Mad Women: There Was No More Penny PinchingNow That Helen Was The Primary Breadwinner

I'm on another Mad Women tear. Something about the coming holidays inspired me to add more collages to the series, which tweaks 1950s stereotypes about women. Note the festive red-and-green color scheme supplied by the vintage trading stamps and recycled coin wrapper. The green background behind the couple was in the original illustration from an ad in Ladies Home Journal and blended so well with the stamps that I decided to keep it. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. (SOLD)

Mad Women on a smaller scale

Between larger collages, I've been working on the gift tag collages for a few retail shops in town (more on that when they are actually in the shops). As I was scanning the finished tags into the computer, I noticed that the '40s/'50s fashion tags have taken on the same "don't give me any X#$+" attitude as the Mad Women series. I seem incapable of creating a straight-up fashion tag!

Mad Women: In Marilyn's World, Big Was Better. Period.

I had been waiting for an op to use this vintage Butterick sewing pattern illustration and it came when I found more of the Tiffany jewelry illustrations on vellum that I had pulled from an old catalog. Those baubles say it all - and then some. 5.5" x 8.5" on acid-free watercolor paper, with ink and pencil. Matted to fit a standard 9"x12" frame. $55, plus $5 shipping & handling.

Whatever the Occasion, Susie and Marie Had Each Other's Back

Something clicked when I found the 1953 sewing pattern illustration at the bottom and the dual-personality woman at the top (the top section of the cover of a 1950s-era "Nesco Modern Way of Electric Cooking" booklet).  But it wasn't until I saw the wording in a woman's farm journal ad for baby chicks that the piece came together. 3.75" x 5.75" on archival mat board.

Mad Women: Yvette Knew Exactly What She Wanted

Yvette is an alter ego for Mad Men's Don Draper. Minus the angst, that is. The patterns are Butterick and McCalls from the 1940s and '50s, and the jewels are - who else? - Tiffany's. The illustration was one of many scattered through a catalog from about five years ago and is on vellum, so there's some transparency as well as a wonderful softness to the lines. I figured I'd use them one way or another, and saved all the pages.

It's difficult to see onscreen, but those are Swarovski crystals on her hat and dress - as well as one as a tie pin for the guy in the suit. Trust me, they almost have that Tiffany-cut gleam. 5.25" x 9" on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass. Price: $100. (SOLD)

Brad's 35th birthday left him feeling off center

Brad started as a another techniques and composition practice session, this time in glazing a background, stenciling, and repetition. He took on a life of his own as the piece progressed. It always interests me to see how different a piece is at the end than I thought it would be at the beginning. I'll have to do a step-by-step post - when I remember to snap in-process photos, that is.  9" x 7" on archival mat board

Mad Women: Betty was fed up

I've started a series titled Mad Women that's a departure from my usual Victorian-centric work. It was spurred by three great finds: 1940s & '50s sewing catalogs; 1940s women's magazines; and Top Value trading stamp books. My East Coast family was strictly S&H green stamps, so these were new to me.

Happily, I came across some S&H books, too, and acquired more via my thrifty friend Betsa Marsh. She told me she relied on them to acquire appliances and other goods in the early days of her marriage. She kept the ones she hadn't traded in after they were discontinued hoping they'd make a comeback. (Given the economy, it's surprising they haven't.)

The "No" is a piece of a clever "do not disturb" sign that I knew I'd walk off with the moment I saw it on the hotel room door.  6.5" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper (SOLD)