Good-bye Collage 365

I've done it. All of the Collage 365 content has been moved to my Paper With a Past blog.

Say what?!? It dawned on me that having two blogs was not only time consuming, but also confusing. My company is Paper With a Past and so, that blog, is now my one-and-only blog. As I often preach to other artists: it's all about branding.

So, I hope you head there to view my new work and read about my ongoing paper obsessions/finds - and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE bookmark it!

Social butterflies: Emma and Marjorie Were Honing Their Networking Skills

© Social Butterflies: Emma and Morjorie Were Honing Their Networking Skills (2012)

mixed-media collage: vintage illustrations (The Delineator, Butterick, May 1923; 

The Butterfly Book, Doubleday Page & Co., 1902; Butterflies and Moths,

Viking Press, 1965); handmade paper; recycled origami paper;

 antique Lotto box (McLoughlin Bros., Trunk Lotto No. 2); watercolor, ink, acrylic sealer;

metal tape; recycled glass

Price: $150 (contact Bromwell's Gallery).

Here's a peek at one of the Social Butterflies boxes in progress. Actually, it's done, but I didn't think to shoot it before putting the glass on top and, well, too much glare to do it now. Memo to self: next time, take the picture before adding the glass. I added a few more flowers and a tiny cricket but that's about it. 

The girls are from the May 1923 issue of The Delineator. As in the other pieces in the series, which also feature illustrations from the same issue, my back story for them has them being more than clothes horses or frivolous party goers. I see them as BF - before Facebook - social networkers, who are honing their skills now that women have the right to vote. That's the story - and I'm sticking to it! 

The ornate paper on the box sides - below - is original. The box housed the pieces for Lotto, a Bingo-type game. I was tempted to add the lid so viewers would have to open it to see what's inside, but decided to try that another time. The lid is wonderful on it's own and, so, I'd like to use it for another piece. The back features a color plate of caterpillars, which - like Emma and Marjorie - will some day morph into an entirely new - and equally fascinating - creatures.  

Out On A Limb: 29

© Out On A Limb: 29 (2012)

mixed-media collage: antique postcard (PFB, printed in Germany)

 and trade card (Lion Coffee, Woolson Spice Co., Toledo, OH);

 vintage illustration (Audubon coloring book, circa 1930s);

 hand-marbled paper; recycled catalog; ink, watercolor, marker, fluid chalk,
acrylic sealer & varnish. 5"x5" on cradled hardwood panel. 
Price: $75 (contact me - e-mail link is at the top of the page).

I thought I'd whip up a companion to complement the two Out On A Limb collages created last month and, well, here it is. I wanted to pick up on the yellow color scheme and spring-like feel of the earlier pieces - happily, the beautiful trade card on the left did just that. It's one of the gorgeous, late 19th century chromolithographs promoting The Woolson Spice Company's Lion Coffee brand.

In keeping with the idea of pairing color and black & white bird images, two birds from a 1930s Audubon coloring book were added. I liked that one is hanging upside down. Next: some papers in the middle to provide a transition between the two. Chalk on the edges added more texture.

I wasn't satisfied. It needed more. The pink flowers - from an antique postcard - were next. Hmm. Okay, but still not there. I rifled through the file and found another bird from the coloring book. Eureka! This is one of those collages that it helps to see in person to really get the effect of the layering.

I haven't been slacking off, honest

Hmm. Given the lack of blog posts this week, it may look like I've been taking it easy. Not so. I've been working on a series of entirely new three-dimensional pieces for Flora and Fauna, an exhibit that opens May 5 at Bromwell's Gallery, downtown. It will be hung Monday night, so you can understand why I haven't been sitting at the computer.

Here's a peek. Oh, wait. I should note that the boxes with women and girls sporting butterfly wings are part of my new Social Butterflies series and, of course, they are not frivolous females. You'll find out more when I title the pieces - for the moment, let's just say that the images are from the early 1920s, on the heels of women in America getting the right to vote ...

  

Finally, a look at the new studio

Yes, I got around to uploading photos of my new studio on the first floor at Brazee Street Studios ... which is officially open whenever I'm there. That's just about every weekday. Generally after 11 a.m. So, feel free to drop by if you're in the Oakley neighborhood or nearby.

One collage becomes two

BEFORE: Summer 2

Yep. I've been revisiting more "old" collages and transforming them. In this case, the wrapped canvas piece above was cut down and used for new pieces in the Out On A Limb series. I liked the piece when it was created but looking back at it, well, it was too static and without a real focal point.

When I spotted the beautiful birds below perched on branches of bright spring flowers, I knew the old summer collage would make a perfect background for them ...  

