Ransom Note Portraits

I had never heard of the Ransom Note art concept, so when my friend Karen Musgrave suggested doing some, I thought it would be just the thing to get me out of my artistic rut. I Googled the theme and found a lot of inspiration.

I started by randomly cutting words and letters in various sizes, colors and fonts out of magazines. Next, I researched famous quotes, and then made a short list of the ones that I liked best. I tried using words on a solid background, and then on torn strips of newsprint. One was too boring and the other too busy. So, I decided to try using faces in the background. I used two Graphics Fairy http://thegraphicsfairy.com/ stern looking portrait images and one of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits.

After the letters were adhered to the background portraits, they still needed something to make “make it my own,” so I added some stamping with white printmaking paint using my own hand-carved stamps, and edged the finished pieces with liquid chalk stamp ink. The “Beauty” piece also uses, in the background, a commercial William Morris-style stamp in coffee-colored distress ink. I put some washi tape of a measuring tape at the bottom to suggest how beauty is literally measured in our society. The "William Morris" stamp and washi "measuring tape" are from a great little store in NY called The Ink Pad. http://www.theinkpadnyc.com/