Bird watching

I've been intrigued by the trade cards in the American Singer song bird series since first spotting them a few years ago. J. L. Ridgway's watercolor illustrations are elegant and the printing is, too. Ridgway -  whose first and middle names are John Livzey - often collaborated with his brother, Robert, an ornithologist. J.L. illustrated numerous books and his work can be found for fairly reasonable prices.

I have a handful of cards and, as you can see from the images, they are damaged, giving me an excuse to use them in collages. There are 16 cards in the series, which was published from 1898 through the 1920s by The Singer Manufacturing Company. Yes, Singer as in sewing machines. The back of the cards advertised the latest Singer products. I'd love to show those, but my cards were pasted into scrapbooks and when they were removed, well, the paper stuck to them, obscuring the ads.

There are lots of reprints of the cards out there - and Singer reprinted the series, too. The earliest versions have an oval Singer logo on the top left corner, are numbered on the top right, include Ridgway's signature near the bottom right and the copyright information along the bottom. Happily, all of mine are before 1919, so they are copyright free!

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 color to his cheeks and lips, and now that I'm looking at it on the computer screen, well, I may go back and add 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.

Matted to fit a standard 9" x 9" frame. $75 + $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 illustrate or whether there was more info before ripping the cover off the catalog. Sigh.

5" x 5" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 9" x 9" frame. $75 + $7 shipping & handling.

monkey business

Moon Dance

One of the things I enjoy the most is combining antique paper - in this case, fashion engravings from the June 1865 issue of Godey's Lady's Book - with newer papers. The background, moon face and text are from recycled proof copies of modern children's books. The golden planet on the right came from a vintage pop-up book about space. Putting these odd heads atop the dresses evokes the often strange juxtapositions seen in Victorian advertising. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 9" x 9" frame. [SOLD]

Even the Cat Was On Edge

I've been deep into Halloween for a few weeks now, so expect to see a few more collages. This one has a vintage cat decoration - courtesy of my friend Shirley Tenhover - as its centerpiece and a cast-off watercolor painting in the background. Yeah, I found it in a dumpster. The translucent paper behind the cat is embedded with a spider web pattern and came from a University of Cincinnati theater program from the 1920s. I didn't know it was in the program until I opened it. I still have more of it but am using it sparingly! 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. [SOLD]

Holy Grail of paper collectors? Halloween

During the past fews decades Halloween has become a major adult event. And why not? It's a holiday with costumes, sugary treats and cool tricks - and one minus the baggage of other holidays. No long hours in the kitchen - well, unless you're Martha Stewart. No family reunion, er, not that I don't love my family and not that they haven't been behaving unusually well at Thanksgiving.

The holiday has always been a decorating op but never more so than now. Along with its surge in popularity among adults has come an equally strong desire for Halloween anything from collectors. I have as much nostalgia as any baby Boomer for the now-vintage Halloween decorations of my youth but refuse to pay the skyrocketing prices that come with them. I do trawl for Halloween bargains and nailed this one at a flea market for a mere $6. Topping that off: the box held 10 stickers not 6. Bingo!

Along with Halloween, products made by the Dennison Manufacturing Co. have become highly collectible during the past decade or so. The company merged with office product giant Avery International in 1990 to become AveryDennison, so its easy to tell whether you've got a genuine vintage product by looking at the label.

I also keep my eyes open for Dennison stuff - gummed labels, cloth reinforcements, tissue paper booklets - to use in collages. I already used two of the labels from this box on collage tags. I can hear the collective gasp! from collectors as I type.

Autumn's Call

I mentioned last week that I was playing around with semi-transparent and translucent papers - and here's another example. A brown, flower-patterned vellum sheet recycled from an invitation covers the antique scrap and sheet music, as well as the autumn leaves from a vintage greeting card. It mutes everything with a painterly kind of wash.

At the moment, I'm trying to get as much as I can from my papers before resorting to paint, ink, etc. It's fun but challenging, because vellum, tissue-thin papers, etc. are difficult to glue down flat. I work them from the middle, bit by bit. Even then, I sometimes have to go back in with a razor blade to cut bubbles and wrinkles, then slip more glue underneath and burnish them until they are flattened - praying all along that I don't tear anything.

