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

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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 (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.