The roots of creativity

Gulp. It wasn't until I logged onto the blog this morning that I realized how long it's been between posts. All I can say is that it's been a busy few weeks at the studio given the extra holiday open studio hours, my last-minute decision to produce a calendar and a scramble to finish pieces begun before the holiday crush. It's also been hectic at home and I have to admit that I've spent more time away from the studio than I thought I would this month.

You know, decorating the house; shopping, wrapping and mailing gifts; going out to lunch, meeting people for drinks and heading to parties; and baking, baking, baking. I've made Christmas cookies since I was able to use my mom's Sunbeam mixer on my own. And I have never stopped. There was even a time when I saved up vacation so that I could take off the first  or second week of December in order to bake - just bake - and made dozens of kinds of cookies.

The list always included elaborately iced gingerbread made from my late mother's top-secret recipe. She taught all of us how to make soft, fragrant and delicious cookies that are as far from most people's experience with gingerbread as you can imagine. We rolled and cut them them out by the hundreds, creating a factory-style line for decorating them with vanilla-scented buttercream frosting, colored sugar and a wide range of candy.

Our family was large - seven children - and didn't have much money, so my mom focused on making things and teaching us how to make them, too. We crafted snazzy, sequined ornaments; learned how to knit and crochet; did our first drawings on seemingly endless rolls of newsprint my dad lugged home on the bus from his job as a newspaper pressman; painted tons of dry macaroni and strung it on miles of thread to make jewelry; built wooden fort after wooden fort after wooden fort; put on plays and hosted summer craft fairs; and - well - you get the picture.

I like to think that much of my art has its roots in those childhood experiences and in my mom's ceaseless creativity. She was restless, inquisitive and talented in ways that were often underrated in those days. I think she'd appreciate where life has taken me and knowing - wherever in the universe she may be - that she still plays a role in my creative life - whether I'm at home baking cookies or in the studio making art.
 

Mad Women: Iron-Willed

These 1950s-era women appear so confident, determined and modern (for the time) that I couldn't resist pairing them with images of antique and vintage irons. The working title was "Unlike their grandmothers and mothers, Sue and Joan never ironed." But I wanted to imbue them with more power than that.

Of course, the irony is that every item of clothing required ironing in the 1950s - or at least seemed to - and a woman dare not step out in a wrinkled ensemble - or allow her children to. I spent enough time standing at the ironing board to know how lucky I am not to have to do that these days. 5"x5" on archival mat board. [SOLD]

Winging it: birds are always in style

Until recently I hadn't used an image cut from an antique postcard in my collages. I sometimes use the backs and often use fronts with tourist scenes - especially those with writing and postage stamps on that side. But for the Out on a Limb series of bird collages I had started combining color images of birds with black-and-white ones and came across a vivid pair of robins on a Christmas postcard that were perfect for a new piece. Birds were a popular holiday motif throughout the Victorian era and into the Edwardian years.

Then, I went back to the archive and began rifling through the Christmas and animal notebooks, looking for more birds. These are a few of the ones I found. I couldn't bear to use them before scanning in the front and back of each. The two above are from 1908 and 1909. The publisher is sometimes stated but more often than not, it has to be identified by a symbol/logo or the design/typography of the words "post card." I need to check my reference books for these publisher and when I do, I'll add the info.

I couldn't resist adding the two plump pairs of birds below here. They are a colorful and joyful reminder of what's to come after making it through winter.

Ten little Santas ...

Ho! Ho! Ho! 9 
(SOLD)

Ho! Ho! Ho! 10
Price: $75.

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 in 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.

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.

It's here: the first Collage 365 calendar!

The Collage 365 calendar caps my first year as a full-time artist and is my way of celebrating. At the suggestion of my baby sister, I super sized the image so you can see the images more clearly. It features a selection of the many collages made during 2011. It is a signed, limited edition of 50 that was printed and hand assembled by me. 5.5" x 8.5," punched at the top, with a silver ball chain for hanging. The chain can be snapped open to remove - or save - pages. It's packaged in a clear box and ready for gift giving. You could wrap it but I think it looks too good to cover up. I would think that, wouldn't I? $12 + $2.50 shipping & handling. [SOLD OUT]

* Still available: original artwork for October (Jane and Isabella Shed Their Inhibitions on All Hallows' Eve") and November ("Autumn's Arrival Gave Venus the Perfect Excuse to Cover Up").

