My fondest birthday greetings to a “partner in all things.”
For Dana
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.3125 x 3.875 inches
collection of D L Dixon
Archive for the ‘Haus of Cards’ Category
Happy happy . . .
Saturday, April 11th, 2015Still More Haus of Cards
Sunday, March 8th, 2015“I allow total spontaneity to overwhelm the process. Ingredients that allude to the world of the recipient merge with conspicuous or camouflaged non-sequitur elements.”
— 2/2/13
Journal studies and collage greeting cards are my proving ground for the qualities that lead to fruitful miniatures, and I am finding that self-contained miniatures themselves are increasingly serving as ingredients in larger works. This could get interesting.
Two Heart to Handle
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Adventures to Last
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
February Hearts
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
For The Bobs
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Sweet Time Puffin
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
the Man Card ~ part three
Wednesday, December 31st, 2014“But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;”
— William Butler Yeats
If you have not tired of looking at images that grew out of the guy-to-guy thing, here are just a few more items from the Haus of Cards that illustrate some occasions when only a Man Card will do.
Coast Starlight
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
David Down Under
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
THE MAN
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
The Wood Duck Society
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
A Very Merry Merry!
Thursday, December 25th, 2014
Nog and Tea
collage miniature by J A Dixon
private collection
the Man Card ~ part two
Thursday, December 18th, 2014“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
When a shared memory triggers laughter with a pal, bystanders usually understand and think, “I guess you had to be there.”
Bay-Oh-Deez
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Eddies of Empire
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Assimilation
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Cabin One Tunes
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
your basic Man Card . . .
Thursday, December 4th, 2014“There are a good many fools who call me a friend, and also a good many friends who call me a fool.”
— G. K. Chesterton
Have you ever made a gift so peculiar that you wondered if your friend on the receiving end would make all the special connections? For me, the personal miniature is inexplicable enough in its own right. The individual collage greeting made by a male artist for his friend not only defies general explanation, but may not be entirely comprehensible, even for its intended recipient (which, in my experience, seems to work out just fine for everyone involved).
Large Bore Boar
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Reduced to This
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Small Bore Boer
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Pump Heat, Pack Iron
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
Happy 32!
Thursday, September 11th, 2014Celebrating 32 years of laughter, friendship, professional partnership, creative adventure, shared sorrow, deep affection, and mutual respect. Thank you, Dana, for the total package.
(I think this might be working out.)
Happy 32!
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.875 x 4.5 inches
collection of D L Dixon
Recipe for enjoyment
Thursday, September 4th, 2014“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is
no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
— Carl Jung
The distinctive singularity of an individual has been a profound feature of my awareness throughout life. Undoubtedly, it is the basis for much of what I have enjoyed doing most — from solving visual problems for unique entrepreneurs, or creating my own brand of illustrated portraits, and, of course, hand-crafting greeting cards with collage miniatures. I shall never tire of assembling a spontaneous composition with suitable ingredients to honor a particular person. Each collage, like every human being, is a one-of-a-kind creation, and the medium is ideal for personalized expressions. The artist has a remarkable opportunity to interpret the peculiar constellation of personality traits, proclivities, and associations that befit a fellow mortal. To put it simply: I love it!
Dwindling Nest
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of J Hellyer
Still more from the Haus . . .
Thursday, August 21st, 2014“Giving gifts to others is a fundamental activity, as old as humanity itself. Yet in the modern, complex world, the particulars of gift-giving can be extraordinarily challenging.”
― Andrew Weil
For good or ill, I have reduced gift-giving to a flagrant simplicity: the personal collage miniature, disguised as a greeting card. I adopted the practice long ago and, so far, I seem to be getting away with it.
Pool Partied
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of B Morris
Pancreation
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of M J Bowling
Buddhas and Hunks
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of M Higggins
SuperTim
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of T Rice
To the rule breakers . . .
Thursday, August 14th, 2014“Individualism is rather like innocence; there must be something unconscious about it.”
— Louis Kronenberger
I often look back on the image of a personal miniature, long released into the intended realm of a friend, and I have no recollection of the process it underwent, but only a strong sense of the personality who inspired it. This is how it should be. I tend to be dubious of any artworks which retain too much of my methodology in their finished state. Calculation and contrivance are somehow out of place in a collage, but, of course, there are glorious exceptions to every rule. This also is how it should be.
Untitled (for Irina)
collage miniature by J A Dixon
estate of Irina Ilina
Even more Haus of Cards
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014“Somebody said once or wrote once: ‘We’re all of us children in a vast kindergarten trying to spell God’s name with the wrong alphabet blocks!’”
― Tennessee Williams, Suddenly Last Summer
As is true with many graphic artists, I have been fascinated by letterforms since childhood. The first time I rendered the word “ICE” with frozen encrustations, it felt like a rite of passage for me. One of the reasons I shunned store-bought greeting cards in favor of my hand-crafted versions was to indulge a love affair with custom lettering. As collage miniatures began to dominate the character of my card making, the alphabet remained a key part of the visual vocabulary. As my enthusiasm for the medium of collage continued to expand, symbolic language became a re-occurring, vital ingredient in nearly all my artistic compositions.
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of A D Kenner
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of C Dixon
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of D R Dixon
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of E Debarone
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of R W Breidenbach