Out On A Limb: 19

© Out On A Limb: 19 (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique and vintage illustrations
(The Chatterbox, 1899; Audubon calendar, 1990); recycled
glass catalog; chalk; watercolor; ink; acrylic sealer, acrylic varnish.
 6" x 6" on claybord/hardwood panel. Price: $75. (SOLD)

I noted earlier that I've begun making slightly larger Out On A Limb collages - 6"x6" vs. 5"x5" - which doesn't sound like much of a change, but it's amazing what difference an inch all around can make.

This is one of eight finished recently for my show, Expecting To Fly, at Cincinnati's 5th Street Gallery. I opted to include them - along with five new 5"x5"s - because there is a sense of anticipation in the series, as though the birds might take wing at any moment.

These are the first owls in the series. The pair in back were accompanied by a poem that began "Laugh not at our grimaces, Nor call us dull and odd, But come and watch us sailing, When the dew is on the sod." The swirling, colorful barn beams they're resting on are from a glass catalog retrieved from a recycling bin in the glass school adjacent to my studio. I was wowed by the variety of glass and its collage potential.

The big bad - really bad - wolf

While hunting for collage images and thumbing through a bound volume of The Chatterbox the other night, I came across this riveting illustration from the March 1879 issue. It's an original work for the magazine by Gustave Dore - the 19th century master of the dramatic, literary illustration - and puts to rest any notion that today's children's books are scarier than ever.

Just look at that wolf - the sharp claws above the covers; the focused, evil gaze - you can almost feel his hot breath. And poor little Red - plump and wide-eyed, you know that if this was a video, she'd be trembling in fear and if it was a color print, she'd be rosy-cheeked.

It's a tribute to Dore's skill that so much can be read into a black & white engraving - and how timeless the image is.