 

   

Beatrice and Amy Were Seasonal Milliners Extraordinaire

I thought I ought to get this fashionable pair posted before autumn slips away. Bea and Amy were part of a trio found in Godey's Lady's Book. The paper is so thin and the letterpress printing so heavy that the music on the page behind them shows through - instantly creating another layer. The hats are composed of flowers from recycled greeting cards and wallpaper. The cameos and hat pin are from a vintage bead catalog. 5" x 5" on archival mat board. [Not for sale]

1871: a very good year for The Chatterbox

When I began making collages I was hesitant to tear up the books I had collected just for that purpose. Then, I found a bound 1871 edition of the weekly British children's magazine, The Chatterbox. It was in poor condition, at best. Even then, I waffled.

But I was working on honing image transfer techniques at the time and loved the exquisite engravings of birds and insects that were published in the magazine that year. I have an ink jet printer and ink jet prints run when they are wet, making them a mess when working on a transfer. So, I headed to the nearest photocopy shop. It was too hard to copy them with the book intact, which led to removing pages. The floodgates were opened!

I wrote about the illustrations the other day on Collage365, because I used the robin (shown below) in one of the new pieces in my Out On a Limb series. I thought I'd show some of the other illustrations here. They've been scanned and had some work done on them to make them cleaner transfers. I've ended up using a number of the illustrations and find myself returning to them again and again.

Well, if you REALLY need an excuse to visit The Bonbonerie ...

... I'm here to offer one: Paper With A Past is participating in the Cincinnati bakery's Annual Holiday Art Show 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday. Yes, this Saturday, Dec. 3. There will be 14 artists in the space between the bakery and the cafe.

My daughter, Laura, will be there selling wreaths (three sizes, $15, $18 & $22) and ornaments (3 sizes, $5 each) from our new Punch Drunk line, above. They're made from recycled greeting cards, file folders, gift bags and anything else in my stash that I'm not using in collages. She'll also have holiday collage gift tags ($5 each), some of the new collage ornaments ($18 each) and the last of the postcard ornaments I've been making for the past seven years ($4 and $6 each).

Me? Well, as promised, I'll have my studio at Brazee open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Then, I'll zip over to O'Bryonville, providing my own excuse for checking out the baked goods.

Click here for more details on the sale, and the bakery.

Welcome December!

I've been working on collage tags for the Fit To Be Tied® line and thought I'd post a pair to usher in December. These screen-printed '20s cuties were together on a cardboard cutout found in a used bookstore. Wish I could tell you who the publisher and artist are, but there wasn't any info on it. I was attracted to them by the unconventional, yet seasonal, colors.

I cut the card in half to make a matching pair. Behind the girl on the left: antique endpaper and an illustration from Christmas: An American Annual of Christmas Literature and Art, which was published by Augsburg Fortress from 1931 to 1997. Behind the girl on the right: vintage sheet music and recycled wrapping paper. By the way, see the reinforcements at the top of them? Well, I hand color each one. Not kidding.

I'm thinking about how to show - and sell - tags online. It's cumbersome for the blog - there are just too many at a given time - so, it may be time to open my Paper With a Past® Etsy shop. Time to wake up that post-undergraduate studio assistant who's working for me 10 hours a week to pay her room & board while she applies to grad school ...

In honor of Cyber Monday, I've taken the plunge

Well, with the holidays here, I thought it was time to allow online ordering. I'm doing it via PayPal and you'll start seeing an "order now" button appearing on each post. Just click it to place an order. So, now you can buy my art from home, the office cubicle, the neighborhood coffeehouse or, well, you get the picture! Shipping will be first class via USPS. Now, back to creating those buttons ...

