Lost ... and found

For the past nine months or so, I've been trying to locate a series of leaf images that I knew were in my stash. I looked in every corner of the studio, through the bins labeled "landscape," "flowers," "autumn," etc., even inside books to make sure they hadn't been stuffed in one. Though why I would do that, heaven only knows.

No luck ... 'til yesterday. I was tearing through the flower files looking for foliage for a jungle Grand Tour collage and spotted an archival envelope stuffed with paper. Voila! The missing plates.

I knew they were somewhere. It was quickly apparent why they hadn't been located earlier: the title page and a content page were facing outward, instead of images. So, I skipped over them. Happily, I was looking at every single thing in the files this time. Just goes to show that no matter how organized you think you are - and, yes, I believe that I am compulsively so - things go missing.  Here's a peek at four of the gorgeous chromolithographs, and that pesky title page ...

Beatrice and Amy Were Seasonal Milliners Extraordinaire

I thought I ought to get this fashionable pair posted before autumn slips away. Bea and Amy were part of a trio found in Godey's Lady's Book. The paper is so thin and the letterpress printing so heavy that the music on the page behind them shows through - instantly creating another layer. The hats are composed of flowers from recycled greeting cards and wallpaper. The cameos and hat pin are from a vintage bead catalog. 5" x 5" on archival mat board. [Not for sale]

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