AFTER: Out On a Limb: 25 (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique postcards, trade card,
& illustration (Peterson's Magazine 1886); vintage illustration
(The Butterfly Book, Doubleday, 1902) & postage stamp;
handmade paper; ink, watercolor, gesso, acrylic sealer
and varnish; canvas. 5"x5" on cradled hardwood panel. 
Price: $75 (contact me - e-mail link is at the top of the page) 

AFTER: Out On a Limb: 26 (2012)
mixed media collage: antique trade card, sheet music
(Chatterbox magazine) & postcard (postmarked
Wamsley, Ohio, Feb. 24, 1913); vintage illustrations
(The Butterfly Book, Doubleday, 1902); handmade paper;
ink, watercolor, gesso, acrylic sealer and varnish;
canvas. 5"x5" on cradled hardwood panel.
Price: $75 (contact me - e-mail link is at the top of the page)  

Julia and Hope: done

© Julia Had a Certain Spring in Her Step (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique engraving, illustration and scrap;
watercolor, marker, ink, acrylic sealer. 5"x7" on archival mat board (SOLD)

Hope (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique engraving; recycled book proof
 and greeting cards; watercolor, marker, ink, acrylic sealer.
5" x 7" on archival mat board

Here are the finished collages I wrote about a few weeks ago. To be honest, not much changed. A Victorian pansy scrap was added to the bottom of Julia to echo the color in her hat ribbon and her dress color was punched up with marker. There's more gold in Hope's her hair and on the sun, and a bit more shading all over.

The pieces will be for sale at the 4th annual Jamie Osher Memorial Fund Gala, 6-9 p.m. Thursday April 26 at Art Design Consultants, 310 Culvert St., downtown (behind the Taft Museum of Art). The fund was created by Jamie's wife, artist Paula Wiggins, to raise money for esophageal cancer research, education and outreach. It's the disease that Jamie died from in 2008.

Admission is $50. A few dozen Cincinnati artists have donated small works of art for the "Wall of Hope." Each piece will sell for $75.     

Please drop by my new studio 6-9 p.m. Fridaywhen Brazee Street Studios kicks off monthly Open Studios

Even more deconstruction and reconstruction

Last May, I wrote about the collage above and my struggle with whether it should be vertical or horizontal. Well, it doesn't matter any more. Why? It's been cut up and reworked it into two new collages - below - in the Out On A Limb series.

An interesting thing happened with the top section of the collage, the pressed leaf from an early 20th century school notebook crumbled. I had hoped to keep bits of it, along with the tape strips that held it, but the whole thing fell apart. Then, when lifting the collage off its mat board substrate, the notebook page started to wrinkle. I liked the grungy look and decided not to even try to flatten it.

Yes, these are very autumnal. Spring images coming soon! Honest.  

© Out on A Limb: 27
mixed-media collage: antique endpaper, vintage notebook page
(1918 notebook of Lillian Mary Shackett) and illustration (Birds of New York: Part 2,
State Museum of New York), recycled catalog cover, watercolor, ink,
 acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish. 5"x5" on cradled, hardwood panel. Price: $75.

© Out On A Limb: 28
mixed-media collage: antique endpapers; vintage library date due card
and teletype operator manual and illustration (1990 Audubon calendar);
recycled catalog covers; watercolor, ink, acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish.
5"x5" on cradled, hardwood panel. Price: $75.

Only two more days to see my 5th Street Gallery show

© Out On A Limb: 14 (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage illustrations (A Field Guide to the Birds,
 Houghton Mifflin, 1934; Birds of the World, Golden Press, 1961),
ink, watercolor, acrylic sealer & varnish. 6" x 6" on cradled, hardwood panel.
Price: $85.  

Just a reminder that "Expecting to Fly," my exhibition at downtown's 5th Street Gallery, is open for two more days: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. today and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday. It's a gorgeous day for a stroll around downtown! So, please stop in if you are out and about.

Mad Women: Jean Drops Out and Joins A Cult

Mad Women: Jean Drops Out and Joins A Cult (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage illustrations (Esquire, Dec. 1939;
 McCall's Pattern Book, spring 1946);  recycled Turner Classic Movies
trading card ("Casablanca") & Monet exhibition catalog illustration;
ink; watercolor. 7.5" x 9.5" on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass.
Price: $175.

I was so excited to - finally - use something from the December 1939 issue of Esquire, which my friend Marsie Newbold gave to me a few years back. It's the background image of the lithe women with a horse and came from an illustrated feature titled "If Women Rules the World and Men and Horses Were Slaves." Yeah, real male fantasy stuff that I couldn't resist turning into female fantasy stuff.

Adding to the romantic air: a quote from "Casablanca" from a set of classic movie trading cards that came in the mail back in my newspaper features editor days. At that time, I was saving promotional card decks. Well, let's be honest, I was also saving tons of other paper!

In any case, what was funniest to me about the quote is that my daughter recognized it as being from "Casablanca" almost immediately. Guess we raised her right.

Works in progress ... or fait accompli?

Working title: Julia Had A Certain Spring in Her Step 

Working title: Hope

In early February, I was asked by Cincinnati artists Paula Wiggins and Kay Hurley if I would donate two small artworks - 5x7s - to help raise money for the Jamie Osher Memorial Fund. The fund was created a few years ago in memory of Paula's husband, who died from esophageal cancer. Proceeds go to education and research into the disease.

There is an annual event and as Paula puts it, it has "always centered on art, because that is what we love." The pieces will hang on a "Wall of Hope" during the fundraiser April 26 at Art Design Consultants, downtown. Each piece will sell for the same price: $75.

Of course, I said "yes." These are the collages I'm working on, which may be done but then again, maybe not. It seems that Julia could benefit from splashes of the blue in her hat in other spots. Also under consideration: adding gold leaf to "Hope," which has touches of gold - streaks in her hair, dots on the rays - that are hard t detect here. I'd forgotten about the "Wall of Hope" and titled her "Hope." Now, that's being rethought.

I'll post more details about the event as soon as I have them. Oh, and I'll post the final pieces, too!