Absinthe Drinkers

I understand absinthe has been making a return, albeit with a "safer" recipe. The wormwood (Latin name, Artemisia absinthium) is now illegal, I believe. Which is good, since it's basically poison! Yet,we must always pursue our pleasures, especially (for some) those that provide a frisson of danger. So here's to absinthe, the "Green Fairy" who will lead you into the wormy woods, but not necessarily out again.

3SIXTY5 for June 8, 2010: Le Chapeau fait l'Homme

Some fun and games for Theme Thursday's "Men in Hats" challenge. Thanks to Kelly at TT for another playful theme to inspire us. Challenges are always fun to work on-- you must cajole your muse into producing something based on an outside impetus, which is sometimes difficult. On the other hand, I've seen blogs that people have put up just to post all their challenge pieces. Ambitious!

All the black & white elements in this piece are from Dover Publications' Men: A Pictorial Archive From Nineteenth-Century Sources, compiled by Jim Harter. The colored bits are from K & Company's Cut 'N Paste Designer Paper Pad. The title lettering is my own, with apologies to my calligraphy teachers. I wanted the calligraphy to look deliberately irregular and zany. (Really, I did!)

Two Collages for Two Days--So Ends May!

We had thunderstorms for most of Memorial Day here, so my flag-flying was short lived. At least the inclement weather made it easier to stay inside, chained to my drawing board. I completed a calligraphy commission, as well as my collage-a-day. 3SIXTY5 for Tuesday, May 31, 2010 is called Sweet Indecision. May her taste in men be better than her taste in clothes! She deserves a crown anyway. (What woman doesn't?)

(Image sources:  young woman from Dover Publications, Victorian Women's Fashion Photos CD-ROM and Book; men from Ten Two Studios' Father's Day faux postage; girl's frame from The Graphics Fairy; flowers cut from Dover gift wrap; backgrounds from an old wallpaper sample book)

 
I was too tired last night to post my collage for Monday, May 30. Here it is:

The hairdos and headdresses of the Renaissance never fail to amuse and/or puzzle. The young woman in Bartolommeo da Veneto's painting, purported to be Lucrezia Borgia herself, sports a coiffure of spun gold. (Was that her real hair color? Or even her real hair??)  In my version of Lucrezia's portrait, her tiny nosegay has been replaced by a species of barnacle, because I think its form is reminiscent of the girl's extravagantly curly strands. The only reason I know that is a barnacle, is because it said so in the book I got it from. It looks like something that fell off The Alien, which, BTW, is one of the best sci-fi movies ever. So, that's what I call this piece:  The Alien.

(Da Veneto painting from Dover Publications, 120 Italian Renaissance Paintings CD-ROM and Book; barnacle from  Dover, Haeckel's Art Forms from Nature CD-ROM and Book; frame from Green Paper; my calligraphy.)

3SIXTY5 Collage-a-Day #17 for Friday, April 23, 2010

I love looking through vintage technical books, with their old-fashioned charts and diagrams and formal language. So nostalgic! Yet in their day, they were cutting edge technology. Someday someone will be rummaging in a flea market and get a hoot out of our computer books. But visually, I doubt that these will be nearly as interesting. I call this piece The Inventor. The images came from the following Dover Publications books:
Machinery and Mechanical Devices, William Rowe
Men: A Pictorial Archive from 19th Century Sources, Jim Harter
Haeckel's Art Forms from Nature CD ROM & Book, Ernst Haeckel

Pour epater les bourgoisie

Since Collagitation includes agitation, here is a little something to stir things up, made on Polyvore for Theme Thursday's "Masculine" challenge. Rated "P" for "Play." Sports, science, guns, booze...what more could a guy ask for?

Science and Soccer by diakea