Keeps rainin' all the time.....

Ethel Sings ATC

I recently took part in another Artist Trading Card swap. The theme was "Stormy Weather".

In a way, this card is an homage to my Dad as much as it is to Ethel Waters and composers Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. My father was a great music aficionado. Jazz was his Muse. The voices of Ethel, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Peggy Lee flavoured my childhood. I loved hearing about the concerts in clubs in Manhattan that ran from Friday to Sunday with one band after another taking the stage. My heart skipped a beat hearing about Gene Krupa and his glow in the dark drum sticks. Swing, Big Band, Progressive Jazz, even Scat filled the rooms of our home.

So when I heard of the swap my thought was of the beautiful vocals of this song first performed by Ethel Waters in 1933 at the Cotton Club in Manhattan.

The substrate is illustration board. I dyed it using Bleeding Art Tissue. I enhanced the photo of Ethel with Iridescent Medium. I added metallic and distress inks. I altered the music with Glimmer Mist. The final touch was handmade paper using a variety of inks and acrylic paint.

Can a Muse be passed on from one generation to the next? In this case, I think it was.