The 1920's - I'm in a Flap About Flappers!

A few months back I did the above collagraph print of two ladies.  I had no idea when I started, all I knew was that I wanted to do a couple of figures.  They ended up with a 1920's look to them and were quite cute, nothing serious, but just fun.  I framed the first print I pulled in a nice white frame and took it to the Cobourg art fair where it promptly sold.   Several other people came back also wanting to buy it. 

My son then kept saying to me how much he liked it and that I should do more in this 1920's theme.   "The retro thing is very trendy at the moment" was his comment.   The theme is probably trendy because of the recent TV series  "Boardwalk Empire" which showed recently on HBO.

A few years back I started a series of collagraph Kimono prints and they were great fun to do.  It was a bit like being a dress designer  ....   I could make the kimonos with patterns and colors that I liked and fortunately other people seemed to like them too. 

The thing is, I really enjoy making this type of decorative plate and so I thought I would try some more with a similar 1920's look to "The Ladies".

Making the plates is proving to be very compelling.  I can't wait to get into the studio and create another one and I haven't even started printing them up yet and seeing the results in color.  It's very easy to get inspired when you have wonderful decorative elements, like exotic hats and stylistic clothes to work with.

After recently working on a series of non realistic abstract paintings this is a complete about flip!  It must be my dual natured Gemini personality breaking forth!

Next week I want to start printing the plates and see if the final results are are as exciting as I hope they will be.

This photo is part of one of the plates in it's beginning stages. The color showing is from the shellac sealer and old thick paint that I am using to create textures on the plate. These colors are not what will show up when I pull the print and you can also see pencil where I have mapped out the design.