Who is that lady with the pencil in her ear?
My altered photo world began the day I realized I needed a birthday gift for my husband.
“But he has everything,” I lamented.
Then the solution whacked me in the head: what he needs is a photo album of fake relatives.
So I set to work painting on Victorian photographs to create a faux family of oddballs and eccentrics. One thing led to another, my husband’s altered ancestors were turned into a line of greeting cards, Ain’t That a Kick in the Head was born, and my Etsy shop opened with greeting cards and original one-of-a-kind artwork.
People have done all sorts of things with my art: framed it, given it as gifts, hung it as ornaments, tucked it into collages and junk journals, and even added my original art to original art of their own.
I’m proud to say my work was included in the fabulous book Artful Memories: How to Create Unique Art With Old Photographs by Jane Chipp and Jack Ravi. It was featured in Catch Light photography and visual arts magazine. It's been shown in galleries in Sacramento and Los Angeles. And I’m hugely honored to have it be part of the brilliant Art-o-mat project.
I’ve kept a few altered ancestors for myself. They’re framed and displayed among the real family photos in my living room. I keep waiting for someone to ask, “Who is that lady with the pencil in her ear?”
So far, no one has.
