Artist Spotlight: Annette Eagle

 

As soon as I saw this sea themed cloche collage in Annette Eagle's space at Melange, I knew I had to have it! The two seahorses dancing in the wine glass reminded me of my wedding at the beautiful Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church, the starfish - of the many early Sunday morning walks with my father along Latigo Shore, and the pearl in the clam shell - a symbol of my days in Gamma Phi Beta sorority at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo!  I had to meet the artist who pulled this fantastic piece together - and the minute I met Annette, I knew I had found a friend I would cherish!

Annette Eagle is a tiny woman with enormous talent!  Annette can take old, chipped, uncared for, throw away items and transform them into vintage looking, sea shore inspired art pieces.  Annette hunts flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales and craft fairs searching out the broken jewelry, chipped statuettes, faded ribbon, and ripped and torn fabric she uses to create her art.

Annette mixes her own paint colors to mimic vintage finishes and adds seashells to embellish her finds.  This bust is a great example of how Annette combined a vintage pearl collar with a seashell encrusted crown to make this piece truly unique.

Move over Pottery Barn - your seashell bottles can't compare to the ones Annette has been making for years!  Plus her prices are so reasonable, as you can see in this picture.  Annette finds vintage bottles that most people would throw away and adds her special touches of glittered starfish or custom painted coral, to top off the silver leaf stoppers.

Starfish appear regularly in her space at Melange in Historic Folsom.  Annette combines her vintage jewelry finds into mini-collages and embellishes the starfish after she has painted and glittered them.  She also sells vintage jewelry like you see on this pillow.

No one can make sea fan look as elegant as Annette!  She custom paints it and adds glitter or mica flakes to make them sparkle. Cuff bracelets are some of Annette's latest projects and can be found at The Tattered House in Roseville, as well as Melange.

Annette's assemblage necklaces are one-of-a-kinds and hard to get a hold of since she sells them as fast as she makes them!

Crowns, miniature boxes, statuettes, and rosaries all have been given Annette's "Midas touch".  As soon as Annette gets some of her crowns in her space, they disappear!

 Annette fashioned this custom crown from crushed velvet,and vintage lace, jewelry and millinery flowers. Annette states, "I have always enjoyed art and crafting for as long as I can remember, as a child my favorite past time was coloring and painting ceramics.   When I was 19 I started making gifts for family and friends and about 5 years ago I did my first flea market where I started selling my creations.   My greatest passion is creating, when I know I get to spend a few hours creating it’s like a kid at Christmas time!  But the most rewarding part of it is when you create something for someone and they appreciate it…this is the real joy!!"

The cloche collages Annette creates have a whimsical tone - the way Annette compiles her minute treasures create stories for the viewer to interpret as they may.  In this cloche, a glittered bird sits atop a jar filled with vintage pearls, and vintage braided trim encircles the base.

Annette's shadow boxes are magical as well.  What is the story behind this one - who wore the vintage pearls?  Who played with the chipped little figure which received a glittered crown courtesy of Annette?  Where did the vintage snippet of lace and the millinery flowers come from?  Each of these pieces are like a snapshot of times gone by, but then brought back to life to tell a new story.

Nests featured prominently in Annette's displays as well!  Each of these are masterpieces in themselves!  Found feathers, lace, leaves, fabric, wire, are all masterfully woven together, glittered and then given eggs, a sign of new life.

Annette's artwork never fails to amaze me - I don't know if it is the soothing colors she uses, each creative combination she comes up with, or the vintage coastal vibe that draws me to cherish her work.  But I do know she has a knack for telling stories with her pieces, whether she knows it or not, people connect to her pieces like they connect to their past memories, and her artwork keeps those memories alive.  Annette's "Eagle Marie Designs" can be found at Melange in Historic Folsom, The Tattered House in Roseville, and she has also been a featured seller at the Remnants of the Past show in Nipomo.  Contact Annette directly by phone (916)761-9405, email Annette@bmrparts.com or leave her a message about her work by commenting below!

Fresh Eggs and Fry Daddy!

I got this old desk years ago from a friend and my three boys used it growing up.  Now it was time for the desk to go so I moved it outside with plans on painting it shabby white and selling it at Melange.  Unfortunately, the rain got to it before I did so I decided to tear it apart and repurpose the parts! 

The inside panel of one part of the desk was in perfect shape and I was in a painting mood!  I started decorating for spring and wanted something new for my mantel hood display area in my kitchen.  Spring always brings lots of birds to my yard and I love collecting their nests - but not until the eggs have hatched and the birds have moved on! I love those old painted market signs and the signs you see advertising farm stands you see along the road.  I decided I needed a fresh egg sign so I whitewashed the panel, sketched out "Fresh Eggs by the dozen" lightly in pencil for spacing, grabbed my paintbrush and went to work!  I added the cluster of eggs to symbolize my three sons who have left the nest!!

I placed the sign atop the mantel on a cast iron plate stand but it looked lonely.  I had just found this shabby wire basket at the Goodwill for a dollar, thinking it was an old egg basket - when I got home I realized it was really the basket for a FryDaddy!  It had old oil cooked onto the metal which came off easily after one trip in the dishwasher.  I added some plastic speckled eggs in light pastel colors and placed it next to the sign - That's better!!  I still think it looks like an old egg basket!

 I love the way the sign goes with the colors in my kitchen.  I just had my kitchen remodeled by DreamBuilders of El Dorado Hills.  This cooktop / backsplash area with the potfiller is one of my favorite parts of my remodeled kitchen!  The rope and accent tiles are a bronze metallic so I added some bronze metallic paint swishes into the nest on the sign - just enough 'shine' to add a little extra dimension to the nest on the sign!  Now my mantel area is ready for spring - and part of my theme for my Bunko night next week is birds!  Have you ever used something like my "Fry Daddy egg basket" in a different way?                 P.S. If you like my "Fresh Egg" sign I have smaller versions for sale at Melange!