En pointe: the finished collage

In the last post, I showed the initial idea for a new collage. Well, here is the completed piece. As it turned out, it didn't veer far from its start. I finished cutting out the figure and brightened her with watercolor markers, moved the pencil to the right, then added a gouge and a pen nib.

I toyed with some kind of landscape or stage for the background, then, went to my music file where I found piano music for "Air de ballet" by John Thompson that was published in 1929 by the Willis Music Co. of Cincinnati. Perfect. I glued it down, then added a layer of dance-related text from the 1927 edition of "Nursery Friends from France," one of the trio of My Travelship books published by Chicago's The Bookhouse for Children.

I didn't like the beige color of the papers, so I added layers of acrylic glazes in crimson, pink, bronze and buff, using a dry brush for some areas. It will be coated with a few coats of Hard Coat Mod Podge - a finish I'm testing for the first time to see if it is less sticky when dry than other finishes I've been using. Then, it will be topped by a spritz of acrylic UV sealer to help protect it from light exposure. 5" x 5" on archival mat board. [SOLD]

Note: The pen knife and other dancer will turn up tomorrow in a companion collage titled ... well, wait and see!

First glance at a collage in the works: En pointe

Last week, I mentioned that instead of trying to document each step of a collage that I might post an image of the first idea, then, circle back with the finished piece to show how it changed from start to finish. Well, here we are with a piece that has the working title: en pointe.

It developed from sorting images for the collage gift tags/bookmarks/whatevers I'm obsessed with these days and for a line of greeting cards I plan to print on my new letterpress, which is almost done being reconditioned. Be still my heart. The dancers were clipped from Victorian trade cards and pasted into a scrapbook, from which they were removed before I got them. I considered putting for tags, then, came across the pointy tools and - voila!

There was a brief moment when a piece titled pointe/counterpointe crossed my mind. In it, the second dancer - at bottom right in the photo - was placed upside down, toe to toe with the first one. But I rejected the idea before it even hit the drawing table. I may come back to it if I find larger images of ballet dancers - these are petite and I felt they needed a more intimate setting.

Scanning, scanning, and more scanning

I generally spend the early part of my day on the computer, since I do not have one in the studio - and don't want one there. Why? I know I'd be on it too much. One of the things that is done almost daily is the scanning of images into my digital archive. I have no clue what'll become of them, but they are images I feel I have to save before the originals disappear into collages. As you know, photocopies are not used in my work, except to make an occasional image transfer.

Here are some of this week's scans to give you an idea of what's being saved. They range in time from the 1880s to the 1950s. The more recent images, which often are under copyright, are generally radically altered and always used in one piece - and one only - in order to meet fair use standards. Even then, I prefer finding images that are out of copyright to avoid infringing on others rights.

Lila's magical night garden

After starting this piece, I came to the realization that I need more color botanicals. Adding them to my flea market list. This started as an ordinary daytime scene but changed once I found the evening sky - a page proof from a children's picture book received back in the day when I wrote a syndicated children's book review column, and proof that I never throw anything out.

Speaking of that, the flowers are mostly from recycled publisher catalog covers, except for the small red fuschias that are about to bloom - they were snipped from a damaged color engraving in John Lewis Childs Catalogue of 1887 (below). It's the only page I have from any of his catalogs, which were renowned for their artwork, so it's precious. I'm parceling out the rest of the spectacular illustration in a number of pieces. 9.5" x 7.5" on archival mat board with pencil, ink and watercolor {SOLD}

Emma's daily stroll caused quite a buzz

I'm in a spring/summer groove - finally - and working on pieces that are turning out to be whimsical takes on Victorian illustrations as opposed to my usual dark ones. The engraving is from a children's book, whose cover was missing and whose title page I misplaced, but am hunting for. It was tough keeping the umbrella spokes intact but I learned a trick: a coat of clear acrylic spray helps older papers from tearing during cutting - well, mostly.

Most of the butterflies are from recycled postcards, greeting cards and catalog covers. But the sweet bumblebee carrying an elf, yellow butterflies and praying mantis are from the delightful and stylish 1920 children's book "The Turned-Intos" about a girl's discovery of "garden folk." It was written by Elizabeth Gordon, illustrated by Janet Laura Scott and published by Volland - one of my favorite American publishers. I'm an avid collector of their holiday postcards, which often go overlooked by those not in the know. I snap up their books whenever I see them and can afford them, but that's not often enough.

5"x 6.5" on archival mat board  {SOLD}

Shell shocked

I don't know about you but I'm fascinated at the evolution of artworks - whether they are my own or someone else's. I've tried to document "the making of a collage" but discovered it takes far too many photos and seriously interrupts the process. So, I'll try to summarize this one - as briefly as possible.

The bathing beauties from Peterson's Magazine were set aside to use in the Grand Tour series, then, I changed my mind. I sensed they were destined for something else but wasn't sure what. So, I tossed them in with spring and summer illustrations. When I pulled them out again, I knew I wanted a summer piece. At the start, there was much more of the original print with the sea and shells behind it.

Then, as I sorted a cache of new papers, I spotted the shell-strewn sand and blazing sky. Additional background was trimmed until, well, the women were completely cut out. The bottom of the print was saved to incorporate the caption. Shell engravings from "The Popular Educator" (1884) and "The People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge" (1881) were going to be cut out and piled around their feet, then, it hit me that they should be part of their bathing suits. 5.5" x 8.5" on archival mat board with ink and watercolor. {SOLD}

Note: I'll probably add watercolors or ink to the top edge of the caption to help it blend into the shells a bit more.  

Autumn: 2

I promise to move on to spring and summer after this post! I just had to make a second fall collage using a page from a girl's general science notebook that I picked up at a flea market. It's a ring binder from 1923 filled with classroom notes and pages after page of mounted, dried leaves that are still intact. I wanted to juxtapose the dried leaf with a stylized one from a publishers' fall catalog cover. Like Autumn: 1, it can hang vertically or horizontally.  5" x 10" on archival mat board

Tagged out

Well, I finished 24 gift tag collages last week. Not to worry, I won't post 'em all. Here are two from the 1950s fashion series that incorporate sewing pattern instructions and vintage ads, in addition to the vintage illustrations and those vintage Dennison gummed reinforcements. Like the others, they'll be tied with vintage seam binding. I'll be selling these in my studio during the next Brazee Street Studios open studios (6-9 p.m., Friday May 13) and am thinking of letting people select their own colors from the dozens of rolls in my stash.