If you read my blog on a regular basis, you might know not only do I love collage, but am constantly making things, playing with images and doodling as well. I recently made a series of collages for this Italian festa that I will be selling at, this coming Sunday Sept. 30th, in Santa Rosa.
I just love how they turned out so I am posting them here as my show and tell for the month. ( Yes it seems like I am a monthly blogger) enough is enough, I do so many things on line that this is a monthly commitment that is doable.
After dribbling and playing with watercolors on really good paper, I rubber stamped, doodled and collaged all over the pages...
Then I began to look for Italian phrases and words that called to me, and were recognizable to even non Italians.
Pulling out my rubber stamps I stamped here and there on the large page of watercolor paper, first with the words and them with some of my favorite charming stamps.
I then pulled out my large stash of various small collage images and began to glue papers and images here and there on the large paper that seemed to reflect either the meaning of the words or the Italian theme.
One thing led to another, with this process being done in small stages of one step each time over a series of days. About 45 min each sitting. Perfect art making time for my computer affected attention span these days.
I then had a large sheet of paper with little vignettes all over it. Each one small and flowing into the other.
Just the perfect size for 5"x7" art cards.
So I proceeded to cut them up into various sizes, finding the essence of each little picture story.
And low and behold they were charming but small, so I pulled out a lot of my beautiful art papers and began to glue them onto the papers, highlighting all the wonderful burnt sienna colors I love and that reflect the softly worn colors of the beauty of Italian towns.
I next glued these onto the fronts of art card panels that I have in my stash of art supplies.
But too my delight, I found them soooo charming that I decided to put them in 8"x10 matts instead of just leave them as art cards. And this is what I came up with. They look so perfect matted. Although rather primitive, with the stampings smudged here and there, they delight me and they are absolutely charming to my eye at least.
So this Sunday at the Festa Italiana at the Vets Building in Santa Rosa, I will have these little darlings for sale. Come on by if you are in Santa Rosa and say Hello..and see not only these but my Italian themed art pendants, mandala pendants and some charming little encaustic paintings that I am selling, all with an Italian slant. If you don't know by now, I am Italian American, my mom's family being from Bari and my dad having grown up in a little town in Sicilia called Strassati di Petrosina, which is near Marsala.
So selling at this fair, allows me to be close to all those old Italians again, warming my heart and filling my soul with italian music, food and sounds. I wonder if anyone who reads this will stop by and say hello. Who knows. Ciao. Caterina
