My writing career taught me one thing: a little mischief makes everything better.

My altered photo world started the day I realized I needed a birthday gift for my husband. “He has everything,” I thought. Then the solution whacked me in the head: “But he doesn’t have a photo album of fake relatives.” So I set to work painting on Victorian photographs to create a faux family of oddballs and eccentrics. One thing led to another and soon my husband’s altered ancestors were turned into a line of greeting cards and Ain’t That a Kick in the Head was born.

Friends convinced me to open an Etsy shop for my greeting cards and soon afterwards I started selling original artwork as well. Tiny versions of my hand-painted altered photos made their way into Art-o-mat art vending machines. (Art-o-mat, noun: repurposed cigarette machines that now dispense original artwork). My found photo artwork was included in the book Artful Memories: How to Create Unique Art With Old Photographs by Jane Chipp and Jack Ravi and was featured in Catch Light visual arts magazine. My original artwork has been exhibited in galleries in Sacramento and Los Angeles and my small-run, boutique greeting cards continue to spread cheer worldwide. To say I’m humbled by all this is an understatement.

Especially now, with the world being so heavy, messing with old photos to create a bunch of wacky misfits brings me much needed lightness. And if my offbeat artwork makes someone else smile, there’s not much more I can ask for.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Debbie