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.

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)  

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.

Mad Women: The Gloves Were Off

© Mad Women: The Gloves Were Off (2012)

mixed-media collage: vintage illustrations (McCall's Pattern Book, March 1946;

Butterick Pattern Book, Fall 1953; Picture Sourcebook, Dover, 1974), 

vintage Deutsche Bank calendar (1958), recycled ads and flash card, ink.

 5.75" x 9.25" on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass.
Price: $150. 

This came about in a more random way than many of my collages. The woman was cut-out to use with a 1950s wallpaper sample background whose pattern I found to be too busy. So, the hunt began for a better background. It took a lot of rummaging before landing on the calendar, which was snapped up at a used book sale for the graphics above the calendar (beautifully printed, stained-glass images from German churches). It wasn't until I looked at it again last week that I realized the year was 1958 - perfect for "Mad Women."

The gloves and "hot" are from advertisements received in the mail. At first, I thought I'd use black & white gloves, but these have more punch. The screw/bolt digs into a block from a flash card set that was a last-minute addition, because I was determined to have her leaning on that screw even though it wasn't long enough.

Originally, she was holding the apron, too - not the knives, scissors, etc. - but when I spotted them, I decided to have her wear the apron instead. Finally, she was tilted a bit to really give the appearance of leaning but also to add a bit of a diagonal to the vertical composition.

The Grand Tour: high-wire shenanigans

©The Grand Tour: Marie, Honore and Lily Were Ignored by Their Travelmates
But the Venetians Were Enthralled (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique illustrations (The Delineator, Dec. 1895, Sept. 1903, Oct. 1904)
and engineering engraving; vintage illustration (Picture Sourcebook, Dover, 1978);
recycled greeting card, book endpaper, circus exhibition poster and catalog;
 watercolor; ink. 11.5" x 8.5" on archival mat board.  Framed with conservation glass.
Price: $185.

I knew from the outset that one of the new The Grand Tour collages would have at least one woman walking a high wire - just not who or where. Well, Venice's St. Mark's Square seemed a natural. After all, no Grand Tour could be called complete without a stop in Venice.

The original illustration included the sky, the plaza floor and more people. I cut those out, saved the tiny people to cut out and reinsert later, replaced the sky with an engineering engraving and the plaza with end papers fittingly decorated with lions - Venice's mascot.

The hoops - recycled from a pop-up, greeting card I received - came into play after scouring my stash for a sun or something astronomical to place in the sky. I liked that the blue hoops were decorated with stars and that the golden one's measurements complement the engineering engraving. The hoops also draw attention to the trio, who are close in size to the figures in the foreground who are so pointedly ignoring them.

The Grand Tour travels to new heights

© The Grand Tour: The Davenport Sisters Were Perfectly
Capable of Putting Themselves on A Pedestal (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique, hand-painted fashion plate (Godey's Lady's Book);
 vintage map (1957 U.S. Geological Survey);  recycled note card & book proof;
 ink, watercolor, colored pencil.  8.5" x 10.5" on archival mat board.
Framed with conservation glass. Price: $185.

I need to rush off but wanted to post this, because it's probably my favorite collage from the new ones in  the "The Grand Tour" series. And, yes, it will be in the show that opens Friday night (March 9) at 5th Street Gallery - actually, the show's already hung. So, if you happen to be in downtown Cincinnati, pop in. More later ...

Out On A Limb: 15

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© Out On A Limb: 15 (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique engraving (Chatterbox),
vintage illustration (National Geographic Florida map),
recycled greeting card, ink, watercolor, colored pencil,
 acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish. 6"x6" on wood panel.
 Price: $85.  

About half the people I know are in Florida at the moment, so this new collage in the Out On A Limb series seemed apt. I haven't sealed it - yet - so I'm still debating whether to remove some of the golden grass or add more. The color birds, leaves and grass are one piece. Cutting the grass proved the most challenging; lots of it was trimmed back, some of it accidentally. I just happen to have two more copies of the map, which was a used bookstore find. Hmmm ...

Sugar High

© Sugar High: It Was For His Own Safety
That Humphrey Was Tethered (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage illustration,
embroidery thread & Russian print,
Monet exhibition catalog,  Italian wrapping paper
& publisher's catalog; ink; watercolor; acrylic sealer;
5.5" x 11.5" on archival mat board. Matted & framed.
Price: $150.

