A shop owner once told me that people are more likely to buy a work of art that has another use besides being a work of art, such as a mirror or bowl. After I got over my indignation ("people should appreciate art for itself, etc. etc."), I realized she had a point, and I produced a few mirrors, which promptly sold. The two galleries that now show my work, Ashby Art and Antiques in Towles Court, Sarasota, and The Baobab Gallery, in the Village of the Arts in Bradenton, carry both types of artworks, I'm happy to say.
I'm working on a new "useful objects" project that will be mosaics about 12 by 18 inches, which a framer friend, Dotti Sechrist (Uptown Framers), suggested I produce to turn into trays after she frames them. I think that's a wonderful idea and am about halfway through one of them. The second photo is the stacks of primed masonite boards waiting their turn. (I stick a yogurt or cottage cheess lids between them so they won't stick together. I also use those lids as a paint palette for the small amount of painting that I do. Waste not, want not!) Stay tuned for photos of the finished trays.
