Annie Got Her Guns: A 19th century morality tale. I think.

Annie Got Her Guns:
A 19th Century Tale of Self-Defense
mixed-media collage: antique engraving (Chatterbox, 1893) and
 illustration (Mother Goose, Volland Popular Edition, Donahue & Co., 1915);
vintage illustrations (Anatomy of the Human Body, Lea & Febiger, 1959;
Art Forms in Nature, Dover, 1974); recycled catalog and folder; ink, watercolor,
marker, acrylic paint, acrylic UV  sealer.  7.5" x 9.5" on acid-free mat board.
(SOLD)

Okay. Before you get your shorts in a bunch. I'm not pro-gun. I'm not a member of the NRA. But I am imbued with a wicked sense of irony. I came across this illustration in the Chatterbox, a popular 19th children's magazine. It accompanied a story titled "The Valor of a Girl." In short, it's 1820 and the eldest daughter is left alone in her family's home deep in the German forest while the rest of the family goes out.

A beggar knocks on the door and feeling sorry for him, she invites him in for a bowl of hot soup. She quickly realizes he's not who he seemed and throws the hot soup in his face. He flees. Then, another man knocks on the door, and when she refuses to open it he breaks it down. She grabs her father's rifle and shoots him. Shortly after that, yet another man appears, who she shoots and kills.

I couldn't believe I was reading this in a children's magazine. The collage is meant as a graphic commentary on the kinds of stories told to children - then and now. The story ends with the two surviving men in jail and the "kind-hearted" girl feeling sorry about the man she killed. It certainly demonstrates valor, but I'm on the fence about how the lesson "to be brave" is taught.

Look for it - along with the original text - in the upcoming exhibit "The Hunting Season" at the Thompson House's Shooting Gallery in Newport. It opens 7-11 p.m. Sat. Sept. 8.

    

A 5th Street Gallery welcome

The September issue of Express Cincinnati magazine is out and includes a lovely ad welcoming me to the 5th Street Gallery.  It's on page 9, in case you're looking in print or online.

The ad was designed by fellow gallery member Marcia Alscher, a painter and architect who dabbles in sculpture, photography and who knows what else. The entire group of artists at the gallery - a co-op, as I'm sure I've mentioned before - have been generous with their time, tips and compliments since I became a member last month. Yes. Hard to believe it's only been two months.

By the way, I'll be working in the gallery from 2-6 p.m. this Friday (8.31). Drop by and say "hi" if you are downtown. I love showing off everyone else's work, as well as my own.    

Counting the days

The calendars are coming! I've been hard at work designing four different calendars for 2013. This time around, they'll be done before the first week of December. Way before.

The two above will be joined by an Out On a Limb calendar featuring new collages in that bird series, and a general Paper With a Past calendar with a mix of imagery.

Like the 2012 calendar, they will be a handy 5.5" x 8.5" and will be packaged in a clear box. But this time around, they'll be wire-bound and on heavier stock.

I plan to offer an advance order price of $12, after which the price will be $15. More as it happens ...

Unabashed romanticism

There are times when I hate cutting a particular image. But there are few times when I'd like to save an entire book - this is one of those.

A stop at my favorite neighborhood used bookstore - Significant Books - turned up a copy of a luxurious 1888 edition of Keats poems. The book was no longer a book, it was a pile of papers that were badly foxed. I flipped through them quickly and decided that at $5 it was a steal, because the central images were salvageable.

I didn't really know what I had until it was whisked off to the studio. Snip. Snip. Snip. The worst parts of the large, velvety pages hit the floor. As I got deeper into it, I couldn't help but begin to read the poems and to look more closely at Low's classic Beaux-Arts illustrations.

Low began his artistic life in his teens as a sculptor and illustrator. When he was 20, he headed to Europe to study with Jean-Léon Gérôme and Carolus-Duran. He also spent summers with the Barbizon artists, whose focus was on nature and realism. 

After five years, Low returned to America, and began working as a muralist, illustrator, and decorative painter. He achieved some fame after illustrating an equally lavish edition of Keats' "Lamia" for Lippincott in 1885. That brought the publisher back to him three years later for "Odes."