In my mind, Humphrey - whose name has changed three or four times already - was destined to float. At first, I tried to squeeze him into the 5" x 5" format I was using for pieces that will be in The Art of Food exhibit. I liked the idea of him being cramped - but part of him would've been chopped and there wasn't enough air surrounding him to show that he was up in the air.

Looking around the studio, my eyes landed on an oblong mat. Once Humphrey was placed inside it, I knew I was going larger. That, in turn, led to a second series of six collages for the show using the same long, narrow format.

Out On A Limb: 12

© Out On A Limb: 12
mixed-media collage, recycled catalog cover
& wrapping paper, vintage illustrations, watercolor,
colored pencil, acrylic sealer. 6"x6" on wood panel (2012)
Price: $85.

Yesterday was gray, cold and wet, wet, wet. I thought I'd cheer myself up by posting colorful parakeets. This morning is equally drab, so here's another one of the bright bird collages I'm working on for March's Expecting to Fly exhibit at 5th Street Gallery.

I was determined to use this peacock - and following along with the black & white/color bird pairings of earlier collages in the series, it was paired with a black & white engraving. A partridge was also in the print, and it was echoed via a gorgeous, colored partridge.

So where are those birds? Well, the black & white ones are the backside of the parakeet print and the colored partridge is back in the files. Why? I goofed. It seemed that the b&w print needed to be toned down in order not to compete with the beautiful plumage of the colored birds. I wanted to use paper to achieve a muted effect and chose a golden-hued piece of vintage tissue. Well, it was a too opaque and obscured the background.

Onto Plan B, which turned into a challenge. Since the series title is Out On A Limb, I wanted the peacock on a limb. I hit on the idea of using a peacock feather as a branch. Piece of cake, right? Wrong it took hours to cut out the feather from a recycled piece of wrapping paper. Then, once it was done, gulp, I decided the collage needed another one. After cutting out another entire feather, only part of it was used. So it goes.

Ten little Santas ...

Ho! Ho! Ho! 9 [SOLD]

Ho! Ho! Ho! 10

Here they are, the final Santas in the "Ho! Ho! Ho!" series. That's it - at least for this year. I'm moving past the holiday to new series and extensions of some past ones - Out on a Limb, False Sense of Security - for exhibits I'll be in during the spring.

Ho! Ho! Ho! 9 features an engraving of a DIY pinecone Santa from Godey's Lady's Book that I scanned to use on a postcard promoting last week's open studio and this month's extended studio hours. Isn't he splendid! Behind him: 1950s greeting cards, a sliver of a map of Ohio (yeah, the same Harper's map from 1877 that I've been using every last inch of during the past month) and a strip of wood veneer. 5" x 5" on claybord/hardwood panel ready to hang. [SOLD]

Ho! Ho! Ho! 10 is strictly '50s/'60s via recycled cards from the era and, yes, authentic Christmas seals. I lucked into sheets and sheets of vintage Christmas seals last year.  5" x 5" on claybord/hardwood panel ready to hang. $55 + $5 shipping/handling.

He knows when you are sleeping ...

Ho! Ho! Ho! 6

Ho! Ho! Ho! 7

The Santas keep going and going and ... The collage at top features an 1877 map of Ohio not just behind  Santa but also on the sides of the panel, which is about an inch deep. At first, I left the sides of all the Santa panels bare. The wood is attractive with a natural varnish, and it makes the pieces feel a bit cleaner and more modern.

Then, I made a mistake when trying to add stamped dots to the side of one and had to cover them with something (the bingo Santa in yesterday's post, if you must know). Next thing, I was tackling the sides of a few more. On the bottom collage, I stamped "confidential" on the wood, allowing the ink to fade so that it has a random, rushed feel. 5"x5"x1" on claybord/hardwood panel. $65 each, + $5 shipping &handling

Santa

Ho! Ho! Ho! 6 $65.00 USD Ho! Ho! Ho! 7 $65.00 USD

Santa, baby

Ho! Ho! Ho! 2

Ho! Ho! Ho! 3

As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm enamored with Ampersand's 5"x5" claybord/hardwood panels, so I used them as the base for my new Ho! Ho! Ho! series of Santa collages. I'm a sucker for Santas of every era and am trying to mix it up in this series. The Santa at the top is a vintage German scrap from the days when Germany was divided and it was printed in West Germany. The Santa at the bottom is from a vintage American greeting card that didn't have a publisher's name - or copyright - printed on it.

