Inspire Me Thursday - Five Senses

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge involved using all five senses to create a piece of art. I have to admit that this one really did challenge me, because I was totally out of my comfort zone. I don't normally mix media beyond using some paper collage here and there in a drawing or painting, so even getting my hands on "stuff" was a challenge! Anyway, here it is (although it's much darker here than "in person"):

Sight - I was surrounded by paint on a palette, pretty paper in a basket, drawings and paintings in my studio, many books, and my fat cat Jezebel snoozing on the sofa. Lovely. The idea of sight is also included in the pieces of mirror in which the viewer can see pieces of herself.

Sound - I put iTunes on shuffle ( I randomly recall hearing songs by Morphine, The Isley Brothers, Sinead Lohan), and I started to create using a small piece of scrap maple from Jol's guitar factory. You might say that the whole piece is grounded in the idea of music! I then took an old plastic compact and smashed the outside case so I could get to the mirror. Noisy! I ended up with shards in various sizes, choosing those that I could use as the rays coming from the eye.

Touch - The whole experience was touch! I felt the grain of the wood. I created texture in the background of the base coat of paint using a series of leaf stamps. I rubbed layers of paint on with my fingers. I gingerly handled the broken mirror so I wouldn't cut myself. I used paper in various thicknesses and textures. The finished piece is dimensional with smooth, rough, hard, and soft surfaces.

Taste - There are five coffee beans on this! I painted them gold and used them as the centers of the "flowers."

Smell - The coffee beans smelled wonderful....