More Glass from Perry Fitzhugh, This and That Collages

My friend J. Perry Fitzhugh has been making more of his wonderful found-object glass assemblage mixed-media sculptures and they are once again on display at the Barboursville Fine Arts Gallery, in Barboursville, VA, near Charlottesville.  Local? Or wanting a bit of travel?  Well, Perry will be in the gallery from 10:30 to 4:30  on Friday, May 29th for a meet and greet. Check it out.

Recently I  once again came across images from the famous Las Vegas Neon Boneyard. Vintage neon is high on my list of best images ever.  Stardust caught my eye. And apropos of Perry, I used one of his sculptures in the collage.  The piece has a very 50's space-age feel to it and aligns with the 50's era of the sign.

       

Stardust

Another internet day, presented an article on Frida Kahlo's closet.  When she died in 1954,  her husband, the famed artist, Diego Rivera, ordered her clothes to be locked up for 15 years. When he died three years later, the caretaker of their homes and studios, kept the closet locked and it stayed so until 2004. There has now been a display and beautiful book. Her unique surreal style was like her art, a reflection of her reality of physical pain and discomfort from her near-fatal accident whens he was 18, which left her wearing a brace and a false leg.  Some of her bits and pieces spoke deeply to me.  One of my most treasured times is that I did get to visit her home and studio Blue House, in Mexico city.  She lived out loud.     

Frida's Closet

       

I came across some photos of my former studio at our house, which is now under contract.  One of the buyers is a graphic designer and I hope they make good use of the studio space.  This scene is a photo of a shelf where I had a 'set-up' of various bits and pieces that appeal to me.  When my son was young, we would create elaborate arrangements of his toys, which we called 'set-ups'.  We're both still at it.  

I amped the image and only added the bits of text and the cherry pie and of course, a spiral or two. Cherry pie just seemed the perfect addition.  I tried Lemon Meringue - my favorite pie - but it just didn't work.  Cherry popped!   The art wants what it wants.      

Lips, Dolly & Pie

                                    

Blast From The Past - Home Town Collages

I have a great affection for old-school diners and they have shown up in my art for many years.  In a recent conversation about diners one has known, I recalled the neighborhood diner where I grew up in Philadelphia.  It was a classic dining car place and I mostly remember hanging out with my teen-aged friends and ordering Cokes and French Fries and hot chocolate in the winter.  Occasionally my family had dinner there.  I also remember having to go on a 'cigarette run' for my mother and buy her Chesterfields from the cigarette machine in the lobby. Apparently one could do that in the 60's.

So I googled 'Wayne Junction Diner' and found a whole Facebook page with photos of the old place, sadly as a ruin.  But the images captured my eye.  When I extracted the menu from one of the images, it wasn't until the collage was finished that I noticed one of the items listed was a 'Taylor Pork Roll Sandwich.'  I never had it there but always loved it.  I always thought of TPR as a Philadelphia regional food, but google told me it originated in New Jersey.

Wayne Junction Diner

So with Memory Lane on a roll, I remembered that near our house there was an industrial water tower on a factory that was shaped and painted like a giant Vicks Vapo Rub jar.  A noticeable thing indeed.  It still exists in rust and patina and is used as a cell phone tower.  

Vicks Tower

Following the groove, I decided to listen to my favorite DJ of my youth, Jerry Blavat. His tag name was 'The Geater With The Heater.'  Back in the day, as they say - early to mid sixties for me, - he had a great radio show that played what were oldies then and current hits.  Music in the doo wop, Motown mode and more.  He also hosted dances.  Our crowd went on Sunday afternoons to the Wagners Ballroom. Friday nights he was at a place called Chez Vou.  These dances were a high point of my teen years and were known for the famous Philly line dances.  He is still going strong, on the radio and hosting oldies in clubs and dances at the Jersey Shore and so on.  You can check him out here streaming online  at Philadelphia's .WXPN.

Geater With The Heater

Wild Wisdom Keepers! Cosmic Cowgirls! Cosmic Crones!

Recently my friend Kathryn sent me photos of some work she had been doing as part of an on-line art workshop with the Wild Wisdom Keepers.  It's passionate, free and inspiring!

Art Journal by Kathryn

J

Check out these sites for more inspiration!  The focus is opening to art as a tool, even if you don't think of yourself as an artist, and exploring yourself through art, especially for Crones, women in their later years.  I think the art and conversation can speak to anyone, transcending any particular age focus.  We are all on a journey, and in that, we can speak to ourselves and further, to and for each other.