Originally, the bird - cut from an antique Christmas post card - was also going beneath the vellum. But I liked how vibrant it appeared when it was when plopped atop the vellum and decided to keep it there. What doesn't show in the scan is the glittering gold paper behind the leaves. But, trust me, you can see it in person. Stop by the studio and take a look! 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 8" x 10" frame.

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)

Tonight: Mini Madness at Brazee Street in Studio 2A

Here's a glimpse of the 5"x5" collages that will be shown at tonight's Open Studio (6-9 p.m., more info here, including directions). Top photo: my paper collages. Bottom photo: painted-canvas collages by Susan Mahan. Nice contrast between the two. Hope to see you later ... (oh, Susan's collages will be up through Oct. 31, and can be seen by appointment by contacting me).

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. 5" x 5" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 9" x 9" frame. $75 (SOLD)

Out On A Limb: 4

I didn't plan on creating more Out On A Limb collages, but I've learned that when it comes to making art, the word "plan" is fluid. So, as I dove into a slew of 5"x5" collages for this Friday's Mini Madness Open Studio - with guest artist Susan Mahan - I found myself creating another bird collage.

It's markedly different from the first three, because the bird and branch are not constructed from an array of papers. The bird here was snipped from a recycled publisher's catalog cover and the branch was cut from a photo of a glass sample in a glass catalog that I found in a trash can.  

The background's covered with a recycled piece of vellum imprinted with a pale brown flower pattern. The pattern mostly disappeared when the paper was glued down. Even so, it still added subtle color and texture - and made the pieces placed atop it really pop. I've been experimenting this week with translucent papers, so you'll be seeing more of them. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. (SOLD)

Read all about it!!

Photo: Kevin Wauligman, Source: Oct. 5th issue of CityBeat. 

Well, here's a peek inside my hyper-organized studio - as well as a peek at me - courtesy of the Cincinnati weekly City Beat. There's a profile of me in this week's issue that I thought I'd share. It reveals much more about me than you've read in this blog.

Part of that is my reluctance to talk about my cancer. The main reason for that is my unwillingness to let it define me. I have it but it is not who I am. Writer Kathy Schwartz was sensitive to that and although the story was bookended by mentions of cancer, the bulk of the piece was about my obsession with paper.

I was hesitant to read it but got over it - and was delighted by what other people said about my work. But I'd add one more thing to the piece if I could and it is this: I would not be here now and in such great shape if not for all the support these past two years from friends, family, acquaintances and even people I didn't know before this. To paraphrase: It takes a village to raise an artist.

Help solve the mystery of an electrifying story

Okay, so while rummaging around that Michigan antique shop last week, my husband found seven French cards about electricity. Normally, he wouldn't step foot in an antique shop, let alone look through its contents. But it was my birthday, so he was indulging me. These excited him, because he was sure I didn't have any like them - he was right - and he knows my affinity for mechanical/machine age images.

As you can see by the numbers, they are part of a large set. The thing is - there is no publisher on them and nothing else to identify them. They are bigger than cigarette cards, don't have the advertising of a standard trade card and, well, they have me flummoxed. I've been searching high and low and across the web to find out more about them. Can anyone at there solve the mystery???

The Grand Tour 16: Maude and Henrietta DiscoverThat a Teapot Is a Discreet Decanter for Chianti

Here's the last of the new collages for the Cincinnati Dreams Italy exhibit, which opens 6-8 p.m. Thursday with a progressive potluck reception that will move visitors through the four exhibit sites - and will continue 11 a.m.-5 p.m. during the next three weekends (Oct. 8-9, 15-16, 22-23).

The women are courtesy of Godey's Lady's Book, which featured numerous black-and-white fashion plates in addition to the larger, hand-colored ones. The "rug" beneath their feet might look familiar. It is recycled holiday wrapping paper designed by architect Michael Graves based on drawings he made in Tuscany. It was folded and tucked inside a Christmas card that I received from his office back in my reporting days. I used it before in The Grand Tour: 4 as part of the fabric of a Godey's traveling cloak.

5.5" x 8.5" with ink & watercolor on archival mat board. {SOLD}