F Bomb

F Bomb (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique and vintage text, recycled book proof,
vintage game piece, ink, acrylic paint, glue. 6" x 9" on acid-free mat board.
Not priced yet.

I've been going back and forth about posting more of the bomb series being made for a solo show in November at the Thompson House's Shooting Gallery.

Part of me thinks that showing them now takes away any element of surprise - even if looking at art on a computer screen is a far different experience than looking at it in person. Another part of me thinks that by the time the show opens viewers might think that what's actually new work has been shown before. And yet another part of me thinks that, um, I'm thinking too much.

Enough already. I'm posting them.

F Bomb had an antique engineering diagram as its original background with the bomb placed just about where it is now. Nothing else. That was it. Until I came across the current background - two pages of an old book proof. Once that was selected, the piece cried out for more.

Red paint was splattered around. Then, the background was masked and more paint was splattered to form a fiery/smoky path. A day or two later, the idea hit me to stamp fs on it, at first, to form a fuse, then, to add more texture. The game piece that highlights a Braille f was the final touch.

It's not sealed yet so there could be a few small changes.        

Christmas in July

Ho! Ho! Ho! 5
mixed media collage: antique postcard and illustration (St. Nicholas magazine);
vintage sheet music and embossed scrap (printed in Germany); recycled greeting card
and wrapping paper; acrylic paint, ink, acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish.
5" x 5" on cradled hardwood panel. (2011)
(SOLD)

Ho! Ho! Ho! 2
mixed media collage: antique endpaper; vintage embossed scrap (printed in Germany),
sheet music and book page (Book of Intertype Faces, 1928); acrylic gel transfer; ink,
acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish. 5" x 5" on cradled hardwood panel. (2011)
(SOLD)

Wow. You never know WHEN a piece might sell. Like when it is 95 degrees and winter seems light years away.

A woman who was picking up her children from a class, dropped into the studio last week. As she browsed, she mentioned liking the cradled birch boxes that the Out On a Limb series is made on. We talked a bit and I happened to say that the only other series created in that format was one with Santas.

Her eyes lit up. It turned out that she and her children gave her mother a Santa every year, and that she was looking for ones that were not mass-produced. I told her that there were a few Santas left in the series.

She didn't have time to look at them, but gave me her e-mail address, took one of my cards and said she'd be back. The next morning, I had a note from her in my in box. She did return, and ended up buying the two Santas above - she brought her children with her to make the selection and they were evenly split, so she got both - as well as Out On a Limb: 26 and Out On a Limb: 30.

She had spotted the latter on the web site. Or maybe it was the blog? No matter, because it ended up being Christmas in July for me, as well as for her.

Body language

I'm scouring shops, flea markets, etc. for new anatomical images all the time. Yes, I'm obsessed with them. So obsessed that I created a line of greeting cards called "Body Language." My latest find? Beautiful, mint-condition illustrations from Wark's Modern Educator (Henry Wark, 1904). Each is 8" x 10."

You gotta love the 19th and early 20th century preoccupation with creating encyclopedic books. Wark's covers etiquette, economics, litigation, medicine, handwriting and lots more. It's chock full of maps, photographs, illustrations and charts. My copy, which cost $8, is missing a slew of maps but even so, I ended up with 25 fabulous ones. Now, the hunt is on for a complete edition!

Rethinking the book

Uncle Melvin Looks Back by Janice Kagermeier
Outside (top) includes an aerial photo of the Cincinnati neighborhood
that Janice's uncle grew up in, while the inside (bottom) tells his story.

Tearing books apart is essential to my art, but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate books in all their many forms. That appreciation led me to join the Cincinnati Book Arts Society a few years ago. Now, I'm in the study group, which meets monthly to explore new techniques in bookmaking, and I'm a new member of the board.

I keep thinking that books will make their way into my art, although I haven't brought the two together yet. Meanwhile, plenty of other members have done just that and there are some riveting examples in Bookworks 13 at the public library's main branch downtown. They are at turns funny, poignant, whimsical and serious, and the forms range from cascading pages to a 9-yard scroll.

The library has been a major supporter of the annual exhibit and even buys a couple of books each year for its artists' books collection. This year, CBAS also will purchase a book to donate to the library. Some of the books in the collection are on display through Aug. 12 on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the main library.

Bookworks 13 continues through Sept. 2, with a walk-through with some of the artists at 2 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 26. For more about the exhibit and CBAS, check out CityBeat's review of the exhibition or the Enquirer's feature story on it or the CBAS blog.

Seed Bombs: a better view

Seed Bombs (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique engraving (Dante's Inferno, Altemus Edition,
 illustrated by Gustav Dore, circa 1880), vintage illustrations (Ernst Heinrich Haeckel's
 Art Forms in Nature, Dover, 1974; Prestel, 1998), recycled Italian wrapping paper;
watercolor, ink. 7.5" x 9.5" on acid-free mat board.
(Sold)

Here's the scanned version of "Seed Bombs." It's part of the bomb series being made for a solo exhibition in November at The Thompson House's Shooting Gallery. Yes, I am working ahead for once! I'll post more images from the series during the next week or so ...