Learning from the LadyBird

Little Jo

For years I've read Brian Andreas books and StoryPeople Stories of the Day online, and his quirky stories and comments about life, off the wall stuff that makes me giggle or pause to think, things like:

Birthdays:

When people asked how old she was,

she would say 1009365, more or less,

because she was so glad to be alive

that she counted every day a birthday.

She had some disagreement from her knees

about the actual figures though. . .

StoryPeople is publishing a new book by Allison Strine, a collage painter who makes whimsical collages featuring The Bird Lady. Allison paints book pages which are then cut to shape her collage images and backgrounds. Here's a short video she made about her work.



When I see something like this I always stop to think about how I could use something from what I see or hear in my own work.

Although my work isn't so whimsical as Allison's there is a bit of it in the new Little Jo pieces and I'm thinking about how I might adapt the painted papers to dress Little Jo. I know she's tired of that same old gray dress you see her wearing every day. I know I am.

Let's see what happens.

I already paint book pages so I'm not stealing that idea from anyone else. and I've already thought about how I used to play with paper dolls, so Little Jo + painted book pages + paper dolls = a new wardrobe for Little Jo.

Stay tuned.