A creative risk, a near disaster… and a big payoff

I've been busy finishing my latest piece for the (un)earthly  show at the Ridley Gallery. This one pushed me creatively—working three-dimensionally with a dollhouse, an open wood box (made by a friend), a root ball, and some papier-mâché elements.

One of the first challenges was painting and collaging inside the tight spaces of the dollhouse and box—very different from my usual flat panels. But at least I wasn’t stressing about the imagery; I felt good about those choices.

Working in the studio.

To keep things manageable, I painted and varnished everything separately before assembling it with my go-to heavy-duty glue. I started by securing the root ball inside the open box, gluing it in place upside down so the roots would hang when dry. It seemed like a solid plan—until I checked it the next morning.

The root ball hadn’t stuck. Cue mild panic. I suspected my old glue was the problem, and a quick bit of research confirmed it. Thankfully, I had the whole day to focus on fixing this.

A trip to the hobby store later, I had two fresh adhesives—just to be safe. I scraped off the old glue, started over, and crossed my fingers. The new glue was supposed to set quickly, but I still wasn’t convinced, so I tried a few extra tricks and took a walk to let it cure.

That moment of flipping the box over was nerve-wracking—but it held! Relief washed over me, but I still had work to do: gluing the dollhouse to the base and drilling holes in the roof to attach the papier-mâché birds on wires. Another tense step, but surprisingly, it all worked out.

In theory, I believed this piece would come together, but stepping into the unknown is always a little scary. It’s tough when we don’t have the experience to be confident in a process, but I’m so glad I took the risk. It paid off.

What challenges have you tackled recently? Whether things worked out as planned or not, I hope you keep going. We’ve got to forge ahead, take the risks, and trust that we’ll figure it out.

My new piece, Things We Cannot See, is now at the Ridley Gallery at Sierra College. The show runs April 1–30, 2025, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 3, from 4–6 p.m. I’d love to see you there!

Things We Cannot See, photo transfers, acrylic, color pencil, wax pastel & found items on wood structure & papier-mâché.