"Mismatched"...oh, so very mismatched

At my final job, the preparations for a major office renovation involved all hands on deck to de-clutter closets and store rooms -- a dream activity for artist-packrats and a task for which I quickly volunteered. Intercepting a dumpster-destined box of never-used and outdated "company mugs", I found treasure: one of the untouched mugs had shattered into a fascinating variety of shards. I *HAD* to do something with it -- the varied sizes and shapes of the pieces, the white of the cracked edges against the black ceramic.

I re-wrapped and saved the pieces carefully, and for a couple years my mind played with what to do with them. In late 2011, I happened upon an old cotton shirt:-- black, white, and gold plaid. Ta TUM! I'd place the mug shards against the folds of the shirt!!


I began a study in pencil that quickly showed me that this was going to be One of Those Bright Ideas, the kind that never pan out. Just too fiddly.


Well, what to do? I'd become enthralled with the way the plaid design warped and zigzagged through the fabric folds. But I could see that I needed something bigger than the mug pieces to play against it. My glance happened on my old wool felt hat that hangs inside the studio door.

I've saved this hat for poor nostalgia. It was the height of elegance in the late 1960s, worn with my first "grown-up" suit, both gifts from my mother when I graduated from university. A decade later, it had lost both lustre and relevance but it came along to BC with us, where it had a 5-year reincarnation as a cool weather hiking hat. Now the memory of the 3/4 length gloves I'd once worn with the suit brought to mind...a currently elegant/relevant and very beautiful pair of leather gloves that a dear friend brought me from Italy. Exit mug shards. Enter black hat and gloves.


In the final painting, I think I managed to pull off what I had in mind. You can see the plaid design evolve and watch for the first appearance of cuff buttons here.The painting's title reflects the mismatch with my original intentions, the mismatch in eras and tone of the various pieces of clothing, the mismatch of the plaid design as it snakes around the old hat and the beautiful gloves. Here's "Mismatched," copyright 2011.


Thank you, VF mug, for taking a detour on your way out the door to inspire my funkiest painting yet. And thank you, VF friends, for keeping in touch and cheering me on. May you always choose the right accessories and may you correctly button your plaid shirts so that you are never...mismatched.