Savannah 2019

I'm happily in my favorite urban home-away-from-home - Savannah.  The historic district with its wonderfully walkable vibe, enhanced by oasis of greenery every few blocks in the famous Squares of Savannah with Live Oak trees arching everywhere, is just perfect.  Add to that, as I've said before, the artsy vibe from the Savannah Collage of Art and Design - SCAD - and I'm in my happy place.

And there is so much inspiration for what I call my 'regional collages.  A fortunate gal am I.

The historic Savannah Theater's vintage marquee always sends me in a direction and this year I got to time warp into the 50's.

Drifters, Platters & Coasters In Savannah

The Colonial Cemetery is beautiful; a lovely place to walk through and has many stories to tell.  I saw the brochure for the Ole Bones walking tour at one of our favorite coffee shops, Cup to Cup and met Mr Bones.  He hand-painted his so-apropos suit.  By the way, the "orphans" in the title refer to the wall of tombstones, which was made of stones separated from their graves, many by the invading Union Army during the Civil War.  

With the Orphans In Colonial Cemetery - Savannah

Another favorite coffee shop is Gallery Espresso, which is also a lively student hang-out.  The rest rooms are papered with notices, posters, art bits etc and I always find something that catches my eye. Yeppo, always have a camera with you even in the bathroom or especially in these two. As I was working on this collage, I noticed that I had used some of the key elements before and sure enough there they were in another year.  I like that Mr Dali and Mz Starlight spoke to me a couple years in a row.

Dali In Starland - Savannah

Found Images~Savannah

Savannah has a lot of art - in galleries, on walls, 'artsy' signage. It's kind of like old-school radio, finding a great tune that you weren't looking for or knew about - it just pops up.

These first two collages are based on images that 'popped up'. 

The "As Seen On TV' image was not in a gallery, but in the hallway of  SCAD building.  I was attracted to the TV bit and took photos through the glass.  The dot background was part of the original wall. but taking the photo through the glass distorted everything and when I amplified the colors I got the background you see in the collage.  The Pay Here and Dot signs are actual Savannah signs.  Dot is a free bus around time and Pay Here is a public parking lot.  The woman is a docent at the SCAD museum,  She just seemed so perfect as a perky student docent that I asked to take a picture. The docents carry tablets to show you more info about the installations. I colorized her skirt for this piece.

As Seen On TV collage ~ Savannah

Found Art collage is just that.  The background is a photo of a part of the well-collaged bathroom from a favorite coffee shop, Gallery Espresso.    The photo is amplified and tweaked a bit.  The vintage people seemed a perfect counterpoint.

Found Art Collage ~ Savannah

The Vintage Ladies incorporate another kind of found image.  I was googling about Victorian architecture in Savannah and found the hand-tinted photo of the Lovely Ladies, as well as a vintage postcard of the Lovely Suited Ladies.  Thank you Google.  The background is the famous fountain, built in 1858, in Savannah's well-known Forsyth Park.  I can't truly attest that these are ladies of Savannah, but they are now.

Vintage Ladies of Savannah collage