On Facebook - Cosmic Crones - A Tribe of the Wisdom Keepers

CosmicCowgirls.com

 ShilohSophiaStudios.com

Image Jump Off! Murder of Crows!

Digital collage is where I'm at these days.  My latest inspiration is just jumping off from an image that catches my eye.  Bam! That one speaks to me and then off to see what/who else shows up in the collage.  I find it compelling, great fun and sometimes am surprised as to what my association to the finished piece may be.  Other times, there is no actual 'association' in a narrative way, just alignments of images that speak for themselves.

Here a retro photo of the Crown Bar in NYC was the key image that caught my eye, originally in black and white. which I colorized and amplified.  The underwear guy is from a 1940 Jockey shorts ad which I colorized.  The other background elements were built up from collaged bits.  I especially liked the juxtaposition of the vintage couple with the retro noir cityscape.  Not to mention the sweet vintage teacup head on Mrs. Vintage.

The Crown Bar & Hotel 

The jump off image here was the ultra-realistic eclaire, which is from a painting by Mary Ellen Johnson.  My middle name is Claire, so eclaire has had a dual meaning for me.  The second main main image was the 50's car fender, which is extracted from a 1950 Mercury ad.

Eclaire Retro Rose

The woman sitting on the railroad track in her black & white dress and shoes caught my eye.  I then went on a Pinterest hunt for black & white women, with touches of red thrown in for good measure.

Black & White & Red All Over

A Murder of Crows is the name for a group of Crows.  Crows are pretty prevalent in my art and life. Recently someone saw in my kitchen the wonderful carved wooden angel from Oaxaca, Mexico which is featured in this collage. She thought the angel was scary looking, but I said 'No, she was just a fierce guardian angel". 

In fact, other people have found the angel scary, too.  I found her in a studio of an Oaxacan woodcarver. She was tucked away on a back shelf in a corner and not on display with his other items for sale.  He had put her away because most people thought she was scary or angry and she didn't sell.  Not scary, fierce!  All that and I got a deal too because people can't tell fierce from scary.

So I decided to photograph her and use her in a collage.  As soon as I put her on the canvas, I knew that I need to add a Guardian Crow as well.  Others crows followed.  The other figures were collaged and altered to become part of my Crow People

Fierce Angel With Crows

Once Crows showed up, more came my way.  The image that set things off here was the photo of the river I walk by every day.  By the way, it wasn't until the collage was printed and sitting next to the first one, that I realized I had used the same guardian crow and in the same prominent place. The Crow Being on the right is extracted from a card made for me years ago by my friend Leslie and altered and amped a bit.

South River Crows

Once again at the river, I was taken by the beauty of the greenway walking path as Spring was blooming in the trees.  I amplified my original photo and knew I wanted crows once again.  I particularly like the Crow Woman who was collaged together from several images.  I think she's a 'keeper' and will be part of my crow image lore.

Greenway Crow Gathering

Sharing some images for you to have fun with.  They are in PNG format with a transparent background.

Wow! A double-post day! J Perry Fitzhugh's Found Glass Sculptures

Bopping over to Facebook after my last post, I discovered that my dear friend J. Perry Fitzhugh is having a show of is found-object glass sculptures at the Barboursville Fine Arts Gallery here in, you got it, Barboursville, Virginia.  Check out  the show here.

Perry's explored the delight of combining found glass and other objects in other times of his life, but this series is quite special.

        

Wonderland!

This art moved me so much I just had to share it in a post.

Driven by deep loss and emotion, artist Kirsty Mitchell says, 'Photography became my voice when I couldn't speak about what I was going through.  She calls this the Wonderland series. The wealth of detail and creativity is indeed a 'wonder' .

These photographs are not collages, but rather, photographs of created scenes; every element conceived, designed and made by Kirsty.

The Story Teller by Kirsty Mitchell

The Queen's Armada by Kirsty Mitchell

The Stars of Spring Will Carry You Home by Kirsty Mitchell

Click here for the whole story and more images

Check out Kirsty's Flickr page here

Gifting! Giving and Receiving and working in a small space

Dear friends recently got married.  I wanted to give them something personal, so I made a little wedding box for them.  This project was special in another way too, as it was the first assemblage I did in my new space.

My old studio had tons of space and all my tools and supplies were out on the counters, hung on the wall, on every shelf.  My new space is much smaller and all my tools and supplies are tucked away in cabinets or drawers or in storage boxes in the garage.

Certain assemblage parts, paints, beads etc that I remembered as once having, no longer were evident, even in my well-labeled boxes, so this piece had several trips to the craft store..

