Damn. Clowns.

I was well into this piece before visiting the circus poster exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum. But didn't have nearly enough clowns in my stash. Yeah, who knew? So, I was giddy with excitement when I spotted the family guide to the exhibition and its surfeit of fantastic clowns. The rest of the group are from recycled greetings cards, and the vintage books "The Jack of All Trades or New Ideas for American Boys" (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914) and "ABC & 123" (Whittlesey House/McGraw-Hill, 1955).

The piece is related to an earlier one, Olivia Sat Mesmerized as Jonathan's Libido Bubbled Over and is part of the new "Bubbling Over" series in which I re-imagine seemingly innocent Victorian illustrations (this one came from The Chatterbox children's magazine) in new - and, sometimes, scary - ways. Those who hate clowns will get my drift. Making more bubble pieces came about, because as I went through images I had set aside recently I noticed quite a few with circles or ovals that I planned to fill. 5.5" x 8.5" on archival mat board with acrylic, ink and watercolor. {SOLD}