Ils partent à la recherche d’une meilleure vie.
Le pas lourd, ils s’en vont, le regard fixé vers le futur.
The ephemera: old map of Ontario, Canada; high quality reproduction of Natural history illustration of a crow.
Size: 12 by 20 inches on wooden block
Un Cadeau pour Louise.
Travelling onwards, leaving the past behind them. No more bills, no more commitments, no more hoarding, no more secrets…Nevermore. 
The ephemera: old love letter from 1800s, old dictionary page (hoarder), old mechanical manual page; reproductions of old sheet music cover, old French pharmacy label, ancienne facture, old sheet music and autograph page from my grandmother to my mother; reproductions of natural history illustrations, vintage train clock and old map of London; various decorative papers; a variety of vintage numbers both original and reproductions.
12 inches by 24 inches by 2 inches wooden cradle.
Four Colly Birds
Three French Hens
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
The ephemera: natural history image of blackbird, old sheet music, christmas postmark
NB :In researching “Calling Birds” I discovered that in the older versions of the song The twelve days of Christmas , it is four Colly Birds referring to blackbirds but it has been changed in the modern version of the song to four Calling Birds.
Zoé Portejoie….tu nous apportes de la joie,,,mais ce n’est pas du tout à cause de ta beauté éblouissante…mais non, c’est surtout à cause de ton esprit généreux, de ton coeur tendre et de tes pensées réfléchies.
Maman
The ephemera: photo portrait, old French receipt, tree in winter. black birds in flight.
Black bird stock photos found here: http://frankandcarystock.deviantart.com/gallery/36840549/Black-bird-STOCK
All is not well with the appareil respiratoire.
It is clogged, the pressure is building, something is going to blow.
Just breathe. Slowly. In and out, in and out .
You will be fine….or not.
The ephemera: photo of old smoke stacks, page from a cahier scolaire from 1889, natural history photos of crows and ravens, a fragment from an old receipt, reproduction of a vintage gage. Encaustic Wax as a top coat.
Size 7 inches by 7 inches on wooden block
This end up! Fragile! Caution! Do not shake!
Prints available for purchase here:http://fineartamerica.com/featured/this-end-up-creartful-dodger.html?newartwork=true
The ephemera: old letter, vintage house number, water tower, old postal label, natural history photo of a raven, photo of a tree in winter, encaustic wax.
7″ by 7″ on wooden block.
The steamer trunk is all neatly packed with all essentials necessary for the transatlantic voyage. She carefully affixes the tags to her luggage. The crows foot is for good luck. Will it arrive safely? Will she?
Ephemera: handmade paper, cigar label, poison labels and reproductions of vintage calling card for a corset company in Marseille; a postcard of La Grande Roue, Paris, an old photo; an old map; a ticket for the launch of the TItanic; vintage postal label.
Encased in a poppy seed head cage. The key tantalizes, just out of reach.
SOLD
NB I found a few beautiful poppy seed heads in the garden. They had eroded into mere skeletons.
“They look like tiny cages” I said to myself…Bazinga! a new collage series is born. Owls coming soon.
Alors vous voulez des choux à la crème?
C’est décidé! Chez Odette à Paris.
Après tout, c’est leur spécialité.
Mais vous manquez votre coup.
Les corbeaux sont arrivés avant vous.
Ils vont sûrement vous dérober!
Purchase prints here
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/chez-odette-creartful-dodger.html
7 inches square on wooden block.
A MURDER OF CROWS pt. 2: The Chimney Sweep.
Monsieur le chimney sweep swoops down the flue sweeping it clean, to keep that petrol bill at a reasonable rate.
:
Purchase prints here:
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/chimney-sweep-creartful-dodger.html
Vintage French Petrol bill, old gauge, vintage crow, old chimney..
.SOLD!
A crow at work. Watching from the Water tower. Checking on the gauges. All systems ready to go.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/water-tower-creartful-dodger.html
This is number one in a series of three mixed media collages called “A MURDER OF CROWS”. Probably one of the greatest collective nouns around A MURDER. It is right up there with A GAGGLE! Flock and School just fade in comparison really.
The borrower swoops in to make off with your most prized possessions…the love letter from Berthe; your best horse’s tooth; your tiniest poison bottles; your magic crystal; your old tv tubes. He gleefully watches over them with a lock and key and waits, for your back to turn, so he can return to scamper off with more treasures for his hoard.
Big shadow box (13″ X 13″). (SOLD)
DETAILS: poison bottles, crystal, lock and key, t.v. tubes, watch front, a gauge, watch parts, old horse tooth, antique clock gears, an old tap, a label from a bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape, a 1908 French love letter from Berthe, the ace of spades, an old slide ruler, an old French receipt from a Parisian chemist lab and a French document from 1794.
I must admit that this piece is somewhat autobiographical….
NEWS FLASH: This piece was chosen as one of three out of more than 100 entries in the CVAC Spring Art Show by judges to have a jury talk and won one of the BEST IN SHOW awards. Apparently it will go off with the others on a tour of other galleries in the area before returning home to roost.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/for-the-birds-creartful-dodger.html
There goes the neighbourhood…. again. A crowd of crows, watching, a watch-faced moon. A crowd of houses, numbered, oddly. Who would live here?
NB: Having gifted the original “There goes the neighbourdhood” to a dear friend. I missed it and decided to rework it, this time encased in encaustic wax, and rename it “for the birds”.
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (SOLD)
Well the moment those old crows moved in we knew: there goes the neighbourhood!
the ephemera: old papers: menus, book pages, autographs, ledgers, postcards, letters; vintage game pieces, crows
Here is a nod to Agatha Christie and Saint Mary’s Mead…
who knows what lies in the hearts of our neighbours.
E. is for Evil
Sold
A Crow is not a bird Benoit (Bella)
Mesmerized by the moon, enshrouded in the mist can he read between the lines.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/-a-crow-is-not-a-bird-creartful-dodger.html
The ephemera: old manuscripts from the 1800’s, a handwritten love letter, a map of manhattan, an old ledger page, an old recipe, a vintage post card, an old seal and a black bird.
