They're back: 2014 Open Studios

  Just updated the Open Studios page with this year's dates. Hope to see you!

Meow. A few more kitties to fill out the 2015 calendar

Dove back into the Sweet Petite cat collages this week. Was off for a week. Before leaving, I started another collage, then, left it on the work table. That gave me something to dive right into when I returned. A trick I read about years ago. This way, I didn't have to face the dreaded "blank page."

© Art Patron

 © Fat Cat II

© Studio Cat

The Sweet Petites are purring ...

I've been distracted by issues with a remake of a large collage, so it seemed time to take a break from it.  I turned my attention to having fun. For me, that usually means working on small collages, so that's what I did.

The new Sweet Petites - matted to fit a 5" x 7" frame - began with four 1917 fashion plates, then a group of cats. Last year's cat collages were so popular, that they ended up on their own calendar. Another one is in the works for 2015, and after this week I am well on the way. Take a look … (oh, I will be posting these on the official Sweet Petite page, too).

Sybil Ignores the Man
Behind the Curtain

Claudine Gawks Right Back
at the Gawkers

Isadora Brought Males of Every Age
to Their Knees

Marie Walked As Tall As Any Man

Easily Distracted

Not Intimidated

Fascinated

Fat Cat

Hitchhiker

Idol Worship

Irresistible

Mischief

Marbled madness

Recently, I purchased a stack of antique books at the winter warehouse sale of the Friends of Cincinnati's library. I kept my focus on the grungiest and largest books in the "collectibles" section, and found some of my favorites: atlases, cyclopedias, engineering manuals. They are chock full of wonderful illustrations, diagrams, etc.

For me, a wonderful bonus in such books is the endpapers - the pages at the front and back of a book. Antique books frequently had marbled endpapers, which I use often in collages (if you are thinking of pitching old books, let me know if they have cool endpapers, because I'm always looking for more). Here's a peek at three of the endpapers I found, and below them, a few images that show how endpapers have been used in my collages …

From "The Living World," Samuel Walker & Co. (1880) 

From "The Century Dictionary & Encyclopedia, Vol X:
The Century Atlas of the World" (1904)

From "Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal,
Vol. CXXXVII - Jan.-June 1934." London.

In "Plate 25," the endpaper serves as a table cloth.

The entire foreground of "Take Me Away:1"
and "Take Me Away: 2" is an endpaper
 from a 1920s edition of "Pinocchio."

"Classic 14-Layer Marble Cake" is a tower of marbled
papers, half of which are endpapers. 

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.