Out on a Limb: 11

I took a break from the Santa series to return to Out on A Limb, thinking I'd pick up where I left off. Ha! The piece ended up markedly different. I still was going with combining color and black-and-white images of birds but wanted to use an engraving of a robin I've had for some time. It's from a series published in The Chatterbox throughout 1871. The British children's magazine was big on nature and education, and there's no better proof than its beautiful engravings of flora and fauna. I scanned the original, below, in case I want to reproduce it some day. Luckily, I have two sets of the magazine from that year, so there's still another original to play with.

Some of the trellis is missing at the bottom of the collage, a casualty of the knife. I know that I probably shouldn't point that out. But, well, I was determined to cut out that intricate trellis at all costs to expose the background, which includes a piece of veneer from my friend Laura Chapman (I love that it's labeled veneer and wanted to show that) and a sliver of an 1877 map of Ohio from Harper's School Geography.

The vibrant robins were clipped from an antique Christmas postcard. Birds were a common holiday motif and the Christmas theme is carried out subtly in the holly and mistletoe on the trellis. 5" x 5" on claybord/hardwood panel. [SOLD]

Down through the chimney ...

Ho! Ho! Ho! 1
(SOLD)

Opps! Meant to post two Santas today, but just realized that I didn't scan one of them. So, this Santa is solo. Well, not quite, since there are two Santas on the collage. The central image is from a vintage Hallmark postcard that reproduced an antique image. The Santa in the background was printed on an envelope for a newsletter. The other background elements are (from left to right): antique book spine lining, recycled greeting card, a border from the "Intertype Book of Intertype Faces" (1928) and recycled marbled wrapping paper. 5" x 5" on claybord/hardwood panel.

He knows when you are sleeping ...

Ho! Ho! Ho! 6
Price: $75

Ho! Ho! Ho! 7
Price: $75

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.

The mother lode: sumptuous nursery rhymes

I'm the first to admit that I'm shameless when it comes to asking for old paper for my collages. Signs dot the studio urging visitors to let me take old stuff - "the grungier, the better" - off their hands. I'll even pay for it if I really, really want something.

But people seem happy to find a new home for their paper and often donate it. That's what happened last week when a woman walked into my studio holding a postcard from an open studio back in the spring. She told me she had seen the signs and had a bag of stuff for me. Did I want it? Sure. Turns out that it included a box of about 40 sewing patterns for children's and teen clothing from the early 1960s, which couldn't have come at a better time; I was just about to start shopping for some.

Also in the bag, the 1915 Volland Popular Edition of Mother Goose. I've made it clear before that I am a huge fan of all things Volland. The Chicago publisher's publications were stylish and often avant-garde. This compilation of Mother Goose nursery rhymes was put together by Eulalie Osgood Grover and illustrated by Frederick Richardson (1862-1937) with full-page paintings so lush and colorful that a reader gets lost in them. As Grover says in her foreword "children, as well as interested parents, will eagerly welcome this beautiful edition of the great nursery classic, just as a worthy edition of Shakespeare is welcomed by discriminating adult readers."


My copy is grungy. The outer spine is missing, along with a few of the illustrations. Aged, yellowed cellophane tape holds many pages together. Pencil and crayon drawings can be found throughout the book. I like that; it shows that the book was used - not just sitting on a shelf. Overall, the central images are in terrific condition. Plenty of the images are available online, as is the entire book, but I'm scanning a high-res version into my digital library anyway. Then, we'll see what kind of new collages come out of the originals from this wonderful gift!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ho! Ho! Ho! 4
(SOLD)

Ho! Ho! Ho! 8
(SOLD)

Two more depictions of the Jolly Old Elf from the new Santa series. The top collage is a recycled greeting card that, in turn, used an antique illustration. The background includes a brochure that featured Edward T. Hurley's 1911 painting "The Midnight Mass," which depicts Cincinnati's Mount Adams' neighborhood on a snowy night. It's quite beautiful and can be seen in the Cincinnati Wing at the Cincinnati Art Museum and they offer it as a poster; (although the image on the web site does it little justice). 5"x5" on claybord/hardwood panel.

