Thursday, April 8, 2010

Altered 'books'.....

When you're an art major all your life, you always have to be doing something. Creating. All the time, whether it's in your head or reality. It's a curse sometimes.

The thing you're creating has to be something different, clever, innovative, creative or......maybe.....sorta stupid. (Wasn't stupid at the time. In fact, it was the smartest thing in the world, to me.)

When I was in high school, when  high school was first invented, I used to take my father's TV Guides, the day they arrived, and sorta, well, improved them. The height of creativity.

What I did had to happen  before Dad got home so that the new and improved version would end up in the 'mail of the day' pile. Like it was supposed to be there.

The first few were quick alterations, without too much thought. Slowly, they got more complex. Some even had moving parts.

Oh, I was something. Really something.

See for yourself.......



The knife was cut out of some catalog, the blood painted with acrylics, my paint of choice.


Cigar and hat cut out of another magazine


Jimmy Durante's face cut out and glued on, hair painted (on the top person).


Cut out and glued on.....



Bullet holes burnt into the cover with a rod of incense.


Mia Farrow's eyes were erased and repainted....(a pencil eraser would totally erase the color from the TV Guide cover. It was that kind of paper. Lucky for me.)


This one is hard to see. There's an arm coming out of the bears mouth, like he just ate someone.
And, of course, lots of blood. (I was truly gross.)


Now, this is the first of the moveable covers. Notice the 'pull' tab at the bottom. If you gently pulled on it, the mouth opened.....see below....
"arrghhh!"

Big teeth drawn, cut out and glued to Johnny Carson.


All the details painted on with acrylics.


No comment.


This is one of my favorites, I think.  (how the news is really made.)

Babs lighting up...cut and paint.


Second in my moveable series. Pull up and down gently on the pull tab at the bottom and Columbo is readjusting his tie, up and down, up and down....see below.....

Hand painted her middle finger on with acrylics. ( I worked sooo hard to match the skin color.)


Painted the fish in her mouth.



Cut outs and painted blood. 

There were more, but these were the only ones I saved.

I always heard chuckles as I hid around the corner while Dad was checking the mail. But he never, ever said anything.

I think he was used to this sort of thing.

What a guy.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

You certainly were a creative little devil!

Anonymous said...

This is soooooo funny. Takes creativity in the home to a whole new level. My mother used to construct funny collages in letters sent to my daughter when she was small to entertain, but never this good. Growing up in Australia numerous decades ago as part of the British Commonwealth, we were innundated with media photos of the Royal Family, which leant themselves well to speech bubbles and merciless poking fun collages,(how could you not!) so you can imagine how much we loved Monty Python when it eventually appeared on the T.V. Great work here -thanks for posting it! Must have taken ages to paint the finger and the fish!

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

What a fun life you lead. It must be so much fun to be inside your head.

Lili said...

I SO want to buy you a subscription to TV Guide just to see you continue that!! OMGosh you are something else. Seriously your Dad never said anything??? Oh that's even more of a hoot!!! Love love love this post Elenka!! ~Lili

brattcat said...

And what a daughter! You delighted your parents when you were small, you delight a far greater audience now that you are grown. My favorite is the one with no comment. Thank you for another outstanding post, E. Once again you've started my day with a grin.

annie'smom said...

I LOVE it! I so envy your creativity and talent!!! Perhaps I should keep an eye on the magazines at my house the next time you visit . . .

mary evelyn said...

these are amazing! thanks so much for sharing!

Balisha said...

I enjoyed all your creations.Couldn't wait to see the next one. Joe would really appreciate you. He is so particular about his paper (it must be folded just so and put back together like I found it) I wish you could come over here and shake things up.
Balisha

cam said...

That's my Elenka!!!
Now the world knows why I have been her BIGGEST FAN FOR 37 YEARS!!

ELENKA, I HAVEN'T SEEN THESE IN 37 YEARS...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

LOVE,
CAM YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!!

cam said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birdman said...

One of the first things you showed me that VERY first weekend in NJ. Did I really know what I was getting myself involved in?????

Kathleen said...

Just loved this post. Oh how I wish I had some of that amazing creativity and imagination. My favorite? The king and I. Well done! Hugs, Kathleen

brattcat said...

Hi E. There's a reply for you back at my blog but in short, YES! they are blooming right now.

Sharon Creech said...

hahaha! I love this and love that you kept some of the covers. What a funny, creative child--I bet half the fun was listening for those chuckles. . .although I would have probably pressed for acknowledgement: 'Did you like it? huh? huh? Didja?'

brattcat said...

And they're rhododendrons. Love Sharon's comment.

Debbie said...

Hi Elenka...I came by here the day you posted this and got so distracted I was late to wherever I was going and then I forgot about it! I am sending this post to my mother in law who is an artist. She will just roar about this!! Not only are these extremely clever, they are hilarious! My favorite is Mia Farrow returns to.... the eye doctor! The bloody ones just kind of scare me a little! Did you watch a lot of bloody movies as a kid and do you now? What is really amazing to me is how you did all this and still the magazine is in great shape. On some of them, it looks like the artwork was already there. Really cool. It must have been a riot living at your house!