Sunday, September 28, 2014

Everyday miracles




A few weeks ago, I posted the photos above on Facebook. I was playing around with a grouping for a new collage series with the working title of "Miracles" that explores the awesome nature of things we now take for granted, such as the food we eat. But it will not be limited to food, that's just how it started a few months ago in my head.

The backgrounds are vintage magazines images of famous antique paintings. The figures are from "Costumi dei Secoli," an early 19th century Italian book that's been a big scanning project for me for far too long.

The hand-painted figures are remarkably vibrant, especially when you take into consideration that they are from 1837, were in a two-volume set that was falling part and had seriously foxing, and were not archival stored. I've been itching to use them for years, and thrilled to finally be doing it.

Here's a look at how the piece, "The Miracle of the Mushrooms" has progressed. The changes are subtle, primarily moving around mushrooms, debating whether the women should be holding them, etc. The mushrooms are from plates found in a variety of antique botanical and medical books, and recycled wrapping paper that duplicated mushrooms from an early edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Look for photographs of the second collage, "Behold, the Beets," later this week.




Note the addition of angel wings to the woman on the left.
This is supposedly the final version, but am testing
additional mushrooms on the bottom left, before I seal it.