Ah, back in the studio, finally

The studio's been a mess, with all manner of goodies piling up as I've recovered from the final round of heavy-metal chemo. Now, I'm back to the regular, not-so-toxic infusions (though with an additional drug whose side effects are still manifesting themselves). No matter. I spent last week in the studio working on collages for the Carnegie's 2015 Community Supported Art project, and have been on a tear. But before getting to all the cutting, tearing, and pasting, there was stuff to sort, and put away, including …

an assortment of odd/cool chemistry lab beakers and test tubes (a donation to Brazee from a high school teacher) that will be used as part of the "Miracles" series, when I return to it …

… a selection of museum-quality frames (thanks to my friend Nick Paddock) that also are earmarked for the "Miracles" series …

… engravings, and more engravings that had to be scanned before being used, and which are destined for the Carnegie collages … you can see the start of one of the collages above, and a closer view of it below ...

I'll be posting plenty more images since there will be, gulp, 50 collages in the series!

Open studio! Friday May 8

I'm flying high!

So, I reached the end of the heavy-metal round of chemo, and am celebrating by throwing open the doors to the studio for the second Open Studios of the year at Brazee Street Studios.

Yes, I may be a bit wobbly, and more than a bit bald, and bruised. BUT the weather is fabulous, there are some new greeting cards in the studio, plus copies of "Harper Ever After", the Charley and Edie Harper book I penned the essay for, for sale ($5 off the list price), and the studio is freshly painted, and cleaned (thanks to the loving Mr. P and  The Kid).

On top of all that, a cool exhibit is opening in the C-Link Gallery, and there will be lots more happening throughout the Brazee campus from glass blowing demos to ballroom dancing (not kidding).

Look for me on the first floor, right across from the gallery!

Note: image above is from a recent find: Vol. 3 of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana or Universal Dictionary of Knowledge, London, 1845.

Animal kingdom

During a lunch last month, my friend Cecie Chewning casually handed me a small packet of engravings that she had been given by her uncle. I didn't look at them until a few days later, and when I did, whoa! What a treasure.

They've been scanned them into the archive now, so it seemed time to share them. The pages are relatively small - 8.5" x 4.5" - and there are headings and table numbers on each, but no bibliographic information. Not even the engraver, whose name usually is at the bottom of a plate.

They are hand-painted, and exquisite, if a bit worn/foxed. I'm guessing circa early 1800s, and betting there were more in whatever book they're from, since fish, insects, etc. are absent from mine. Here's a look at what I have … they'll be turning up in collages.

Gulp. Looks like the scanning isn't done ...

Well, I took the plates that were scanned from Costumi dei Secoli to the studio to file them with the others. While flipping through the two volumes, I came across more plates at the back of one. Had they been scanned? I wasn't sure. As I rule, I write "scanned" on an image. These were unmarked.

I had a hard time believing I had overlooked that many of them, but it was possible since I had been carrying them back and forth for months. I brought the plates home, and began checking them against the digital files. Not there. So, another 50 plates to scan. I did all the women first, because I plan to use them in a new series. Here they are …

The Italian job

Whew. Finally wrapped up scanning every plate from Costumi die Secoli, a project begun, well, too long ago. I have plans for the beautifully hand-painted plates, which illustrate the clothing worn by professionals (lawyers, notaries, monks, soldiers), as well as royalty, celebs and others.

The two-volume book was published in Florence in 1837. Each plate is accompanied by historical and descriptive text, all of which was scanned, too. Both books are falling apart, with pages that are heavily foxed. Tissue covers each plate, but most of it also is foxed. Happily, the central images themselves are in good condition.

Most of the scans have been cleaned up, except for the title page, below, which I posted as is to show the true condition of the book. I came upon it at Significant Books, a quirky, used bookstore in my neighborhood that has closed. Sigh. Still miss popping in when walking to my studio. There were always surprises, and once the owners discovered what I do, they set aside material they thought would interest me.

In any case, here is a sampling of the plates …

  
View plates from the first post way back in 2012, and from the second post last spring.

Meet me at The Flea this summer

Look for Paper with a Past at the first three City Fleas of the year: May 17, June 14 and July 12 in Cincinnati's beautiful Washington Park, across from Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine. But there is a twist: I'll be selling the fabulous finds from my "Stuff I Can't Bear to Cut Up" files.

The image above is a sampling. There will be everything from medical oddities and magazine covers to advertisements and fashion engravings. Most antique. All original. Some are matted (to fit standard size frames), others are as is.

I am sorting, sorting, sorting though the vast archive. Cannot wait to share these treasures.

Also on hand: Paper With a Past greeting cards, postcards, and bumper stickers. I'll be posting more in the weeks to come.

   

Cards With a Past ® are downtown now

The newest spot to purchase greeting cards from my Cards With a Past® lines is 5th Street Gallery - my first downtown outlet. Last night, I loaded one arm of a card rack with 21 styles, and plan to switch them out as we go along. They are printed on thick card stock, and packaged with an envelope in an acid-free clear bag ($3.50 each).

The cards use copyright-free images from my archive. So, how can I copyright them? Good question.
It may not look like it, but a LOT of work is done on the images after they are scanned - at a high resolution - into the computer.

Generally, the originals are dense engravings and I get in between the lines to make sure they reproduce with clarity. Some are still works in progress as I go back in and clean them up further by removing part of the image. It can take weeks to get an image where I want it. But it's more than worth the time in the end result - and that end result is a new image with my stamp on it.

There's another twist to the cards. The back of each card includes an excerpt from the publication the image is from, along with bibliographic details on the original publication. Sometimes, there is an additional image, such as below on the back of the "you can handle it" card.

I'm still dreaming up more and having so much fun doing it!    

Costume drama, and mystery

Wish I could tell you where these spectacular women are from, but I haven't a clue. They're part of the humungous new stash and were in a pile of pages that had been a book about costumes. But, no title page. No engraver listed on the pages. No publisher either. If you have spotted these some place else, please, please, please let me know.

Each is hand-painted and a fairly sizable 9" x12" or so. My first thought was to have them floating. Now, I am thinking they'd be swell cake toppers. I have an exhibit coming up in February at Cincinnati's Bonbonerie bakery's cafe and had been thinking about a new collage take on cakes anyway - and calling the exhibit, wait for it, yes, Let Them Eat Cake ...  

Another new cast of characters, Italian-style

A few weeks ago I wrote about a food-related collage that I was struggling with. It was a commission loosely based on a piece created for an exhibit earlier this year. A print of the original would have been fine BUT I had forgotten to scan that collage into the computer. Well, the final piece - above - came out fine, even though I had to take it apart to get it there.

An armored knight was central to the earlier collage, as well as this one. The difference though is that the first one was a black-and-white engraving of a standing knight, while this one is a splendidly-outfitted and beautifully-colored knight and horse.

The image is from Costumi Dei Secoli, a spectacular book of hand-painted engravings published in Florence, Italy, in 1837. The two-volume set is falling apart and heavily foxed, but the prints are in remarkably fine condition once you get past the edges.

The art details costumes worn by people depicted in well-known paintings, sculptures and monuments of the time - and each is accompanied by a description. In Italian, of course. I've been scanning the images into my archive - there are close to one hundred 8.5" x 12" plates - and wanted to share a few that you're sure to see popping up in future collages ...