The new space asks me to be more thorough in my planning of a piece and more focused in the doing of the piece.  I set up a couple trays on the work surface for the specific bits and pieces and tools I was directly working with. Otherwise, everything else stayed tucked away.  I have an additional work surface where I can place some bits for drying, while I work on my main work table. I have found it an interesting energy to have to work more 'concentratingly' [is that a word?].

I found an inexpensive solution to protecting my work surface - heavy but flexible plastic runners for hardwood floors!  I found it at Lowes in the rug section and at only a couple dollars a foot, it is perfect.  I also use a piece to protect the rug in front of my work space.

The box in this piece is a purchased hardboard & paper book box, 8"wide and 2" deep.  The inside is filled with pearls, crystals, flowers and hearts and the large glass ball.  The couple is an amped image, printed on high gloss photo paper and mounted on styrofoam, the back of which is collaged with hand-made paper

Wedding box for Morris & Liz

Recently I received a great gift that was certainly chosen just for me - shoes for art, a curly haired doll and a lovely book on personal altars and icons by Jean McMann

Thank you cards are a perfect opportunity for a collage.  The background is from the book, a car altar by Harrod Blank, amped a bit, of course.

Mimi Yellow Shoes Thank You collage

I'm a fortunate girl indeed.

Mondo collages! Vintage! Pinterest binging!

I've been making a lot of collages lately.  Sometimes when things are stressful, there's just nothing like going through the image portal, flying with Photoshop elements and collageing as a way to find balance.

I also found that I've been reviewing, organizing and renaming my image collection. I've had special fun with looking through my images from the wonderful Mischief Circus site.  Not only do they have great images, every week their email sends inspiration as well. 

The two main images here are from found images.  The evocative woman in yellow is by Mark Demsteader. and the enigmatic male is Sebastian Horsley, a true character indeed, a London artist who sadly is no longer with us.  I think he'd appreciate the touch of Goth in this collage, which uses black roses from Mischief Circus.

Yellow Gothic collage ~
 acknowledgment to Mark Demsteader & Sebastian Horsley

Mischief Circus uses a lot of vintage images and that sparked me to do a Google search for others. An image really attracted me and took me to Pinterest, which I had to sign up for to view the image. Isn't she delightful?  She was part of a collage sheet that I found on Etsy at Lisa's Altered Art shop

Lisa offers many wonderful images and a whole collection of collage sheets with transparent backgrounds in png format for only $1.00 and up.

Although early vintage has not been quite my style, I've learned that there are many such images available, as most of them are copyright free because of their age.  

Here our Casino Girl is the key element in Vintage Play.

Vintage Play collage

So I had signed up for Pinterest and quickly received an email with other suggestions for images like the first one I saw.  I had heard of it, but had never checked it out.  Basically Pinterest is an free image sharing site, where people can 'pin' images they like to 'boards'.  I find I really like how the images are aggregated.

You can search for specific topics, such as vintage people, and then add other criteria, such as printables or ephemera, etc.  And as you search, Pinterest offers many criteria suggestions.  I have done versions of such searches in Google, but I really have come to like the Pinterest screen view. You are invited to 'pin' and like images and categories you view, but so far I haven't done that.  You can set up 'boards' in general or by topic and you can set up private boards.

People are very generous and there are many 'freebie' images for personal collage or one-off art.  One of my favorite sites is Land of Nod Studios, on Pinterest and at Etsy.

I used this young man from Land of Nod Studio, albeit altered with a zebra head.  The background image in this collage is an amped photo by my friend Perry, of a thrift shop right here in my town.  I love how he included the open car door in the composition.

Thrift Shop - They Have It All & Tacos Too! collage

Searching for  retro images from the 1940's at Pinterest I came across the powerful images of Horst B. Horst, a famous photographer for Vogue magazine.  The woman on the right and the hand with the paper opening to red are from two Vogue 40's  covers.   

Vogue Super Service collage

The bathing beauty with the beach ball was a summer Vogue cover.  The background is a vintage Miami hotel postcard.  The retro woman are from Mischief Circus, with my altered heads.  I've always used alternate heads in my assemblage work, so now they are appearing in the collages.

Vogueing Poolside Collage

Lastly, I got the Pinterest app for my tablet and find its a perfect accompaniment to watching television - searching Pinterest during the commercials.  Now I've come to appreciate that bit of commercial time!  What's even more fun is thinking of new topics and categories.  I may be late coming to the party , but I'm having fun now that I'm here.

And you can Pin this very post at Pinterest yourself!