The bottom collage also is a recycled greeting card. I just loved that Santa being doted on at the salon. The bingo card was a long, paper one. I topped it with dotted vellum rescued from an invitation and a sliver of a gorgeous, screen-printed envelope liner from the 1920s. I found it in a cache of letters and greeting cards that were being sold years ago at an estate sale. 5"x5" on claybord/hardwood panel.

Santa, baby

Ho! Ho! Ho! 2
(SOLD)

Ho! Ho! Ho! 3
Price: $75.

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.

Look what turned up in the mail:an Edwardian holiday beauty

I get the best mail! A few weeks ago, I posted an item about some Dennison Halloween stickers that I had nabbed and in it, mentioned how red hot Halloween is among paper collectors. Well, all collectors. A few days later, a plain, No. 10 business envelope arrived in the mail. It was from my friend Laura Chapman.

Laura had recently given me a nice cache of paper from her collage-making days that included food labels, French newspapers and signs from the 1950s, paper sample booklets and more. Now, she was sending me some holiday postcards - pretty much the only postcards I collect. I thumbed through them and when I got to the one on the bottom of the pile, I gasped. Really. It was the marvelous 1912 postcard above.

Anyone who collects postcards will recognize it immediately as one of New York publisher John Winsch's and as the work of illustrator Samuel Loren Schmucker (1879-1921). Happily, it has the Winsch copyright in the bottom left corner. Winsch's company wasn't around long - just five or so years - but it was the heyday of postcard publishing and the company made quite an impact.

The illustrations of "beautiful women" that Schmucker created for Winsch - and for the Detroit Publishing Co., earlier - are among the most collectible postcards. His gorgeous, rosy-cheeked "girls" almost as iconic as Charles Dana Gibson's "Gibson Girls." His wife, Katharine - considered a great American beauty - was his initial model.

I don't have many Winsch/Schmucker cards; they're usually outside my price range. Yet over the years, I've managed to snap up some at bargain prices. Two seasonal ones are below; the Thanksgiving card is from 1911 and the Christmas one from 1910. Oh, and two more beautiful Christmas women are in my exhibit case in the dining room of the Taft Museum of Art as part of its annual Antique Christmas exhibition.

  

Out On a Limb: 8

This is the final post of the six new Out On A Limb collages. The parrots were jumpstarted by the background paper on the right side. It's a piece of a recycled file folder with a leafy pattern I find tropical and exotic, not to mention that it echoes the pattern on the birds' wings. The parrot on the far left was added after I thought the piece was done. I was afraid that the bird might get lost in the background and, to some extent, it does - yet still manages to hold its own. 5" x 5" on claybord/hardwood panel, ready to hang. $65 + $5 shipping & handling. [SOLD]

Note: For those keeping track and wondering what happened to Out On a Limb: 7, it is a mockingbird collage that I used to promote November's art shows. It never appeared in a regular post.

Out On a Limb: 10

I often sets rules for myself when making pieces, well, let's call them parameters - sounds less dictatorial! In any case, when I began this new series within the Out A Limb series, the idea was to combine color and black-and-white images of birds. Then, I found this image in my stash.

The two birds are actually connected to one another, and try as I might to add another, full-color, bird, it didn't work. I could've separated the birds for more flexibility in positioning them, but liked them as they were. So, I tossed out my parameters.

The background looks hand painted, doesn't it? It's not. The "finger-painted" section on the bottom is from a recycled children's book proof, as is the feathered cloud sky at the top. 5 "x 5" on claybord/hardwood panel. [SOLD]

Holiday hours at Paper With a Past Studio

I adore this DIY craft project Santa from the December 1868 issue of Godey's Lady's Book, so I thought he'd be the perfect image for the announcement of extended holiday hours at my studio. I put all this info on the studio page but thought it would be good to repeat it here. Instead of being open only during the second Friday night open studios, Paper With a Past will be open noon-8 p.m. Thursdays ('cept Thanksgiving) and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 22.

