Do you use your lap as your easel? At the retreat, Heather Campbell’s work space was crowded with the ephemera she used in her mixed media work plus tools and glue and wire and such. So she worked on her lap. She wisely wore an apron.

You had to wonder how the iron trivet, table knives, rhinestones, dolls and other repurposed items would fit on this 12″ x 12″ canvas. The trivet made an interesting design element but on my next visit, it was buried beneath polymer, paint and ornate trim.

Old table knives took on a new life wrapped in polymer and treated to a coat of paint with metallic highlights. More is much better in Heather’s vocabulary. This piece is entitled Peace Making.

Heather’s sumptuous style belies the unvarnished messages buried beneath her avalanche of ornamentation. See her sales page on Artful Home and her blog here.