art piece from smaller objects. Best described as a 3D collage on canvas, my assemblage art pieces contain numerous vintage “found objects” as well as newer embellishments. 

Here those vintage found objects include the bird in flight, several bracelet links, various 1980s jewelry makings, pearl collar, beaded flowers, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, large heart, hors-d’oeuvres fork, a chunk of an old resin frame, cameo setting, felt rose, and lace collar piece.

Newer elements include several filigreed metal pieces, winged heart, crowns, hearts, buttons, metal flowers, various leaves, paper roses, wings, emblem, cabochon, flower beads, bracelet link, palette, arrow, bird, cones, rabbit, and metal beads.

Hangers are attached and, while I prefer the no-frame look, this Assemblage Art piece is ready for framing. It will also display nicely on an easel.

Dimensions: 12.0″ x 12.0″ x 1.75″

SOLD

All Assemblage Art pieces sold at Art Creations by Vicky are original works from artist Vicky Hensley and one of a kind.

Clock faces, as well as clock gears and movements, are highly popular elements for inclusion in Assemblage or Mixed Media art. I’ve purchased more than a few broken watches or clocks over the years to disassemble – using every part that could effectively be adhered to canvas. But it can be a timely process and, even greater, the right sort of clock or watch is usually difficult to find for a price I’m willing to pay. 

There are a multitude of new gears and watch faces available for purchase that specifically target the Mixed Media/Assemblage artist. I use such items extensively, especially gears. But the new clock and watch faces appear to be just that – new – and I want my embellishments to look old and a little rough or (even better) a bit broken.

Imagine my delight in finding these old battered colorful watch faces recently on Etsy for a reasonable price. I often find vintage elements on Etsy or eBay but the price is usually too high for use in an art piece that will contain dozens if not hundreds of such elements.

The key to such a successful find may be that the seller was located in Ukraine as well as my willingness to wait many weeks for delivery. I purchased these 24 clock faces in two lots. And, although I still think you’ll find the best vintage elements to include in your artwork at flea markets and estate sales, this time it really paid off to search a little online. Just perform your search using whatever descriptive words come to mind. Etsy sellers, in particular, take great care in tagging their products with all sorts of keywords to assist you in finding what you want to buy. As an example, I used the search term “old clock faces” to find these little worn jewels. 

And now, you’ll soon see these clock faces peeking out from my works!

Vicky 

I’m so happy to have everything back to normal again! The website redesign is working smoothly and, although I enjoy traveling immensely, I’m back home for a while and love being in my art studio regularly.

Here’s my latest – a Steampunk design that actually works for those who have more traditional tastes as well.  It is full of vintage found objects – probably more than I have placed in one work before. I have a few others in process as well – one is a custom for a dear friend and a second and third feature either a turquoise or light blue background for you all who love the blue family. 

And here’s the official description of today’s creation…..

Another steampunk creation although this falls into the traditional assemblage canvas as well. My Assemblage Canvases are filled with objects adhered to the canvas and this one has a higher percentage of what I refer to as “found objects” – vintage or older pieces I find at estate sales or flea markets. In fact, this artwork contains far more of these found objects than the newer elements.

Let’s start with the found objects – all of which fall into the vintage category as well: watercolors, pieces of a resin clock face, beaded purse sections, adding machine keys, furniture trim, bobbin, large beads, red 3D heart, red wreath brooch, knight chess piece, 7″ metal gear, beaded leaf, button, crocheted collar pieces, large metal star, metal flower, and diamond glass pieces.

The newer elements include gears, filigreed rounds and squares, bracelet link, large beads, clock face, word charm, propeller, button, various leaves, Celtic cross, metal heart, and other metal embellishments. There is a scripted piece of polymer clay crafted by yours truly. You’ll also find dozens of small metal beads.

On a 14″ x 11″ stretched canvas, the depth of this piece is 1.75″. The background has multiple coats and spritzes of paint with stenciled textured designs and pieces of lace collar providing an additional dimension. Once the multiple layers of embellishments are added, the piece is further enhanced with metallique and antique waxes and more spritzes of paint.

Hangers are attached and, while I prefer the no-frame look, this is ready for framing. This piece will also display nicely on a large table easel.

Dimensions: 14″ x 11 x 1.75″

$119.00

Available for purchase at my Etsy shop

All Assemblage Art pieces sold at Art Creations by Vicky are original works from artist Vicky Hensley and one of a kind.

It’s done… and days before my deadline. Yeah, I’m relieved and exuberant and feeling a bit like a victor cause, see, I’m basically a technophobe. I can envision, write, and produce decent photography but please don’t call on me to change a font for the entire site. Or move the navigation bar. And on and on.

Once again, thanks to my sister Mary for helping me start the process. Assuring me it wasn’t that big of a deal, I visited Mary last week – MacBook in hand. Once we had chosen the best theme, the going was surprisingly smooth (big sis was right) and I returned home with a big “to do” list and a feeling of optimism that I could do it!

The changes? Colors are slightly different – I’ve added a lot of white space which I believe makes reading easier. Some categories are gone and others added. I’ve tried to make the site simpler and easier to access. I’ve taken the time to explain “assemblage” in a number of places as it is a foreign word to more than not.

One big decision – I dropped the gourds. It doesn’t mean I won’t add them at a later date. I’ve discovered two things about my artistic enterprise. First, it takes all my available time to keep Assemblage inventory up (I sell as much as I can produce) and, second, I’m simply not turning out gourds that fit my definition of “good enough to sell”.  Learning the large number of procedures one must to produce the type of gourds I envision creating takes time. And I can’t rush that as I had originally planned. One day – I’ve promised myself – just not as quickly as I hoped.

During the transition, I listed four new Assemblage Canvases. You’ll find each here on the site – just scroll a little further down the front page. I’m also providing you with a quick look…

Two in One

$195.00

Full Details

Purchase at Etsy

Dimensions: as shown 23″ x 14″ x 1.75″

 

 

 

 

A Raven’s Dream

$39.95

Full Details

Purchase at Etsy

Dimensions: 4″ x 4″ x 1.375″

 

 

 

 

 

A Spray of Hearts and Roses

$54.95

Full Details

Purchase at Etsy

Dimensions: 8″ x 6″ x 1.5″

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elegant Steampunk

$64.95

Full Details

Purchase at Etsy

Dimensions: 8″ x 8″ x 1.50″

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy the new site!

Vicky