The evolution of a collage ...

I've been getting requests to document the making of a collage. I find it almost impossible to stop, snap a photo, continue, then, stop, take another photo, continue ... It interrupts the flow of ideas - and once I get into the groove, I forget to stop and take photos. Sometimes, it can take days - if not weeks - before a piece is complete, and I just don't want to bother to record it.  

That said, I gave it a shot with "Meditation," one of the collages in the Pulp Art exhibition at The Carnegie. The top image, was the jumping off point. It's an engraving published in 1888 in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, which included images of beautiful women for no reason other than that they were pretty pictures.

I wanted her to be more than eye candy and the title of the piece, "Meditation," gave me the idea of filling her head with some substantial stuff. 

I started by creating a background using the blank side of pages that described some antique engravings in my stash. My thinking was that an uncluttered background would offset the clutter soon to be in her head. Next, off with her hair - and the trees behind her.

Then, I begin playing around with what's going on in her head and with the idea of using the postage zone ruler. A bird lands in the picture, briefly, very briefly. Dozens of pieces of paper, ephemera and even a ceramic watch face went on - and off - during this part of the process. I wasn't happy with it and decided to let it sit for a dew days.

 

Not satisfied with the way it was going, I started to look around for something that could be streaming from her head, as thoughts might. Voila. I find it via an image in a vintage book of nature prints by Ernst Haeckel. Once the undulating underwater creature's tentacles are cut, it's the perfect vehicle for weaving in text and images.     

 

The angels wings make one final appearance, before they are ditched. Too cliche. The weaving is done on one of the cutting boards. Not that at this point - center - the top is trimmed. The section that was cut off is added to the right side, creating a nice gap in her thoughts. 

 

The bird man from early on reappears - and, this time, he stays. He adds a surreal, dreamlike feel. I toy around with putting a new pen in her hand. After cutting out about a dozen and trying them, the idea is ditched. Too distracting.    

At the last minute, flowers are added.  

  

Tea time

Even As A Child, Clara Took Tea Seriously (2012)

mixed-media collage: antique engraving (Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, 1888); 

recycled cookbook, paint sample and greeting card; ink, watercolor,

acrylic sealer. 5” x 5” on acid-free mat board. 

Price: $90 matted and framed (SOLD)

*available as a signed, limited-edition archival print, matted & ready to frame: $25 

Just about every collage in the Food Coloring series is droll. Clara is one of the exceptions. The engraving was too sweet for anything but a homage to girls and their penchant for tea parties with their dolls or, in our house, a menagerie of mice from Walt Disney's Minnie Mouse to Beatrix Potter's Hunca Munca.

I confess that I'm completely smitten by the engraving from Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. The tiny dishes. The languid doll tucked under her arm. The delicacy with which she is pouring the tea.

The collage sold within a week of hanging it in the studio. But I like it so much that I'm offering it as a signed, limited edition print. Contact me if you're interested. Or drop by the studio. We have Open Studios this Friday (July 13) from 6-9 p.m.  

Ah, the lure of the s'more

Flora's Exercise Routine Increased ExponentiallyAfter She Became Addicted to S'mores (2012)mixed-media collage: antique engravings (Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly,1888); vintage illustration; recycled paint sample, cookbooks and book;ink; watercolor. 5" x 5" on archival mat board.Price: $75 (matted only), $90 (framed)

This was, well, not easy - despite the background pieces coming together handily. When I found the paint sample, I remembered the s'mores instructions in my stash, as well as a photo.

Since the background is busy, the idea was to put one figure on it. After cutting out a half dozen or so and just not feeling it, I came across a series of engravings in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly illustrating a feature on "The Physical Education of Girls." I snipped out a sequence and started placing them around. They needed some grounding, which was where the roasting fork came in. Her belt was colored yellow to draw more attention to her.

Then, something bad happened. There were small balloons of shading at her feet. I liked them ... at first. Then, decided they were distracting. So, I began peeling them off, which worked well for the three images on the right but not the two on the left. Paper peeled off. After attempts to paint it failed, I hit on the idea of covering the areas and that's where the small squares of chocolate came in.

Shape shifting

A few months ago, I posted a photo of canvases that I had covered with papers as first layers for future collages. One of them became April and another one - papered with a fantastic map by Guyot - now is this escapist collage. I've been itching to make this piece for a while. I spotted the engraving of the balloon in an issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly last summer and added it to my "collage ideas" bin. I knew I'd use it to aid Victorian women trying to outrun the strictures of the time.

The idea of corsets as ballast came next and I began clipping them from advertisements in 19th century women's magazines - looking for a variety of sizes and brands from Dr. Warner's Electric Corsets (yes, they were wired) to Armorside and Glove-Fitting. I'm not sure if the women atop the balloon are approving or disapproving - I'm leaving that up to viewers to figure out.

12" x 12" on stretched canvas, with acrylic and watercolor paints, colored pencil and ink. Ready to hang. $75 + $10 shipping & handling