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.  

Happy 4th of July: Strike Up the Band!

I was just about to scan in some antique July 4th postcards to post here when I came across these two  pieces of patriotic sheet music in my archive. The covers are simply gorgeous and marchs are oh-so-Fourth of July. The top image, from 1905, was transformed into a holiday postcard last year. I wasn't quite so ambitious this year, so the bottom music, from 1912, will have to wait for 2013.

Still perched, but now downtown

Out On A Limb: 80 rpm (2012)

mixed-media collage: antique trade card (American Song Birds: No. 12, Mockingbird,

Singer Sewing Machine Co., 1898), record sleeve (Columbia Grafonola) and endpaper;

vintage sheet music (The Etude magazine, 1905) and endpaper (Field Guide to the Birds: 

Eastern Land & Water Birds, 1947); ink, watercolor, acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish.

 6” x 6” on a cradled, hardwood panel - ready to hang.

(SOLD)

Out On a Limb: A Little Bird Told Me (2012)

mixed-media collage: antique engravings (Chatterbox magazine, 1872 and 1905),

trade card (American Song Bird Series, No. 14, Song Sparrow, Singer Sewing Machine Co., 1898),

Columbia Grafonola record sleeve, endpaper (1887 edition of Paradise Lost);

 vintage sheet music (A Little Bird Told Me, Harvey G. Brooks, 1948); acrylic gel image transfer;

ink, watercolor, marker, fluid chalk; acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish.

6” x 6” on a cradled, hardwood panel - ready to hang.

(SOLD)

These are the final two American song bird collages for the 5th Street Gallery. I packed up all the birds ...  Wait! I've gotta come clean, there is one more. It's not posted, because it includes an American music legend whose resemblance to the Umbrella Bird is remarkable. His estate would probably nail me for using his image, but I couldn't resist. The title may give you a hint of who it is: Out On a Limb: Thank you, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, as you can see, every bit of that antique Columbia record sleeve found in the basement is being put to use with pieces of it in both collages.

The top collage was pretty much finished when I hit on the idea of using the sleeve to frame the mockingbird. Unlike the collage posted last week with a Brunswick Record sleeve, this one does not cover the entire surface. It was torn and once it was glued down, more of it was peeled off so that the silhouetted birds were a bit more visible, especially, bird No. 9, which is a mockingbird.

Both are hanging downtown at 5th Street Gallery, which is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, now through July 15 while the World Choir Games are in town. Hope you stop on by.    

All dolled up

Women of a certain age will recognize the famous singing sisters above and know who is missing from the group. My friend Mary Lynn Tangi dropped by yesterday morning with envelopes full of paper dolls from the 1960s and, yes, their clothes.

There are skating outfits, hats, coats, evening gowns, costumes and even a wardrobe of men's clothes, though no male paper dolls. I'm having fun sorting through it all and thinking about what I'll do with them. One thing I know for sure, she'll be getting a collage out of it.  

Another view of Flora & Fauna

Cincinnati's CityBeat has weighed in with it's review of the Flora & Fauna exhibition now at Bromwell's - and, it's another rave. It also looks at it from a different angle than the previous reviews.

Wish I'd taken a BETTER photo of the shadow box above, Alice Had A Knack for Finding the Most Secluded Hiding Places, but there you are. Hmm. Maybe I'll head down to Bromwell's and try some new shots, the show is up 'til July 14.