Please stop by to see what's new. I'll be whipping up all kinds of holiday goodies from ornaments to greeting cards to tags to, well, whatever else comes to mind. I'll also be squeezing in some new non-holiday collages. For directions to the studio: go here.

Oh, I'm usually at work every afternoon, so if you want to stop by at another time, please call or text 254-9776. I'll try to keep my cell on - really! 

Every time I say I want to go bigger, I go smaller.Now, I'm customizing, too!

Well, I couldn't resist trying my hand at collage ornaments. In this case, tiny collage ornaments. As in 1.5"x1.5" and 1"x3" and 2"x2." The result: my new merry&brite® collection. They are $20 each - and  are available in the studio and Brazee's gallery One One downstairs as part of the Multiplicity/Hang it Up group exhibit.

I didn't realize how difficult working this small would be. The main issue is finding images that will "read" at this size. So, these took much longer to create than I thought they would. There also was the issue of not making them too thick so they could fit into the frames with the glass. That ruled out a lot of recycled greeting card images I planned to use - they were too thick.

The original plan was to make soldered ornaments. I took a class, bought the materials and equipment needed, but once I spotted these frames, well, I bailed. I do think I will solder some day, if only to make pieces the size that I want. I have some beautiful, old, beveled-glass squares I've been itching to turn into ornaments.  

Still, I'm happy with these. So happy that I'm offering to make custom ornaments using your materials or that include a map of the city, state, country you select. Interested? Contact me. The deadline to order is Nov. 25 and delivery is guaranteed by Dec. 16. The price for the custom-made ornaments is also $20.

Out on A Limb: 6

Another of those Victorian scraps paired with a black & white image, which is from one of the Dover image books from the early 1970s. The piece at the bottom is hand-made paper that was used as wrapping paper and was a last-minute add - thanks to a suggestion from my daughter. It did need something to ground it. And, yes, it will be in the Redtree exhibit that opens Friday. 5" x 5" on claybord & hardwood base, ready to hang. [SOLD]

Sharing a treasured Victorian scrapbookin the Taft Museum of Art's holiday exhibit

Guess what? A selection of antique holiday cards and postcards from my collection are on exhibit in the Taft Museum of Art's annual Antique Christmas exhibition. As much as I love, love, love the cards, what I'm really excited about is the inclusion of my great, great Aunt Phebe's scrapbook from 1881.

A few years ago, my father made the mistake of sharing it with me. It was full of so many beautiful, vibrant Victorian cards - by noted publishers such as Louis Prang and Raphael Tuck - that I had to ask if I could borrow it to scan into my digital library. He hemmed and hawed and, finally, let it out of his grasp. My father's family wasn't terrific at saving paper, which is why the scrapbook is so special both to him - and me.

He's in South Jersey. I'm in Cincinnati. I figured that once the book was out of sight, it would be out of mind. Wrong.  Each time I'm back home, he asks when I'm going to return it; each time I answer "never." It's become kind of a joke between us. My latest excuse for keeping it? Why, it's inclusion in the Taft exhibition, of course.

The album contains Christmas greetings for the most part, with a few Easter cards and a smattering of other ephemera. The latter includes two small envelopes with locks of hair tucked inside them, a menu from the Third Triennial Dinner in 1884 of alumni of the Hampton N&A Institute, calling cards and other odds and ends. Phebe wrote the names of who the cards were from beneath many of them after gluing them onto the pages. I don't  know much about Phebe; neither does my father. But I suspect the family had money back then - sigh - and that if she had this scrapbook, she must've had others.

I'm thrilled to share, especially in this exhibit, because the show is one of my favorites. I tend to hit it 3 or so times, often with family and friends in tow. I'm endlessly fascinated by the extravagant and frequently odd ornaments, toys, decorations and other collectibles. The selections change each year; a smart tactic for luring people back. It's also a savvy way to show off the house and its first-rate collection since visitors must roam from room to room to view the entire exhibit. My case is in the dining room.

Since just one page of Phebe's scrapbook is open, I thought I'd share more of it here. Yes, I finally scanned it into my library. So, once the exhibit ends, I'll have to cook up a new excuse for keeping it!