False Sense of Security: 3

There may be hell to pay with a certain investment firm and a certain credit card company if they get a look at this. The top lizard's camouflage is the inside of a Charles Schwab envelope; the bottom one is shielded by an AmEx promo. I confess to feeling mighty insecure when making this. Someone got my AmEx card number and charged a gazillion airline tickets. Okay, only 7. None were in my name and none originated or ended in Ohio. Mighty suspicious. Even so, the activity wasn't flagged 'til half the tickets were bought and, then, it was via an e-mail sent on a weekend. Suffice it to say the card is history. Was kinda sad; it was my first credit card and made me feel like I'd made it, because back then you had to have a certain income to qualify. 6" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper.

Mad Women: Margie Considers Her Options

When I spotted the ad for revolvers in an early 20th century woman's magazine I was taken aback by its placement in the magazine and by its strident message that not only should "ladies learn to shoot" but that their daughters should, too. I knew I had to use it in a piece and once the Mad Women series began developing, well, it was a natural. What I like best about "Margie" is how happy she looks as she mulls over ways to stick it to the man rather than ways to stick savings stamps into books. 6.5" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper. [SOLD]

The Grand Tour: 11

Given the seaside setting of this fashion plate from the July 1868 Peterson's Magazine, I couldn't resist a nautical theme. So, ships decorate two of the dresses via illustrations from a Hamburg-Amerika Line lunch menu and brochure in the family archive. I wanted to keep the originals since relatives took the trips, but the paper was in such poor condition that it was better to scan them into the computer for permanent archiving and let go of the paper. Continuing the watery imagery: a map of Venice on the jacket of the woman in the middle of the group and a snippet of another map of the English Channel on her hat. 9.5" x 7.5" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 14"x11" frame.

Horace Lytle's Book

In the previous post, I wrote about the lure of found writing and this collage features a prime example in the middle panel. I've turned this piece in every direction and still am undecided about which way it should go. Take a look and see what you think ...

        

Migration

Look closely and you'll notice erased writing to the left of the date that was penciled onto an endpaper long ago. Found writing from notes in margins and doodles on inside book covers to inscriptions on title pages and messages on envelopes, intrigues me. It adds a tangible bit of history yet is so often out of context that it also adds mystery.

The background is a mash-up of vintage and recycled papers: a ledger sheet, the inside of a security envelope, tissue paper, a vintage map, a section of a flower illustration and endpaper - topped by the birds (one, a gel transfer) that give the piece its name. 5" x 5" inches on acid-free board. {SOLD}