They are backed by a variety of papers including vintage sheet music, a type maker's catalog and antique endpaper (top), and recycled wrapping paper, greeting cards and a vintage price tag (bottom). Right now, there are eight in the series, so you'll be seeing more. They are ready to hang and are $65 each + $5 shipping & handling.

Santa

Ho! Ho! Ho! 2 $65.00 USD Ho! Ho! Ho! 3 $65.00 USD

Ogden Was Bent On Mischief

Oops! I know I said that yesterday's post was the final Halloween one, but I forgot about Ogden. He's a Victorian engraving from The Chatterbox magazine and is one of the many illustrations of chubby-cheeked children from that era that creep me out. I can't explain why. Even minus the mask, he disturbs me. So, what better image for a Halloween collage?

I added the color to his cheeks and lips, and now that I'm looking on it on the computer screen, well, I may go back in and add some color to the mask. The text is from a holiday crafts book and the smidgen of orange is from a recycled book proof. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. It is matted to fit a standard 9"x9" frame. $55 + $7 shipping & handling.

Hog heaven

This is the last of the Halloween collages. As with some of the others, I topped it with a piece of vintage, spider-web patterned, glassine paper to make it look like she's riding through the web. I wish I knew more about the toy. The image is recycled from a book publishers' fall catalog from years ago. I didn't think back then to check what book it might be illustrating or whether there was more info before ripping  the cover off the catalog. Sigh. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 9" x 9" frame. $55 + $7 shipping & handling.

Jane And Isabella Shed Their Inhibitions on All Hallows' Eve

Now what would the genteel readers of Godey's Lady's Magazine make of this reinterpretation of the fashion plate found in the November 1865 issue? I'm not sure. But when I spotted this pair - part of a larger plate in bad condition - their dresses screamed Halloween. So, into the Halloween file they went. I resisted the urge to dress them up more. Keeping it simple allows viewers to focus on the details of the lovely, hand-painted dresses. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 9" x 9" frame. $55 + $7 shipping & handling

Cincinnati Dreams Italy

The Grand Tour 13: "The Group Halted In Germany
But Emily's Heart  Leapt Ahead to Venice."©
 Mixed-media collage on antique book cover. 

As mentioned in a post a few days ago, you can see how area artists view Italy next month in "Cincinnati Dreams Italy," a special exhibition downtown. It's the brainchild of Kathy Holwadel. She was asked by the Taft to plan a series of Italian-themed events to complement "George Inness In Italy," the museum's big fall exhibition.

Well, to say she got carried away is an understatement. The expansive local artists' exhibit - up to three dozen artists and counting - is spread out in four historic buildings near the Taft and is just one part of the line-up. There also are tastings, a bocce tournament and a communal dinner. The Taft has posted this page on its website with some of the details and there are even more on the School Amici website (that's the local Italian language school owned by Kathy's husband, Michele) and regular updates on the school's Facebook page.

I'll be showing in Park Place at Lytle at 400 Pike St. - right next door to the Taft - along with Kay Hurley, Oliver Debikey, Michael Wilson, Karen Heyl, Mark Patsfall, the Thunder-Sky group and Kevin Muente. As at each site, it's a great mix of mediums from painting and sculpture to glass and photography. Dates are Oct. 8-9, 15-16, 22-23. Admission is free and 30% of the proceeds from art sales will go to the Taft.

The Grand Tour 18: Mama Encouraged the Girls toContinue Sightseeing While She Put Up Her Feet

It's probably no surprise that since I collect all kinds of paper, some of it is from my travels. We've made a number of trips to Italy and while I find it hard to depart with my own mementoes, I did end up using a few in this piece: the lira coin, the ticket from the naval museum in Venice (I still have another one) and the oversized postcards of Rome that I found in a shop (they came from a marvelous book of sepia-toned postcards that unfolds to be about 5 feet long).  7.5" x 9.5" on archival mat board

The Grand Tour: 7

I came across this engraving of Brazilian natives while mining the 1896 travelogue "Circling the Globe in Stories of Travel" and knew it had to be paired with the fashionable Peterson's magazine women of The Grand Tour series.  It continues the voyeur theme of GT6 and GT8. 5.5" x 8.5" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 9"x12" frame