Polish Illustration - Adam Kilian

I love folk art and illustration and have recently become interested in vintage Polish art.  I saw images from this book online awhile ago and it suddenly came up for sale on Ebay so I snatched it up. The book was published in 1965 in Warsaw and I believe it is a play (the text is all in Polish...) It was illustrated by Ukrainian-born artist Adam Kilian. For some history about Adam Kilian, check out this website culture.pl. You can see more of Kilian's illustration on another website, Fishink (and Fishink has lots of other great stuff on it too!).

Here are most of the illustrations from the book  although not necessarily in order.

Spring Song

A new collage to welcome spring. This was done on a piece of pale gray scrap board. I used a rubber stamp in the background. The hand made papers are in shades if green and gold and the little bird is embellished with watercolor. This one is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Spring Song original collage

Collage Cubes

In 2014 I did my 52 weeks of collage. For weeks 35 and 36, I collaged on wood cubes which was fun and a little different. One was given away for an art exchange so I purchased a few more cubes to do some new ones.
 

Collage Cubes from 52 weeks of Collage, 2014

Below is one of the new collage cubes.  I painted the cube with acrylic paint and then used vintage postage stamps, antique documents, bits of old money and rubber stamps.

Top

Sides 1 and 2

Sides 2 and 3

Sides 3 and 4

New addition to the flock

I have a new addition to my flock of birds. This one is from Ecuador and is similar to ones done by Ecuadorean silver artist Joaquin Tinta. Mine is unsigned but I like it anyway. You can find a bird for yourself on Etsy or Ebay.

Modernist Tinta-style bird from Ecuador

New Collages

I've been working on some new collages. All are done on vintage Reader's Digest book covers - they're a nice size and the board is good for gluing. I used a variety of vintage papers, rubber stamps and hand made papers.

"Tell Me Little Boy"

"A bird sings of Italy"

"Classical Documents"

"Admit One"

Flea Market Sunday

I haven't been to the flea market in awhile but last Sunday I went to the Long Beach Antique Market in Long Beach, California. It takes place on the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Long Beach Veterans Stadium. I brought my camera but was so busy shopping that I forgot to take a lot of photos. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

 A nice Asian ceramic vase...

Glass orbs...

A very cute cat from the 60's or 70's...

Plastic bracelets in bright colors...

A retro blanket in pink and orange...

A lion with lots of character...

Glassware in all colors...

Stacks of vintage suitcases...I wanted them all!

I purchased way more than I planned, and left a few regrets behind. Oh well, there's always next month...

Letterpress Exchange

I am participating in a letterpress exchange with the Ladies of Letterpress (LOL). Our assignment was to come up with a broadside using a poem or a quote. Here is my submission.

Letterpress broadside

The quote is by the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. The broadside is printed in 5 colors on a speckled white recycled card stock. The pattern on the bird and the type were printed from metal blocks, the leaves and solid part of the bird were printed from my handcut linoleum blocks, and the star shape in the background was printed from a wood block (purchased from Virgin Wood Type). This was printed in an edition of 60 with 50 going to the Ladies. I have a few of the extras in my Etsy shop for sale.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a fun & festive holiday

Holiday Crafts

I love the holidays with all the sparkle and shine, festivities and decoration. And, I love to make things for around the house. A few years ago I made snow globes using old jars, oven bake clay and small ornaments. Recently, I've been seeing apothecary jars with little scenes inside so I decided to try one. I found, at Jo Ann Fabrics, packs of tiny little trees in a variety of sizes (these seem to sell out quickly so shop early!) They also had small cardboard houses covered in glitter. I loved the little houses but couldn't find a jar quite big enough. So I went to my go-to shopping place, Etsy, and found a tiny clay cottage from Blue Bird Clay. At that point, I didn't want to shop for the perfect sized glass jar so, in my stash of vintage items, I found a tin jello mold, filled it with salt for snow drifts and voila! A tiny winter scene.

There are so many cute clay cottages on Etsy that next year, I want to make a tiny winter village

Vintage Illustration

I have become fascinated with vintage Polish illustration and recently purchased a few children's books on Ebay. Here are 2 versions of the same story. The name translates (according to google) as "As it was with Flax".  It is also translated as "The Golden Seed". It is a story of long ago about a stubborn King who wished for gold, written by Maria Konopnicka.

The first one, dating from 1970, is illustrated by Bogdan Zieleniec.  I can't find anything about the illustrator in English but I particularly like the horses.

The second one dates from 1962 and was illustrated by Janina Domanska (it is for sale in my Etsy shop here). I love the cover of this version.

New Product

I've been getting ready for a few shows - this coming weekend is the Holiday Market in Ojai, California - and so I've been madly making things. In addition to my lavender sachets, I made some filled with balsam pine for the holidays. The pomegranate image is from my 2016 calendar and the bird is from last year's calendar. The sachets are available in my Etsy shop.

I also finished some new holiday cards which will go to my shows.

New Collages

I got motivated and completed two new collages. The first one is done on an old Bingo card. I letterpressed some pattern carved on linoleum block in the back ground. One pattern is printed with a clear varnish. On darker paper, the clear varnish shows up a little darker and is transparent. The other pattern is a light gray which didn't show up as well as I had hoped but does add a little texture. I then used some of my vintage wood type and printed the X and o's. For the rest of the collage, I used rubber stamps and vintage papers. (I purchased the large letter X at lschneeman on Etsy. The shop has a nice selection of letterpress wood type and other print blocks!)

My second collage is done on the back of marching band music. I was originally going to print on the music but I turned over the card and really liked the hand writing across the back. I printed my pattern in gray going 2 directions. I then letterpress printed the X, ampersand and exclamation point from my wood type collection. Rubber stamps and a few vintage postage stamps still on their envelopes complete the collage. At the top is a 1955 postmark from Vatican City.

Collage1 with the letter X

Collage 2 with wood type

Street Fair Find

I went to the street fair yesterday in my town. One vendor who really caught my eye was The Pemberley Woods. Artist Kayla Harris creates remarkable castles and other items from the pages of vintage books. I snapped a shot of one in her booth.

Hand made paper castle by The Pemberley Woods

She also makes paper bouquets, rosettes and garlands. You can purchase one of Kayla's creations on Etsy at her shop here

New Print

I carved some random linoleum blocks (the ginko leaves are from the 2016 calendar), played on the computer, and came up with this print. The final print was done on my letterpress in 4 colors - dark brown, yellow ochre, grey, and an over tint varnish. It was inspired by the birds flying south for the winter ( I say winter even though it's over 90 degrees right now and it's the middle of October). I did a limited edition of 16 and it's for sale in my Etsy shop.

"Flying South"