Tight-lipped

This began as a warm-up exercise in which I rifle through a bin of odds & ends such as sections trimmed from collages and small bits that catch my eye. The idea is to grab a handful and make the piece quickly, without thinking. Sometimes, though, thinking cannot be avoided.

After finishing, it seemed to need something. I found it in my library, in the form of a face from a drawing lesson in "The Popular Educator" (Cassell, London, 1862). I decided to add it as a transfer. The thing about transfers is that they're iffy. Usually, they're a last touch and can destroy a piece if, for example, most of the image doesn't transfer or layers under it are pulled off when the transfer paper is lifted. Happily, he went on easily. 5" x 5" on acid-free paper. {Sold}

Tea time

I made this for my friend Ann Hicks, who has an extraordinary dollhouse. The central image is from the same 1905 Prang Educational Co. art instruction manual mentioned a few days ago. Below it is a section of a dollhouse from a 1920s French school primer. The top border's from a 1940s elementary school penmanship text while the bottom one was clipped from the back cover of a mechanical drawing manual (whose date I need to check). The dolls are acrylic gel transfers from an image in the Dec. 1895 issue of The Delineator, a magazine published by Butterick as a vehicle to sell its sewing patterns.

By the way, the splotches of blue ink on the dollhouse were not put there by me. I left them in, because I liked the idea of a child using the book and spilling ink on it. 4" x 6" on acid-free watercolor paper

False Sense of Security: 2

A while back, I started collecting engravings of flora and fauna as I came across them in a variety of Victorian encyclopedias and periodicals. I find them beautiful and exotic. Over the past few months they've become part of a series titled False Sense of Security. Yeah, I'm feeling a little anxious these days. It's leaning toward creatures with highly defensive coverings and protuberances, for which I substitute the modern human defense against identity theft, mail fraud, etc: inside out "security" envelopes. 5" x 5" on acid-free watercolor paper {SOLD}

Rupert prayed for a soft landing

Rupert began as an exercise in techniques: acrylic gel transfer (the building), paint resist (above the building), melted wax (along the edges) and glazing (atop the bottom layer of text from a 1910 woodworking manual). The paint resist area wound up looking like smoke and I recalled seeing flames in a deck of over-sized Tarot cards purchased in Italy 21 years ago. I had just been looking through the deck and knew card in question, The Tower card, also had a man jumping from a tower struck by lightning. As you can imagine, it's not a card you want to see. The collage didn't feel complete until the ball and sheet music with the stirring title "Dare to be Brave" were added. 6.5" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper

Mad Women: Betty was fed up

I've started a series titled Mad Women that's a departure from my usual Victorian-centric work. It was spurred by three great finds: 1940s & '50s sewing catalogs; 1940s women's magazines; and Top Value trading stamp books. My East Coast family was strictly S&H green stamps, so these were new to me.

Happily, I came across some S&H books, too, and acquired more via my thrifty friend Betsa Marsh. She told me she relied on them to acquire appliances and other goods in the early days of her marriage. She kept the ones she hadn't traded in after they were discontinued hoping they'd make a comeback. (Given the economy, it's surprising they haven't.)

The "No" is a piece of a clever "do not disturb" sign that I knew I'd walk off with the moment I saw it on the hotel room door.  6.5" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper (SOLD)