Beverly Complete

The altered photograph from this piece was posted several days ago. I just couldn't leave it alone and felt she needed a more complete setting. The background is fabric collage and mixed media assemblage. Beverly's new look was stitched onto the background. Beaded fringe was added at the bottom.

Troutnik

In an attempt to jump on the "going green" bandwagon, NASA has announced the launch of a new biodegradable weather satellite ......

Happy Birthday Chuck

Charles Darwin's 200th birthday was the theme of this month's journal page exchange. This is one of the pages I sent to my good friend, mixed media artist Terry Garrett. Check out some of Terry's work by clicking here.

Beverly in Springtime

Beverly just loves springtime!
I know this is her name because it is written carefully on the front and back of the original photograph posted below. Actually the script on the front reads "Love Bevy." Additional information on the back states that she is from Pennsylvania.
Today she has a new ensemble to wear as she greets the coming season.

A friend generously gave me a whole stack of vintage photos to play with and sweet Beverly was among them.

Unexpected Visitors

Menacing invaders or benign observers ? The story could go either way. You be the judge.

Imagine Spring

Today's photoshop exercise is inspired by forward thinking. Enough of winter... Imagine Spring!

Water Lady

Whenever I visit an antique shop or sale, I look for vintage photographs of people. I like to wonder about their lives and create little narratives about who they might have been.
Their story is told with altered images then left to the viewer's imagination to add their own interpretation. There are no wrong answers.

Playing With Fire

Last summer we made our annual trip to the big flea market and antique show in Oronoco, Minnesota. There I found a wonderful old catalog full of images of men's and women's clothing, household items and, yes, heating stoves. Somehow the menswear models and the stoves got together and before I could stop the inevitable, they were playing with fire. Fortunately no one was hurt.

Continental Breakfast

Playing with words again, and the images they sometimes evoke. Continental breakfast with a side of ocean. Enjoy!

Flying Carpet

A trip to one of our local thrift shops yielded some vintage magazines, from which the main image of this collage was taken. The others came from an old geography book, and a book on fishing.
It's the family vacation of my dreams.

People of the Flood

Last summer we witnessed first hand, the devastation of floods here in Iowa. The history of people's lives was swept away in the waters that came over the land. This collage was inspired by the countless stories of loss and the troubles that are still ongoing.

Architect of Fashion

......"Florence felt right at home in her new hat."
What fun to play with words and images at the same time! The wonderful little owl was taken from the lid of a 'White Owl' cigar box purchased at a yard sale for a quarter.
You just never know where the next treasure will be found!

For Andrew

'Christina's World' has always been one of my favorite paintings and I love the work of Andrew Wyeth who passed away on January 16th. This collage was made last year but seems timely in light of his passing.

Fresh Fish

... or alternately "When Fish Go Bad."
This collage features images from an old field guide on fish and a nice Dover reproduction Victorian engraving of a damsel in distress. She apparently didn't order fish. The background is a pirate map picture from the paper store.

Journal Page / Bubbles

For the past 2 years I have been participating in an art journal project with my good friend, mixed media artist Terry Garrett. Every month we send each other 2 collage pages that we have created to put into our matching journals; he gets my original work and I get his. Our own work is scanned, printed and added to the joural before sending. We are now on our second book and the project continues to be great fun.
I'll share some of the journal pages I have made for that project here.

This one was inspired by a 'bubble pipe' that I had as a child, and an ongoing fascination with old science book illustrations.

It's called "you can learn to blow bubbles like these" ........ and wouldn't that be fun!

Fun With Photoshop

After much angst, I am finally starting to actually have fun with photoshop.
Here is one of my first digital collage images.
To those of you who are masters of this medium, be gentle, I'm just getting started.