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.

Smile, and say "cheese"

© Jonathan Found Juggling the Cheeses To Be
The Most Daunting Aspect of Menu Planning (2012)
Mixed-media collage: recycled paint sample,
 vintage illustrations and menu planner, ink, watercolor.
5"x5" on archival mat board. Matted & framed. Price: $90 [SOLD] 

The man in this vintage illustration looked like he ought to be juggling something. And why not cheese? Actually, I made that decision because I'd been thumbing through a book about French wine that also had terrific photos of cheeses. That got me thinking about cheese courses and picking the cheeses for them. The menu in the background is from a hang-it-in-your-kitchen menu planner published by Volland, circa 1920. Love the inclusion on the menu of "Mock Cherry Pie" - whatever it is. [SOLD]

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)

Reshaping "Shape Shifting"

Shape Shifting: BEFORE

A few days ago, I wrote about reworking pieces that had begun to bore me. Well, here's another one. The original(top)  was on wrapped canvas with the collage extending onto the sides. I liked it ... that is until a friend gave me a pile of Italian papers that she'd been using as gift wrap. One remnant had colorful, hot air balloons that were far more fanciful than the antique engraving on the collage. A glance at the balloons, then, at the collage and - ta da! - a new balloon was flying into the picture.

I also decided to take it off the stretchers to crop it. I did that by holding different-sized mats over the image. It had more graphic power at a smaller size - the original was 12"x12" - so, I trimmed the left side. Ouch. It was painful to lose a section of the beautiful antique Guyot map and so many of the tiny corsets that I had scoured 19th century magazines for, but still worthwhile.

In the end, I decided to add the collage to The Grand Tour series, so it's been retitled to reflect that. Oh, one more thing: though the background colors appear different, they haven't changed. The top image is a photo; the bottom image is a scan - and it's that scan that's true to life.

© The Grand Tour: Shape Shifting (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique magazine ads, antique map,
watercolor & acrylic paint, colored pencil, ink.
 7.5" x 11.5" on canvas. Framed with conservation glass.
Price: $185. [SOLD] 

Out On A Limb: 15

).

© 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 (contact 5th Street Gallery).  

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 ...

Strange cupids

We have a tradition in our family of odd Valentine gifts. Think along the lines of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey, and you'll get the picture. So, when I started collecting antique holiday postcards about eight years ago, I found myself drawn to offbeat Valentine images.

Over time, my burgeoning collection of "strange cupids" became something of a family joke. I scoured flea markets, shops and sales for the creepiest cupids. When I returned home, I'd share them with my husband and daughter. Finding postcards that would make them cringe became my goal.

But the latest addition to the collection isn't a postcard, it's the Gibson Girl above. She's from Vol. 2 of The Gibson Book, a 1906 anthology of drawings by Charles Dana Gibson that contains the contents of 11 of his books. She starts "Everyday People." That alone, got laughs. What creeped them out wasn't so much the cupid being served up on the platter, as the steam rising from him.

Other things that bug them: cupids playing with hearts - tossing, rolling & hitting them; the cupid just below who is feeding a "warm" heart to the moon; the cupid below him who is braising hearts over a fire. I, of course, think they are wonderful.

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 (SOLD)

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.

Dream on ...

© Maria And Osgood Aspired To Be Among The 1% (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage illustration and cookbooklet
cover;  recycled paint chip sample, greeting card text and
champagne ad; watercolor; ink; acrylic sealer.
5" x 5" on archival mat board. Matted & framed. (SOLD)

People wonder where my ideas come from. Generally, the best ones are not over thought; they POP into my head while I'm looking through my stash. The illustration of the couple here is a good example. The moment I saw it, I hit on the idea of a collage about aspirations.

I knew color champagne bottles were somewhere in the "drinking" bin - yes, my stash is that organized. Then, in the "cooking booklets" bin, I found the caviar cook-booklet, a 1984 leftover from my food writing days. I was already using the paint chip samples for the entire series -  I love the names of paint colors and was waiting and waiting to use the growing pile of samples - and found one with "Champagne Ice."

