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.

   

Back to the sea ...

By now, you know what happens when a collage sits - unsold - in my studio for a while. Yep. I dive back into it. In this case, the collage is "Over the Summer Sea," above. It's an early piece, which means it's about 2.5 years old. Yeah, ancient by my standards. It was made when I was experimenting with a long, narrow, non-narrative form.

Well, last week I came across a few engravings of bathing "dresses" while scouring the fashion files for another collage. I looked up from the work table, caught sight of "Over the Summer Sea" and decided it needed a lift via some people.

                                                     

After removing it from the frame, I cut out and tested the group above from an 1888 issue of The Delineator magazine. They felt too big.

So, I cut out another group from an 1868 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. Though the group is larger in numbers, it's smaller in height and by turning the collage on its side, they were a perfect fit. 

I liked the way the first group extended over the purple backing board and onto the creamy front mat, and decided to have this group do the same. After painting them with markers (Copic Sketch, Prismacolor, Zig Photo Twin), shells were added as bathing caps. Nothing was glued down at this point.

The shells were repositioned, colored and another one added - behind the second woman on the right - as a fan. Still unsure of the direction, I let it sit overnight. In the morning, I looked at the photos again on my computer, and it struck me that in the original layout with the larger figures, it seemed as though they were standing on a shell-strewn beach and that the shell at the top was like the sun.  

So, yes, it was back to the original group. I colored them, added shell hats and, this time, glued it all down. Um. I think it's done ... though there is a cool octopus I cut out, too.

Breaking up is not hard to do

A few weeks ago I took the ax, er, the box cutter, to "Summer 1" (above). To be honest, it was easy to do, because I never liked this piece. Too static. No focal point. Dull colors. I could go on ...

In any case, the pieces have been sitting on a worktable ever since. Well, I wanted space for other things and got tired of looking at 'em. What to do? Turn them into backgrounds for a couple of Out On a Limb collages. This time, I went bright. There are too many dark birds hanging around the studio.

Out On a Limb: August (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique science notebook (Lillian Mary Shackett, 1918);
 endpaper, book spine, ad and needlework illustration (Delineator, Chatterbox); 
recycled handmade paper embedded with leaves; vintage illustration 
(Reddish Plantcutter and Crested Sharpbill, Birds of the World, 1961); 
watercolor, pencil, ink, fluid chalk, marker, acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish. 
5” x5 ” on hardwood panel (2012)
Price: $85.

   

Out On a Limb: Summer (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique endpaper, book spine, trade card 
and illustration (Chatterbox); recycled handmade paper; vintage illustration 
(Rose-Breasted Thrush Tanager, Birds of the World, 1961);
 watercolor, pencil, ink, fluid chalk, marker, acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish.
5” x5 ” on hardwood panel.
Price: $85.

Summer 2

It's obvious looking at this that it was created while I was working on Summer 1. They have the same color scheme and share other elements: the pen nibs (gel transfers), yellow flowers (both Victorian trade cards) and light color washes. I enjoyed working on both; for once, I left enough time to move pieces around, and add and subtract elements. Here, the latter included roughing the edges with ink for a worn appearance.

This is on the boxy stretched canvases I'm experimenting with. The papers wrap around the edges to cover them, then, onto the back. They're sealed with an acrylic sealer and a UV protection spray, and can hang without a frame.

It's one of the collages created for this weekend's Botanica exhibit at The Green Corner in Kennedy Heights. If you have a chance, stop by. Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. today, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. 6524 Montgomery Road, one block south of Kennedy Heights Arts Center.

Summer: 1

This is another one of the narrow-form collages I've been playing around with for the past 10 months or so - and it's also one of the new collages created for this weekend's Botanica show at The Green Corner. In it, I finally got to use another section from Lillian Mary Shackett's 1918 general science notebook. I mentioned the notebook - a flea market find - in May when I incorporated a page from it into Autumn: 2.

I'd love to know more about Lillian but geographical references are not to be found in the notebook. The first few pages were nibbled by mice and text is missing. In any case, I'm pleased to give her notebook new life and a wider audience. Speaking of wide audiences: the book spine is from an early edition of "A Garland for Girls" by the wildly-popular children's author Louisa May Alcott. It belonged to my late mother-in-law but was water damaged beyond repair, so I salvaged the spine. 5" x 10" on archival mat board.