Collage Cube

This week, I did something a little different. A collage in-the-round. I got a wood cube from my local craft store and collaged each side. The theme became vintage type and butterflies and while each side could be it's own collage, they all work together when seen at an angle. I used a variety of vintage type, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, vintage wall paper, music and butterflies. The cube measures 3.5"  and is made from a really light wood (probably Balsa wood). This was so much fun to do (albeit time consuming)  that I will create more of them.

Collage week 35

Tickety Boo

This week's collage uses all sorts of tickets- bus tickets, a theater ticket, a ticket to the flea market, a Chinese ticket, even a vintage ticket for 10 pounds of ice.

Collage week 34

Type as Pattern

I like using type as pattern in my collages. It doesn't matter to me if the type is in a language I can read because what becomes more important than the words, is the pattern the letters make. My collage for week 33 uses a piece from a 19th century French ledger, a Chinese seal, a Russian stamp, a vintage letter and clothing ad, and a bit of music.

Collage week 33

Invasion

My house has been invaded by insurgents. They come at all hours of the day and night, on tiny feet, silently invading every room. They have been spotted in the toaster, in the coffee maker, in the recycling, in the dishwasher. They come from behind cupboards and out of the electrical outlets. I wipe out whole battalions with a squirt of Lysol but they regroup. Spiders sit vigil in the corners, stuffing themselves, a pile of bodies at their feet. But even the spiders can't keep up. The insurgents are willing to sacrifice a few as they continue on their quest for crumbs, water and cool. They have favorite spots - my laundry basket, the freezer, and even inside the microwave. When I turn the power on, they just laugh at me and scurry around doing a little victory dance. I am exhausted.

Artwork I did long ago for a picnic invitation

Feeling Blue

My collage for week 32 incorporates a few blue scraps and a rubber stamp. A piece of German money from 1917, Japanese hand made paper and a 1922 German postage stamp make up the elements.

Collage week 32

Collage Week 31

My collage for week 31 is done on a cover from a 1970's Reader's Digest Condensed Book. (I have a bunch for these books that were falling apart - a great find at my local Good Will) The pattern on the cover made a nice back ground and I layered it with a striped vintage wallpaper, some hand made papers and a 1937 postage stamp from Newfoundland.

Collage week 31

Prada Pink

While at the mall, I found a discarded Prada Candy perfume tester card. (You know, those little pieces of card that you spray perfume on so you don't have a million scents on your wrist.) This pink, gold and white patterned confection became the basis for my week 30 collage. I combined it with pink and gold handmade papers, rubber stamps and vintage type.

Collage week 30

Jugglin' Bear & Rockin' Croc

I had promised my sister-in-law that I would make some art for my nephew's room. I had previously given a picture to my niece so I had to make good on the promise. I'm not so great at doing boy stuff though. Luckily, my nephew is only 3 and not too critical. I HAD to have the pictures done by the time I drove to Oregon for the 4th of July. I had put it off for a year and the pressure was on.

I did a dancing, juggling bear. I used mostly acrylic paint, along with some hand stamped papers and scrap booking papers I had designed a long time ago. The canvas size was 18" x 24" - bigger than the collages I usually do. I thought it came out quite well.

Jugglin' Bear

Then I got to thinking. The bear might be a little too babyish and would certainly be outgrown in a few years. Three days before I left for Oregon I decided to do a second picture. This time, a rockin' crocodile. Since I was short on time, this one was done almost entirely in acrylic paint, except for the starbursts which were done with an eraser stamp. This too was done on an 18" x 24" canvas. I finished it the evening of July 3.

My nephew seemed to like both of them. Good taste that little boy has!

Rockin' Croc

I almost forgot to post my latest collage! The collage for this week started with a vintage postcard. I added a red rubber stamped wreath (my own design) and layered on Japanese washi papers, a scan of an old book cover, and a vintage bird illustration.

Collage week 29

Collage Update

Since last weekend was a road trip, I didn't get to post my weekly collage, and yesterday I was just lazy. So here are weeks 27 and 28.

The collage for week 27 has a rubber stamp of a fern, a large vintage butterfly, vintage wallpaper, Japanese washi paper and some gold accents.

Collage week 27

The collage for week 28 also has gold accents (Japanese papers and rubber stamps) but I also used vintage music and bits of vintage type. The black and white corners are from an old bookplate.

Collage week 28

Nature Walk

My family in Oregon lives near a bike path and along the path are lots of wildflowers. Everything from thistle to Queen Anne's Lace ( and a lot I don't know the name of). I took a walk and these photos.

July 4th

For the July 4th holiday weekend, I took a road trip and drove to Oregon to visit family. They live in a small town with a BIG Fourth of July parade. Lots to see. Here are some of the characters that come out on Independence Day.