I'm smitten and now on the lookout for good copies of each, to add to my library this time - not to my stash!  

Breaking up is not hard to do

A few weeks ago I took the ax, er, the box cutter, to "Summer 1" (above). To be honest, it was easy to do, because I never liked this piece. Too static. No focal point. Dull colors. I could go on ...

In any case, the pieces have been sitting on a worktable ever since. Well, I wanted space for other things and got tired of looking at 'em. What to do? Turn them into backgrounds for a couple of Out On a Limb collages. This time, I went bright. There are too many dark birds hanging around the studio.

Out On a Limb: August (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique science notebook (Lillian Mary Shackett, 1918);
 endpaper, book spine, ad and needlework illustration (Delineator, Chatterbox); 
recycled handmade paper embedded with leaves; vintage illustration 
(Reddish Plantcutter and Crested Sharpbill, Birds of the World, 1961); 
watercolor, pencil, ink, fluid chalk, marker, acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish. 
5” x5 ” on hardwood panel (2012)
Price: $85.

   

Out On a Limb: Summer (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique endpaper, book spine, trade card 
and illustration (Chatterbox); recycled handmade paper; vintage illustration 
(Rose-Breasted Thrush Tanager, Birds of the World, 1961);
 watercolor, pencil, ink, fluid chalk, marker, acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish.
5” x5 ” on hardwood panel.
Price: $85.

From the scrap pile: Victorian wackiness

I visited my friend, Shirley Tenhover, last week in North Carolina. And we did a trade. Shhh, don't tell my husband. She got a Social Butterfly box collage. I got a box of fantastic Victorian scraps. They range from teeny-tiny people to oversized holiday greetings. Here are a few of the more, um, interesting pieces. Now thinking about how to use them in collages ...

 

New holiday section on the web site

The holidays have arrived on the Paper With a Past web site. Well, not really. But there is a new holiday section in the artwork part of the site. Right now, it's heavy on Halloween and Santa collages.

Some pieces are for sale; some are available upon request as signed, limited-edition prints; and some are, well, just plain sold. Look for more images to pop up in the coming weeks.

Smoke and mirrors

I nabbed copies of the June and August 1899 issues of Harper's New Monthly Magazine yesterday - and for a mere $1 each, I might add. The Harper Brothers launched the magazine in 1850, followed by Harper's Weekly in 1857 and Harper's Bazaar in 1867. The latter still exists, as does the book publishing end of the business - now HarperCollins Publishers.

One reason the magazines were appealing: the ads are in good shape. In most magazines of that era, ads were at the front and back only - the places that get all the wear and tear. So, while they make interesting reading, they don't necessarily make good collage material.

These are splendid. I cherry-picked a few favorites to post, starting with the outrageous ad at top that gives the post its title.

Zig-Zag papers, a guitar and ...

Papers, Scissors, Soft Rock (2012)
antique trade card (Columbus, Ohio, guitar company, 1892) and illustration
(The Delineator); vintage record sleeve (Columbia), illustrations
(Lothar Meggendorfer's International Circus, Kestrel Books, 1979; 
Victorian Fashion Paper Dolls, 1977)  and sheet music (Chappell & Co., 1936); 
found paper;  ink, watercolor, marker; 5.5" x 11.5" on acid-free mat board.
Price: $125 (matted, unframed, available in November)  

A while back, I said the "Scissors, Paper, Rock" series would continue, and it has. "Papers, Scissors, Soft Rock" - cue the groan - takes the work in a new direction. I'm having fun with it, so look for three to four additional collages.

This one happened purely by accident when I remembered a package of Zig-Zag papers I found one morning while walking to the studio. Honestly. Then I recalled a Victorian trade card with a guitar, and, things took off from there.

I wanted Daphne onstage and found the curtains in a vintage pop-up book that my friend Shirley Tenhover sent to me. As it turned out, I  had a copy of the book in my collection but wasn't ready to sacrifice it ... yet.

The background - a vintage record sleeve - came via our basement, where I'm rummaging through the vinyl for more material for the rest of the collages.