Tiny but mighty, a watercolor piranha

This small green frame was free from one of the suburban 'transfer stations' where residents have to bring their trash, recyclables, and free stuff to a central location.

Creative Roommate was inspired to frame an original watercolor of a piranha, mouth agape.

who has the hungers?

Naturally the hungry little fish found a place on the feeding wall in the kitchen.

would eat those birds, if only I could reach...

Happy freestyling!

Freestyle A Room, The Challenge, Post 4 - Fabulous fabulous fish art

The original Freestyle A Room Challenge list did not consider artwork. Luckily we came across an awesome piece at someone's front porch sale on our way back from dropping off compost at le dump one sunny weekend.  By this point the freestyled room was occupied by a graduate student who also happened to enjoy scuba diving in the Caribbean, so the theme of this piece was an extra bonus.  When we balked at the asking price the lovely young woman selling stuff told us to just take it, she would rather someone enjoy it than have to throw such a gem in the dumpster.  We happily agreed.

Soon the canvas fish print was up on the wall in its own little sea of blue.

This gold octagon mirror was another freestyle find that got utilized for this challenge.

Happy freestyling, and if the price isn't right it never hurts to ask.

Flimsy Frame Find Fabulous Fish

Found: super flimsy frame from Scandinavian superstore.  

Location: Our our own street! Thanks to a friend for calling this one in as soon as he saw it. Yes, I WOULD want to go check out that pile of stuff on the sidewalk, right now!

Made of: cardboard 'backing,' thin flexible plastic front, and mystery materials (MDF?) frame with small flat metal points sticking out of the frame to hold it all together.  I would not recommend anyone buy this type of product, the metal parts fall out during normal handling, but since it was free.....

How did we freestyle it?

1. I cleaned off the frame and left it to dry.

2. Roommate trimmed this piece of goldfish-print decorative paper I had on hand. 

    (I heart Papersource, and I'm not afraid - or paid - to say it!)

3. Roommate re-assembled frame, and wrestled with it while trying to hang it on the wall.  She eventually managed to hang the frame, and get it to stay on the wall, by inserting the nail on the wall into the tiny gap between frame and cardboard backing.  Clever.

It might be a bit askew, or I could have been leaning when I took the picture....

Shark attack

  

Found: black plastic snap frame with 3-picture mat (water-damaged), front acrylic sheet intact and useable.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Going to the swap shelf on overcast days is usually less fruitful than sunny ones.  Rain ruins a lot of otherwise useable stuff, but I got this frame before it was too far gone.  The backing was too far gone, but the mat was only partially damp, so Creative Roommate was able to take it out, dry it, and paint it to cover the water stain.     At left is a photo of the mat in the process of being painted.

                       

Her inspirations are varied, but this was a surprise when I found it on the kitchen wall on morning. Good day to you oh representatives of Carcharodon carcharias!  Are you fans of freestyle?

Feed me! and me! and me!

Since this happens to be in our kitchen, it seems appropriate that these pictures are about hungry animals.

Stay tuned for how this blank canvas of a wall will get freestyled in the days ahead.

Framed! An underwater mystery piece

Found!
(the green bucket is for compost)

 Found: small wooden frame for a panorama-style photo print, no markings or brand, glass intact.

Repairs required: only cleaning

<--Before

      After-->




  I was excited to find this nifty little wooden frame, but how to freestyle it when I didn't have any prints that I wanted for my wall?  I could have turned it over to Creative Roommate to fill with an original painting, but then a mysterious coincidence came to pass, inspired by a real life underwater mystery... read on for the full story.




One night around dinner time, Creative Roommate made me aware of this video of a mysterious underwater thing.  As I am a fan of all things aquatic, people know I like videos of underwater creatures, the stranger the better! When I saw this, I knew I had to pass it on to other fans of marine mysteries, some of whom just happen to be crafty with the paper/scissors/glue.    
 (Video also available here if the first link doesn't work)

Deepstaria enigmatica I presume....

Inspired by this mysterious underwater creature/object/part-of-creature, I was the recipient of one of life's best free things- a letter from a friend that was also original artwork.

How can I thank Deepstaria enigmatica (what some believe is the name of the jelly shown in the video) for being an artistic inspiration to my friend?  I suppose one small act of thanks is continuing to recycle plastic bags so that they don't end up in the ocean (where they get eaten by turtles who can die from the resulting intestinal blockage).  Jellies might be minimalists, but if they had to pay rent I'm sure they would appreciate free things like the rest of us, especially free artwork.  So I love this letter, and want to have it up where I can see it, but how to best display it?  

Quelle karmic coincidence, this inspired piece fits perfectly into the latest free frame find.

In a new sea of blue

I'm calling this one a freestyle group effort.  It's not every day I get to cite jellyfish as a collaborator.

Nautical themed freestyled frame

I love finding free pictures frames.  There is something so satisfying about hanging a lovely picture on a wall with the full knowledge that it was made possible by keeping an eye out for the possible- or in my case, for the possibilities presented by a cast-off.  This is the heart of the freestyle philosophy.
I've found a few frames at le dump, and most often they just need a cleaning.  Given that the main ingredients are usually some combination of plastic, metal, and glass it is a pretty straightforward task.
This pink-ish wooden frame with an interesting rope detail was a recent acquisition:

How may I enhance your day?

 Issues with this frame included a few rough spots, and a flimsy backing construction. It was not designed to hang on the wall, but our house isn't really a 'pictures of loved ones on the end table' kind of place.  What to do? It sat for a while in the "idea zone," a special corner in the living room, we talked about painting it some neutral color.... Then one sunny day Creative Roommate was inspired and I came home to find a newly  freestyled frame and a suitable picture for framing, right there on the end table.

Bubbles!

The fish was the first part that caught my eye (naturally), but then I noticed the bubbles on the frame, or were they?
Look a little closer.......

Googly-eyed all over

She used googly eyes! Removable sticker googly eyes, not what I would have reached for (because I don't have any) but somehow appropriate given the subject of the painting (also by Creative Roommate).

Not to overlook the painting of the frame, there are a few places where the old pink hue peeps through-  just enough to give it an aged look.

 Here's looking at you, freestyled frame.