This week’s Virtual Art Gallery submission is by Marine veteran Michael Ramos, resident in the Melbourne, Australia area. Michael is a member of Democrats Abroad Australia and the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families (VMF) Caucus.
The artwork is a collection of “brick books,” meaning, ordinary household bricks painted to look like various types of books. The three photographs below, from left to right, show some of the bricks used for the project and the end result after being painted to resemble books and novels.
The artist first collected the bricks, brushed them off, rinsed them, dried them, and then began painting them with acrylic (waterproof) paint. The “books” include classics such as “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl, a few “books” that were published by VMF members (J. David Markham, Michelle Dallocchio, and Drew Allbritten), and others that are Congress- and military-related.
According to Michael,
“I first got this idea from browsing art and crafts projects on Pinterest after seeing what other people have done for outdoor projects and then discovered the ‘books’ they created for their gardens. In my case, our family has a small vegetable garden in the backyard and I was looking for a fun way to spice it up, so I decided to give these ‘book bricks’ a shot. Since many bricks have imperfections, they’re actually perfect for the purpose of making them appear to be old books on a library bookshelf, with some of them having tattered ‘pages’ and scuffed ‘corners.’ I’m really happy with how they turned out, and I’ll probably end up creating a bunch more to give our backyard a more unique look. Plus, it’s inspired my kids to give it a try as well!”
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U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check your voter registration status and request your ballot for any upcoming elections in your home voting state that you are eligible to vote in.
The VMF Caucus has over 1,400 members in dozens of countries and proudly consists of veterans, military family members, Department of Defense civilians, national security professionals, and strong allies of veterans and military family causes.
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