Most of my pieces are about empowering women and the working title for this was "Maria Felt It was Time to Introduce Osgood to The Finer Things In Life." At that point, it didn't have the text bubble. Then, a funny thing happened: I got into a political discussion with my studio neighbor, painter Frank Satogata. Afterward, I saw the collage with new eyes and a new title POPPED into my head.

That change spurred a search for words, which I thought would bolster the commentary - and add movement to a somewhat static piece. I still can't believe I found just-the-right text bubble. It's from an early 1980s set of satirical British postcards called "Life in the Fast Lane."

As to whether this is a Republican or Democratic statement, well, that depends on the point of view of the person looking at it, doesn't it?

Deconstructing to reconstruct

A few collages have been sitting around the studio for a little over a year and, to be honest, I'm tired of them. Unlike many other artists, I don't like to stockpile work. So, little by little, many of the pieces are being reworked. "Spring," above, which I blogged about last February, is the latest collage to be given a new life.

I cut it in half, added paper to the left side, then a Victorian scrap butterfly that happened to be on my work table at that moment, and - voila! - "Out on A Limb: 17," below. The bottom half of the original will find its way into another piece, while the new collage finds its way into my "Expecting to Fly" exhibit at 5th Street Gallery next month.

© Out On A Limb: 17 (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique French postcard & text,
vintage print, recycled catalogs, acrylic gel transfer,
watercolor, acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish.
 5" x5" on Claybord/hardwood panel. Price: $75. (SOLD)

Flip-the-flap anatomy

I'm building up quite a collection of anatomical images from 19th century and early 20th century medical books. They fascinate me to no end, especially those that are interactive. Anatomy, by its very nature, requires cutting the body open - offering a multitude of illustrative opportunities. My favorites are the flip-the-flap charts in early 20th century medical encyclopedias, which brought home the inner workings of the body in a simplified - and fun - format.

I'm not the only one enthralled. The face plate, above, has been reproduced on modern book catalog covers, t-shirts, posters, etc. and in altered phrenological versions. Mine is from the massive Medicology: Home Encyclopedia of Health: 10 Books in One Volume (University Medical Society, 1905) - an estate sale find chock full of great illustrations in addition to the series of flip-the-flaps. I was lucky, all were intact and the book cost a mere $25.

Since finding it, I've come across other charts, most of them falling apart. A few weeks ago, I bought a huge world atlas and when I got it to the studio and opened it, out fell pieces of two other charts. Since those are already a mess, they'll be used in collages. As for this one and the others at home, well, they're staying intact ... for the moment. Meanwhile, here's the sequence of flaps behind the face ...

             

Food, glorious food!

© For the Twins, Cocoa Was More Than a Beverage,
It Was a Lifestyle (2012)

mixed-media collage: recycled tissue paper,

vintage illustrations, antique ads, ink,

 watercolor. 5.5"x11.5" on archival mat board.
Matted & framed. Price: $150. (SOLD)

You know you're having fun in the studio when you find yourself laughing out loud. That's been the case during the past two weeks as I've worked on new collages for The Art of Food, an annual exhibition at the Carnegie Visual And Performing Arts Center in Covington, Ky.

You would've thought that as a trained chef, and former restaurant critic/food editor & reporter, this would have been, well, a piece of cake. No. I struggled with ideas for weeks and weeks after I was invited to show. I've loved this exhibition from the get go and wanted to make striking pieces that equaled my strong feelings.

I landed on an elaborate, decoupaged glass idea that would combine anatomy and food. Problem? I'd never done decoupage on glass. I researched, read, tested and retested before coming to the conclusion that I wasn't going to master it in time for the exhibit, which opens March 2 but is being hung a week or two earlier.

So, back to my original idea for a series of narrative "Food for Thought" pieces. This is the first one and it's part of my effort to scale up. I'm not sure that I'll post every piece in the series, after all, there should be some surprises left for exhibit goers - as well as an enticement to get you there. [SOLD]