Paper With a Past now has a Facebook page

Yes, I'm mired in the past, right down to my business card (above). But that doesn't mean I'm not paying attention to the present. So, I launched a Facebook page last week for Paper With a Past as another way of spreading the word.

While the blog focuses on process and allows me to talk about my work, the FB page is an exercise in shameless commerce. It includes news about exhibitions, new collages and other PWAP products, retailers, etc.

I hope you visit it and would love, love, love it if you "liked" the page.

The eternal debate: rub vs. sauce

It Was Widely Debated Whether The Secret to John's Barbecue
Was in the Rub or the Sauce (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage illustration; recycled paint sample;
recycled greeting card, wrapping paper and book proof;
marker, ink, watercolor. 5"x5" on archival mat board.
Price: $90.
(SOLD)

I haven't a clue what that humongous slab of meat is, but love its enormity and the crowd of guys standing around watching it being cooked. You can almost smell it and hear the sizzle as he ladles something over it. His secret sauce?

Back in the kitchen ...

Janine Wasn't Fooling Anybody With That Cocoa Cup (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique scrap, vintage illustration,
recycled paint sample, recycled wine label, marker, ink,
watercolor. 5"x5" on archival mat board.
Price: $75 (matted to fit a standard 8"x10" frame), $90 (framed). 

I'm taking a break from the Paper, Scissors, Rock series - which will have 4-5 more pieces in it - by returning to Food Colors, a series created for the annual The Art of Food exhibition at The Carnegie. I got carried away and whipped up six more collages, which you'll be seeing over the next few days.

For this one, I was so happy to be able to use a wine label carefully peeled from a bottle months ago. Unfortunately, most of its beautiful red, glossy leaves - the thing so attractive about it - are hidden now. It was moved every which way but it was impossible to get in more of the leaves and the type - and I really wanted the words.

The paint sample is actually two separate ones combined to take the viewer from coffee and chocolate to claret and bordeaux. Now that we've gotten to wine, well, although I didn't want Janine to appear to be a total lush, I couldn't resist tinting her lips and fingertips purple.  

Paper, Rock, Scissors - No. 4

Paper, Rock, Scissors (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique illustrations (Delineator, March 1893;
Ladies World, Oct. 1895), vintage paper doll (Victorian Fashion Dolls, Dover, 1977)
and illustration (Encyclopedia of Source Illustrations: Vol. 1, Morgan & Morgan, 1972),
recycled Champion paper sample kit (1989), recycled book cover (circa 1960s) and ad,
ink, marker, watercolor. 5.5" x 11.5" on archival mat board.
Price: $125 (matted, unframed), available in November.

I thought Caroline would be the culmination of the Scissors, Rock, Paper series. But, there's one more dancing around in my head.

In any case, unlike the others, the background here depicts each word in the title rather than one. I played with her carrying the scissors in many ways, then, thought about putting them in the hands of one of her dresses. Next thing I knew, I was adding the wedding dress, too. Now,  each figure carries an object representative of the title.

There are more layers - soooooo carefully cut and positioned - but they're obscured by the dresses now. What did survive is a bit of the strip from a paper book cover with instructions for using it. The cover was a freebie from White Castle back in the '60s and has a wild op-art pattern that's sure to pop up in some other piece.

As for No. 5 in the series, well, I'm waiting for a cache of paper dolls a friend has promised me. Then, we'll see ...

Flora & Fauna gets a rave

Woke up to a sweet surprise: a great review of the Flora & Fauna group exhibition in today's Cincinnati Enquirer. It's difficult for a critic to mention everyone in a show with 10 artists, so I'm pleased to have made the cut.

Critic Karen Chambers goes into detail about one piece in particular: Social Butterflies: Emma and Marjorie Were Honing Their Networking Skills. It's one of five "fanciful and whimsical" shadow boxes in the exhibition. I posted it earlier this month, but here's another look ...