Aaargh! Late again. I had the collage done, but no time to scan it. I know, excuses, excuses. My collage for week 26 (half the year has gone by already!) uses vintage ledger paper with vintage wall paper, a Russian rubber stamp, a vintage ad from John Wanamaker & Co , and a piece of an envelope with 3 stamps from India.

For those of you who may not know, Wanamaker's was a Philadelphia based department store (the first) founded in 1869 by John Wanamaker. He later had stores in New York, London and Paris. Wanamaker was also a US Postmaster General under President Benjamin Harrison. The department store no longer exists but is now part of the Macy's chain. You can read more about John Wanamaker here.

Collage week 26

Numbers Game

Numbers are the inspiration for week 25 collage. I started with a background of vintage ledger paper and a lotto ticket (sadly, not a winner). On top is collaged the numbers from one to ten. Some are from type specimen books from House Industries, two are stamps and one is a vintage ticket.

Collage week 25

Red and Yellow (catch a fellow)

Been sick so the collage for week 24 is a tad late. I actually had it done on time but food poisoning makes one not want to work on the computer. This week's collage theme, if I had to pick something, would be red and yellow. Vintage wallpaper, a variety of tickets and rubber stamps made from erasers. It started to get a little out of hand so I had to just stop, and say "done".

Collage week 24

3 Georges

Here is another collage on paper. Week 23 incorporates lots of vintage type, tickets, postage stamps, money and washi tape. All came out of my box (boxes!) of goodies. I seem to have a lot of ephemera in red and cream...I wonder why. My collage is named 3 Georges for the 3 George Washington images on the postage.

Collage week 23

Patterns in Pink

This week, my collage is a little different. I used a selection of hand made papers from my scrap box and combined them with rubber stamping, pen and ink, and a bird cut from letterpress makeready (makeready is the process that gets an image ready to print. I use paper over and over again to get the color and position of the letterpress plates in the correct spot and the patterns and textures that occur can be very interesting). I'm offering this collage as a print in my Etsy shop.

Collage week 22

New Cards

New in my Etsy shop is this letterpress note card. It's one of the illustrations from my 2014 calendar and was printed from my hand cut linoleum block. The image was inspired by the succulents and cacti that I have on the windowsill in my office. The white pot in the back was the inspiration for the middle pot on the card.

New Note Card

Nothing but Trouble

For some reason, the collage for this week gave me a lot of trouble. The first layer I put down was really ugly so I covered it up. I tried a rubber stamp and it smeared so I covered it up. Nothing was coming together. The result is a simple collage. Not a lot of layers or techniques. Just vintage wallpaper, 2 Japanese washi papers, a vintage Japanese match box label, a postage stamp and a Chinese character.

Collage week 21

Yellow Stamps

I just purchased several packs of vintage stamps. There were over 1000 of them and it took  some time to organize by color. Some of my favorites are the yellow and orange ones. My collage for week 20 is done on a 4" x 4" canvas. The background is made up of vintage papers with a bit of white acrylic paint. On top is a piece of marbled paper, a Russian rubber stamps, and 3 of my new vintage postage stamps - the yellow one is from Germany and the other two are from the Netherlands.

Collage week 20

Flea Market Finds

Last Sunday, I went to the flea market and I found some money. Vintage money. One of the vendors had a whole box full and each bill was $1. The detail and colors caught my eye. Of course I, the ephemera junkie, had to have some. Keep an eye out - they will soon be used in my collages.

Vintage Money

Tiny Butterfly Collage

For week 19, I've done another tiny collage on canvas. It measures just 2.5" x 3.5".  I started with a dark, chocolate brown acrylic paint, layered 3 different hand made papers and rubber stamped in gold ink. I then added a butterfly, some vintage music and my chop in Japanese characters. You would think a tiny collage would be easier than a large one, but they actually can take longer to get the layout just right.

Collage Week 19

Week 18

My collage for week 18 is a few days late but here it is. It started with a print of my ink bottle on a vintage postcard. I then mounted the card on a book cover from my stash of mid century Reader's Digest books. Add some hand made paper, a bit of music and a butterfly and the collage is done. I did a collage using the same ink bottle last year. You can see it here.

Collage week 18

I normally don't like to cut up perfectly good books, but many of the older Reader's Digest books that I have are cracked along the spine and starting to fall apart so I don't feel quite so badly. The cover's on the older books have wonderful patterns - I keep some for collaging and the rest just to keep.

In the Pink

My collage for week 17 started off with the urn of flowers - a scrap of my letterpress that is hand colored with watercolors. I found a piece of ikat patterned handmade paper in shades of pink and combined it with a piece of vintage wallpaper also done in shades of pink with gray and gold. Some rubber stamping in gold and another scrap of pink paper complete the collage. This one is done on a 5" square canvas.

Collage week 17

Wild Dagga

While on a hike, I saw this pretty orange flower and snapped a picture. When I got home, I did an internet search and found out that it is a "wild dagga" or "lion's tail", latin name "Leonotis leonurus". It's in the mint family and a native of Africa where it is used as an herbal medicine. You can read more about it here.

