Postcard for June Exhibit: Ephemera at Frank Bette Center for the Arts
Ever sign up for something in the heat of the moment then forget about it until it becomes a fire drill? I thought the theme Ephemera for the FBC would be just the thing to help promote my work, so I eagerly raised my hand and promptly forgot about it. Six months later I get a call, "Is the art ready for the announcement postcard?"
"Uh, yeah, almost."
Yikes. Rather than panic, I decided to forgive my forgetfulness and give my brain fog a different spin. I've been thinking I'd like to try illustration, book covers, or commission work. Well, here it was. A project with a tight deadline and a loosely defined content. In the words of the prospectus:
"Transitory, without lasting significance, temporary, fragile, fleeting, bits and pieces, scraps, stuff, delicate, trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, posters, prospectuses, stock certificates, tickets, zines, playing cards, graphs, ticker tape, fortune cookie fortunes, samples".
I'd just seen the fabulous Johnny Depp version of Alice in Wonderland and had been wanting to do an Alice collage for some time. I'm still working on the large version, but the small version designed for the Postcard for the Ephemera Exhibit is shown here.
The Elements: I scanned a border from a vintage book and removed the etching by erasing it in photoshop. I added a photograph I took inside the Frank Bette Center. With all the background pieces in place I could now begin to play.
I loved the child in this tintype, so I cut her out (my favorite part of playing paper dolls) using Photoshop, then colorized and painted with various digital brushes, burn and dodge and other filters (we're talking hours here). I added her shadow so she would appear to be her "Drink Me" size. Note the bottle on the table. Then I began to add the references to Alice..ranging from quotes to scanned pages from the original Tenniel illustrations in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. As a final touch, I replaced the King of Hearts' visage with Frank Bette's face. The above version was sent to the printer for postcard production. For the show in June, I'll have a 13x19 inch version with further details and additional "ephemera" applied, including the griffin.
**My cat Maggie does the honors as the Cheshire grinner. She insisted on a credit.
