Bejeweled Road Runner by artist www.sandrarenteria.com

A collage of inspiration

    http://www.sandrarenteria.com/

What do you get when you cross an Enid Collins handbag, a Fenton Robin Egg Blue Poppy lamp,  Recycled/Salvaged Cabinet Door and a Pheasant Hen Milk Glass Candy Dish.....?

"THE BEJEWELED ROAD RUNNER"  20"x28"

Can be seen at

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31814523

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE CREATION

Enid Collins- Vintage Purse "Road Runner"


History of Enid Collins--A TEXAS GEM!

More info on the purse at     

   http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31812615

"Enid Collins did just what she loved, combining art and fashion, and in doing so she created one of the most recognizable purses of the retro crazes. Her purses exploded on the scene in the glory days of what we now call the "vintage era", the retro craze.

Her two main purses were the wooded mahogany box bag and the canvas bucket bag. The bucket bag had a wooden bottom, leather trim, and made from linen. The backgrounds were often matte-screened or painted by hand.

Her whimsical designs were reminiscent of the Texas landscape and surrounding abundant critter life. The purses were covered with roadrunners, lady bugs, peacocks (raised on nearby farms), horses and the like. You would find her box bags and purses disputing colorful saying of the late 1950's....I can still hear my mother preaching, "Money doesn't grow on trees." only to find money did grow on trees if you owned an Enid Collins!

Husband and wife started out small on their Medina ranch in 1959. Her first purses sold for 100.00 or more and were made of fine leather or Belgian linen.

Enid and Frederic soon found a way to bring cost down. Enid cleverly developed a simple box bag made of wood. The dimensions were 11" by 5 1/2" and cost 10.00 each in 1963. Her husband fashioned the hinges and latches. They started out simply enough with hand paintings and personal art work, but soon a factory developed turning out thousands of purses. From 1966 to 1968 they created paper mache purses at a factory in Puerto Rico. This factory produced the most coveted purses of all.


By 1968, her whimsical purses were in such hot demand that a factory sprung up, turning out purses by the thousands. Remember this - all her original purses were signed and dated. The best purse to have is a pre 1968 purse, in mint condition, signed with the small "ec", the copyright "c", and the date, because these are the times when Mrs. Collins owned the company. Later purses are signed differently. The Tandy Company used the running horse with Collin of Texas logo or a capital "C", which purchased Enid's company in 1970. Although Tandy purses are just as "glittery" as a Collins purse, they are not as desirable in todays vintage market." http://www.retrovintagecollectibles.com/

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Fenton Glass-The Gone with the Wind/Student Lamp "Satin Blue Poppy"

This piece can be seen at 

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31810903

This fabulous Fenton Glass Robin Egg Blue Satin Milk Glass lamp has really inspired the current color palette that I am working with. I was torn between make this a focal point in my current "white" Living room idea. BUT it didn't blend well, so for now...it goes...but who knows if I will change my mind.
Two months ago I had no idea what "FENTON" was, but after becoming fascinated with "Milk Glass" the word "Fenton" kept showing up. So I bought my first book. "Fenton Glass " by Mark F. Moran. This was a wealth of information. I am so glad I made the investment.

I have also learned quite a bit from http://www.fentonglassusa.com/

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Nesting Milk Glass Hen Candy Dish

This piece can be seen at

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31815458

I have no idea who made this piece...but I think it is very sweet.

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With all of these combined I have created by own version of the "Jeweled Road Runner"

My work can be seen at http://www.sandrarenteria.com/


http://www.winkingowl.etsy.com/


Please Join our fan page at
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Winking-Owl-Studio/129927372388?ref=ts

Mid Century Design...A bounty of goods.

After deciding to buy the Fonville building, I was faced with financial design challenges.  Although the building itself had a "sky is the limit" design aspect to it, my budget did not allow for it.  The commercial space where the Fonville family had been selling jewelry out of for over 70 years (great feng shui), had dated lighting and shelving units.  Sadly, I'm just not a fan of verneers and mirrors, but after talking it over with my Architect, Jonathan Card, I decided insteading of trying to re-design, I needed to rethink my vision.  So I decided to go in with a "if you can't beat them, join them" attitude. Thus, we decided to go with Mid-Century design.  If there is one thing that I find amazing about the Wild Wild West is how time has stood still in the design world.  Mid Century pieces are everywhere as long as you have the eye and knowledge to spot them.  So I decided to take the design of our gallery/studio/cafe to a level of extreme.  Somehow I live life that way..it's ALL or NOTHING.

After buying books on Mid-Century design, 1940's to 1960's Home Magazines and surfing the Information Highway to absorb all that I could, I started to buy.  One piece at a time.

As I buy, i just BUY!  The piece doesn't have to have a complete set, it doesn't have to have a destination or a purpose, it just needs to be in our space to see if there is any organic growth to the fruition of the project. 
Along the way I started encouraging Abel and my daughter Serena to study some of the books with me and it has now become a family project.

Serena is the "owl and mushroom" expert.  She can spot those pieces a mile away, she can bring in milk glass and she has a tendency to be attracted to depression glass and Fenton hobnail pieces.  My precocious 8 year old has decided she is going to be a fashion designer when she grows up.  Vintage fabric really rocks her world!

Currently we are still in the "buying" phase of the project.  We are applying for a HUD 203K Rehabilition Construction loan which is very admistrative, but the ONLY loan that was created for our situation, so I have had to learn patience.  Instead of getting frustrated I have used this down time to go on Mid-Century hunts and somewhere in the middle of all of this chaos I decided to open an Etsy Store.  http://www.winkingowl.etsy.com/

Winking Owl is a family venture, Serena likes to "match vignettes", Abel does the photography and I do the listings.  We are in the middle of nowhere so we have some hiccups to deal with but, I think for that exact reason we are finding amazing things that are shaping the sculpting of our living/studio space.  Each piece has the potential to change the design outcome. 


You can see my artwork at http://www.sandrarenteria.com/
Make sure to support a foundation I co-founded  http://www.artforhaitianchidren.org/
http://www.thewinkingowl.com/


http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Pecos-TX/Preserving-a-Pecos-Tx-Jewel-The-Fonville-Jewelry-Building/212720605267?ref=ts