Wild Dagga

Art Exchange

I follow a blog - Four Corners Design - full of cool vintage ideas and inspiring art. Today I read about an art exchange that blogger Amy has started. So, I've decided to participate. If you want to join in, read on...

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Art is all about sharing as far as I'm concerned...sharing thoughts, ideas, viewpoints...and in this case, the actual art...check out this idea...
Pay It Forward Art-making Project for 2014
I'm participating in this art share project - I promise to make a small work of art for the first five people who comment on this post and say "YES, I want in". A 'like' alone is not enough of a commitment, nor is a comment about thinking this is a great idea...you need to sign on completely to participate...and in the end, increase your stash of original art five-fold!

You must in turn post the rules and make something for the first five who comment on your post...

The rules are simple:
– It has to be your work, made by you, and the recipient must receive it before 2014 ends.
– It can be anything art-based: a drawing/illustration or a conceptual work of art, a photograph, a knitted item, cross-stitch, paper maché – or anything in-between.

I'm paying this forward thanks to John Arbuckle. I've admired John's collage work and now I'm excited that I'll be getting a piece of original art from him...

PS. It doesn't matter if you aren't an artist, just want to try something out, google/ YouTube how to make stuff, step out of those boundaries...the sky's the limit...

Step 1 
 Copy & Paste this as your latest entry on your favorite social website (in my case, it’s this blog).
Step 2
For the first five people who comment on this blog post saying they want to participate, you will do an art trade with them that must be completed by December 31, 2014. I would count as the first person so technically you only need another four. If you find your friends are keen you can do as many as you want.
Step 3 All forms of art count including creative writing, photography, digital -- anything goes!

so the First Five...GO!
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If YOU decide to participate, you'll receive an original collage by moi (that french for me!)

Russian Roulette

My collage for week 16 started with the orange square at the bottom. I saw it in my paper drawer and thought I'd pull out all my orangy papers and see what came together. I am a hoarder of ephemera and all sorts of bits of paper. So out came a font catalog from House Industries (always really cool stuff in there) and on the back was a sample of Neutraface Slab Cyrillic (basically, Russian) in the perfect color scheme. Next I found a wrapper from a chocolate bar that a Russian co-worker had given me. And finally, I used a vintage rubber stamp in cyrillic (no idea what it says) that I purchased from an Etsy seller in Latvia. Rounding it off is a scrap of handmade orange paper, a decorative rubber stamp and the inside of a business envelope (have you ever noticed that business envelopes have a variety of patterns on the inside, some in blue and some in gray, in funny little patterns to thwart thieves?). My Russian Roulette collage is complete!

Collage Week 16

A note about the Russian chocolate bar...the bar is from the Krupskaya chocolate company which was named in honor of Lenin's wife, Nadya Krupskaya. She married Vladimir Lenin in 1898 and from 1929 to 1939 was the deputy minister of education. She died in 1939 and a Leningrad chocolate factory was renamed in her honor. You can read more about her here.

New Cards

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 11 and I've got three new cards for Mother's Day in the shop.

Letterpress printed from a hand cut linoleum block

Letterpress printed from vintage wood type

Letterpress printed from a hand cut linoleum block

Bird Song

This week, my collage features vintage wallpaper, vintage music, some letterpress scraps and a bird. The type is part of the title from a piece of vintage music. I couldn't decide if it needed a pop of color but in the end, I left it with the more subdued sage green, brown and gold.

Collage Week 15

Recent Acquisition

Sometimes I find something I want on Ebay and bid my max knowing I probably won't be the winning bid. And sometimes I get surprised! I was the lucky high bidder (there were only 2 bids) on this fabulous mid century tile by Swedish designer Lisa Larson.

I had admired this bird tile for ages - I believe it dates to the 1960's and each one is glazed a little differently. It is now hanging on the wall in my office where I can admire it every day.

Lisa Larson was born in 1931 and worked at the Gustavsberg (Sweden) porcelain factory from 1953 to 1980. While some of her designs are still being produced (you can buy them here), I like the older pieces such as the Lilla Zoo series from 1955 (I'm hoping to acquire a fox someday...).

One thing I have found about shopping on Ebay-if you get outbid, the item will usually turn up again. And if it's too high priced the first time (or second, or third...) be patient because eventually someone will post the item at a price you can afford. Happy bidding!

Collage in Blue and Black

I have boxes of all kinds of scraps that I use for my collages. Sold papers, patterned papers, vintage wall paper, vintage ads, type, stamps...When I cut or tear a piece of paper, the remainder goes in the box for next time. My collage for week 14 was made from scraps that needed no altering - everything came out of my boxes as is in shape and size. I used some Japanese papers, Japanese newspaper and a Japanese postage stamp of a woman in traditional dress. The collage was done on a heavy weight textured paper (which doesn't show in the scan) and is approximately 5" x 5.5".

Collage Week 14