Low-Hanging Fruit

© Low Hanging Fruit (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique illustration (The Gibson Book, Vol. 2, Scribner's, 1906),
vintage clip art, recycled gift bag and children's book proof, wallpaper sample,  ink,
 watercolor, colored pencil, acrylic sealer. 11.5" x 5.5" on archival mat board.
Matted & framed. Price: $150. (SOLD)

Surreal. That's the first word that popped into my head when I found Çharles Dana Gibson's illustration, "A Peach Crop." So, I opted to make it even more bizarre by adding male hands plucking the ripe fruit. I selected pears rather than peaches, simply because I liked the colors. In truth, either fruit works, since women are compared to both. Some of the hair was colored to accent the fruit, and all of the women's cheeks and lips were painted to help draw attention to the smaller heads.

There are a lot of shadows being cast since every piece is not completely glued down. I hoped to create the illusion of depth by letting some sections of the drawing float. I'm doing that more often with pieces that will be framed and under glass. The "sky" is a wallpaper sample that includes pears, but they are covered up for the most part. The "ground" is composed of handmade paper - a recycled piece of a nice, gift bag - and a children's book page proof.

Gibson could be highly critical of the upper classes and surprisingly wry about both sexes. I'm not sure whether he was being ironic here or not. But, that's good. I like art that makes me think.

Hot Plate

On Valentine's Day I wrote a post on my Paper With A Past blog about our family tradition of "strange cupids." That is, Victorian and Edwardian images of cupid that are disturbing enough to make my husband and daughter cringe. I'm on the hunt for them all the time. The weirder, the better.

So, you can imagine my delight at finding this Charles Dana Gibson illustration in "The Gibson Book," a fantastic, over-sized, two-volume collection of his drawings that Scribner's published in 1906. Looking at it, well, I just HAD to make yet one more, new collage for The Art of Food exhibit at The Carnegie.

As you can see below, the image is pretty much intact. I wanted to keep his signature - on the bottom left - but it didn't work out. To my family, the most unsettling part of the image is the steam rising from Cupid. So, of course, I had to add to it. I found a vintage scrap of hearts afire, then, added more flames from a vintage tarot card and painted the steam a smokey grey. Now, they are even more unsettled.

© Hot Plate (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique illustration; recycled invitation &
  wrapping papers; vintage sheet music & scraps; ink; watercolor;
acrylic sealer. 7.5" x 7.5" on archival mat board. Matted & framed.
 Price: $125. (SOLD)

In the studio? In my dreams!

This how I look when I'm hard at work in the studio. As if. I can't resist sharing the new post on the Paper With a Past blog about my latest great find: the grandiose, 2-volume "The Gibson Book" set published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1906. It contains work from 11 of his titles and is appropriately aged but mold free, bug free, not a torn page in sight and appears to be completely intact. You'll be seeing these in a collage series in the new year.