Cowboys' Gettin'-up Holler - Vintage Paper Collage

This is one of the collages I created this summer while staying at a friend's house.  It features an image from a 1954 book called Childcraft: Creative Play and Hobbies, which I purchased at a local library sale.  The book contains all kinds of games and activities for children such as drawing and painting, cooking, making toys, and planning a party.  My little cowboy was in a section on theme parties.

I paired him with a song from a 1930s school children's music book, vintage text, and a cicada image from an old dictionary.  A cicada has nothing to do with cowboys (as far as I know), but I needed something in that spot and was working with a limited stash.  The caption was from the activity book and is so sweetly retro that I just had to use it.  The only new item in this collage, which was adhered to a piece of watercolor paper and measures approximately 4x6 inches, is the star.  It's a piece of clipart from a Stampington publication.

 Thanks for popping by.  Have a wonderful day.

March to the "Beet" of Your Own Drum - Mini Moleskin Journal Page

The best thing to do after a long hiatus is to simply jump in with gusto, so without further ado I will share with you the collage I created at last week's Art Journal Junkies Hangout at our local library.

This collage is in a mini (3.5 x 5.5 inch) Moleskin and features vintage book text and sheet music, an illustration from a "Big Dollar Stamps" book, and some S&H green stamps.  The beet was cut from a 1970s gardening book, and I selected the postage stamps to color coordinate with the beet.  The only non-vintage item on this two-page spread is the dark ocher washi tape.  I decided not to add any wet media, so this collage is what I call glue-book style.

I'll be honest; I've struggled to find my niche when it comes to art journaling.  But I think I've had a revelation.  Spending five weeks at another person's house this summer with limited art supplies taught me that I don't need to have my entire stash of ephemera, rubber stamps, inks, paints, stencils, pens, whatever.  I don't need (or desire) a ginormous art journal in which to experiment with the newest product or to practice the latest technique flooding the internet.  And finally, I don't want to write any deep thoughts on my art journal pages!  That is just not me.  This mini Moleskin, my beloved vintage ephemera, and some simple adhesives are all I really need to express myself and, more importantly, enjoy myself.  I'm just going to march to the beat of my own drum and see how things go.

Whew!  It feels so good to get this first blog post out of the way.  In time, I'll work backward and get caught up on sharing the things I created this summer while I was away from home.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous day.

Speaking of Ephemera...

... I got some new loot!  My parents went to an auction yesterday and bought a cardboard flat FULL of old sheet music for me.  Their final bid?  A mere $5!

The flat held a four-inch-deep stack of sheet music of all types as well as many music instruction booklets and lesson sheets.  The oldest piece I found is from 1890; the newest piece is from 1971.  However, the majority of it appears to be from the first half of the 20th Century.  And a lot of it is in pretty bad shape (which is OK by me).

Who's that handsome guy in the top left corner?  Why, it's none other than Bing Crosby on a piece of sheet music from 1932.  Thanks to YouTube, you can hear Bing's version of Just an Echo in the Valley here.  Compare it to Alfalfa's version, and let me know which you like better.

These piano fingering charts will be fun to use in a collage somewhere, don't you think?

The only "modern" piece in the lot was this instruction booklet for the Tonette, Flutophone, or Recorder.  It's from 1971, which means I very well could have used this in elementary school music class.  I'm tempted to buy myself a recorder and learn a few songs!  A local music store has tons of recorders to choose from, and they are very reasonably priced.  But first, I need to figure out the best way to store this stuff.  The smaller pieces that are in better condition can go into a hanging file folder.  The larger items that are more fragile may have to stay in the flat; I think that will be the safest place for them.

I hope you're having a good weekend!  Thanks for dropping by.

To The Bower They Came - 6x4 Collage

I've been itching to make a simple paper collage; that is, one with no other media such as inks or pencils.  And I wanted to use original items, not photocopies.

I started by selecting a photo from my stash.  I chose this one in spite of its poor quality.  Well, that's not entirely correct.  I chose it because of its poor quality.  For one thing, even bad photographs tell a story and merit our attention.  Secondly, the photo is not precious to me so I don't feel remorse about using the original.  Besides, I don't know the couple in the photo.  A friend of my mom's gave me a bunch of old photos and this was simply one in a pile.  The poem ("Oenene") by Tennyson came next.  The stanza I chose describes a bower, so I leafed through an early 1900s natural geography textbook until I found a photo with trees.  The colorful strip is a scrap from an old atlas.

I like this collage very much.  The vertical elements in the individual segments work in contrast to the landscape orientation to keep your eye moving.  The sepia tint of the photo pairs well with the color of the old book page (something that isn't apparent in a scan, I'm afraid).  And I love the photo corner remnants!

Thanks for popping in!  Have a great day.