Love struck

Okay, between the Tweeting, Facebooking, writing about art, designing "Love Me Tender," my first line of Valentine cards, hunting for paper for two new series of collages, and fighting a cold given to me by my dear husband, well, I've neglecting the blog.

Hoping to remedy that by taking a break from one of my writing gigs. Meanwhile, for those of you NOT on Facebook, here's a peek at the Valentine cards that I have been posting there for the past few weeks, all are available at my studio, and a selection of them can be found at MiCA 12/v, NVISION, and Redtree. And, later this week, at the Bonbonerie.

Adapted from a circa 1920s fold-over Valentine made in the U.S.A.
The publisher and artist are not IDed. I found 5 cards in what, apparently, was
a series during my only trip to the Burlington Antique Show last year.

The illustration is adapted from a 1905 postcard, published
by Raphael Tuck & Sons, London.  It was not mailed, but is addressed
to Mr. John Lauder, Brad St., Beachmont, Mass.  The original featured
the man as a pear, but with serious tweaking, I turned him into an apple.

llustration adapted from a postcard, circa 1910, that was printed in Bavaria.
 The publisher and artist are not identified, and it was not mailed.
 But the art has the softness, and sweetness of an Ellen Clapsaddle illustration. 
We're up in the air on whether the child is a boy or a girl. 
The message on its back? Simply: “Paul Baker from Mary B.”

Illustration adapted from a greeting card, circa 1920s,
that was die-cut. The back of the card shows
the boy's back and the back of the tag, which
reads "Please be mine." The publisher and artist
are not identified but it has the unmistakable style
of a WhitneyMade card.

This sly guy was a dense, black & white engraving from
"Good Things for Little Ones," an antique children's anthology
 of stories, poems, illustrations. It took about 20 hours of work
to "open up" the image - line by line, pixel by pixel -
and to create the final colorization.

The illustration is adapted from a 1922 WhitneyMade postcard,
published by the George Whitney Co. of Worcester, Mass.
It's postmarked Bainbridge, Ohio, 6 a.m., Feb. 14, and was sent
by Catherine Jenkins of Cynthiana, Ohio, to Mr. West, sans a message
other than “Valentine Greetings” on the front of the card.
The artist is not identified. At one point, Whitney was among
the largest publishers of Valentines, even so, it rarely identified its artists.

Illustration adapted from a 1909 postcard published
 by H.W. Taggart Co. (NY). The card was never used.
I've created a 2nd version: two MALE hearts
(both sporting an oh-so-trendy 'stache). 

The illustration is adapted from an antique trade card
advertising the handsome Winsome Banner stove made
by the Baxter Stove Co. of Mansfield, Ohio. As with the cupid card,
I spent a few days at the computer
"opening up" the engraving so that the stove's wonderful decorative details
would pop. And, of course, had to add that blazing fire.
While researching the stove and company, I discovered
 that Mansfield was the stove capital of America 'til the 1970s.
It was home to Tappan & Westinghouse, as well as other manufacturers.

When creating the web image for the "Love Has Gone to My Head" cards,
I put the two cards together, and, voila!, a new idea was born.
Why not put the two hearts together in one other card?
The illustration is adapted from a postcard that is
postmarked West Alexandria, Ohio, Aug 22, 1910.
 It was sent to Alice Tester of Rockford, Ohio, by her niece Alma Dorman
with a message asking her aunt to visit.
A Valentine sent in August? No. On the original, the female heart
is frowning deeply, with big tears running down her cheeks,
and the text reads: "Do you sometimes think of poor little me."

Illustration adapted from an antique chromolithograph
of D.M. Ferry & Co.'s Sweet Pea "Miss Blanche Ferry,"
which the California company introduced in 1889. 

When life hands you lemons ...

I was struck by a nasty virus during the past two weeks that pretty much kept me at home. After spending an entire week in bed, ugh, I got busy on the computer during the second week. Doing what? Thought I'd show you ...

A quartet of greeting cards from the new "Animal Attraction" line. I've been collecting quirky Victorian images of animals for a while, thinking they would become letterpress postcards. Instead, they're regular greeting cards. These are the vertical versions, there are horizontals, too. And every card in every Cards With A past line is now available in three sizes (A2, A6, A7). Yeah, it's a lot of work making the masters, but what else have I had to do lately, besides get well?!

Oh, the images are from Nov. 1888 St. Nicholas Magazine (octopus & whale); Chatterbox for Little Folks, 1883 (dog); a 1908 issue of The Chatterbox magazine (salmon); The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopedia, 1904 (frogs).

Cunning cat

© Exit strategy: outnumbered, but not outsmarted
mixed-media collage by Sara Pearce
3.25" x 4.5," matted to fit a standard 5" x 7" frame
$35 plus shipping 

While designing next year's calendars, I noticed that thanks to my Sweet Petites binge there were almost enough cat collages for a cat calendar. Just needed one more, and here it is.

The main image is from a paper company ad found in a stack of vintage design magazines - Communication Arts, Print, etc. They were given to me by Elizabeth Mariner, a Cincinnati graphic designer and co-publisher of Express Cincinnati (a free monthly that covers nonprofit, philanthropic and arts organizations in Greater Cincinnati).

When I saw the dogs and cat, the title popped right into my head, and set the direction for the collage. Happily, my deep and highly-organized stash made it easy to find exactly what I wanted. The background is an antique engineering engraving from a 19th century book bought at a library book sale four years ago. The brain was one of two cut from an ad that I used in another collage, below, in 2011. I knew it would come in handy some day ...