Down Payment: A Collage Triptych Made from a Vintage Maine Bank Book
I waited for the sun to move and clear the wall of shadows so I could take new pictures of three collages. It's been a long time since we've had any sunshine.
Sitting outside with my coffee, I watched leaves of many colors drop from the cherry trees. There wasn't much bird song, but the crickets and the neighbor's rooster had a lot to say.
© 2026, Down Payment, 12” x 9”
The three pieces I had to photograph began as a commission.
A historic bank building in Portland, Maine, was being converted into a hotel, and they asked me to create a piece for their sample room, the model guest room where the design comes together before the rest of the building is finished.
I started with ephemera from the bank itself. These papers are practical by nature. They're rows of dates and figures, careful handwriting, and rubber stamps. But vintage papers tell tales, especially once your imagination gets involved.
For these three pieces, the story began with ephemera from a bank in Portland, Maine. In my story, the deposit book held small, practical entries recording Mr. and Mrs. Brown's savings for the down payment on their first house. It was a small cabin on the edge of the ocean with rocky fields of wild blueberries. They would have their coffee under dark storms or blue skies, listening to the sea.
I was asked for one piece, and I made three. I wanted the client to have a choice, and honestly, I was enjoying the materials too much to stop.
Alongside the bank papers, I added my own letterpress-printed papers, pulled on my century-old press, and gelli plate monoprints. The letterpress brings crisp texture and a sense of history. The gelli prints bring softer layers of color.
Each piece stands on its own, but the three were made side by side from the same papers and the same story, and they read as a set. Hung in a row or stacked, they make a quiet gallery wall with a history behind it.
Mrs. Brown, Portland, and Down Payment. Each $530.00- framed and with US shipping included.