I Love Lucy

Another one of the first few postcards made for Hanna's DIY swap. Like the camel-landscape, this one almost created itself. I think Serendipity is my favorite "method" of collaging. In other words, I don't necessarily look to create a specific picture; I just pick up pieces from my collection of scraps that have naturally associated with each other.

I went through some freebie catalogues a few weeks ago, clipping items that caught my eye. I was really happy to get a few pics of Lucille Ball - I just love her facial expressions. The clippings piled onto a few others scattered on the kitchen table, and by the time I transferred them to my desk and began to work, Lucy & the Life Savers had found each other. Voila! a collage. All I had to do was paint a background which sort of matched the Life Saver ad and add a few small bits of color to balance out the composition. If only the rest of them had come so easily I would have had my ten postcards done in an hour.

camel, camel, burning bright

My first postcard for Hanna's DIY Postcard Swap practically made itself. I have a particular fondness for the original illustration found on packs of Camel cigarettes. I usually pick up discarded packs to use for collage when I'm out walking. Several years ago I started finding "art" packs lying about. After a bit of googling I discovered Camel spends a lot of effort creating new designs to market their product. I wonder how many children, teens, hipsters, or non-USA citizens have picked up a nasty and deadly habit because they were attracted to a cool package. Many of these packages were sold as part of a set, so you could buy a whole series of packaging. I don't even smoke, yet I'm fascinated by the designer packs. (This isn't a new phenomena. Tobacco in general has a long history of interesting advertising.)

Camel Cigarettes Art Packs

Can you identify the famous artist associated with each of these packs?

Vision

The nice thing about having my paper scraps all mixed up is that ideas tend to present themselves one after another as I paw through them. If I had enough pieces could I go on forever creating images? Maybe I can just get the mess cleared up a bit.

Postcards in process

I finally signed up for Hanna's DIY Postcard Swap. Yay!  I waited until almost the last minute because I wasn't sure I could knock out ten postcards in a week, but once I got started I made good progress.

Calvin Coolidge said:  Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

At least it solved my problem of making a batch of postcards. I worked on them for a while, arranging bits & pieces without glue. I went away for a while and then came back to them. And repeat as necessary. They're about 75% done now.

persistence

The mums in the backyard got beat down from several big rainstorms during the past week. This squirrel, who has got pretty chubby lately, looks in the pots almost every day. I don't know what he's expecting to find.