‘56 Corvette (The Pea Shooter)
©2025 ‘56 Corvette (The Pea Shooter), Maria Morris
Over the years, I’ve written about my artistic process, where I find my images, and the sexual references within most of my collages, but this is the first time I’ve written about a specific piece. Honestly, I’m not sure where to start. Maybe the focal points? I haven’t always included classic cars. ’58 Cadillac was the first. But then I found a gorgeous image of an Edsel, and a theme was born. It’s been suggested that I should abandon the cars because they’re very niche, but I love them, and they create a wonderful naming convention.
I keep folders of pages, and within each folder are envelopes full of images cut from their printed backgrounds, collected over more than thirty-five years. Some images have moved from state to state, house to house, waiting for their turn to become part of something larger than themselves. The Corvette was patient for twenty years, the water gun only about seven. But boy, I tell yuh, I’ve been wanting to use that water gun for all those years. Its distinct yellow body, green inner tube, and red trigger dictated the color story.
A red and white car entwined with a clear plastic gun was the starting point, angled to fit on a 14" x 11" canvas-wrapped board. Back to the folders and envelopes, I searched for images in reds, yellows, and greens, finding as many multiples as possible. Repetition is critical. Focal points and larger images can stand alone, but the supporting imagery must repeat when possible. It’s a personal rule. So, I stacked my baseballs, apples, hypodermics, peas, and parrots. Oh my! Believe me, I was going to make those peas work if it killed me because this becoming a pea shooter was comical and delightful.
The needles are a statement. While originally from an article about Botox, they scream drugs. Their scale is off-putting. Skewering things through them screams sex. A handful of CBD gummies are peppered throughout, providing the happiest and most adorable drug references. What’s missing from the triad is the rock ‘n roll, a topic I normally inject. I can’t decide if that pun is or isn’t intended.
Since the mid-2000s, my collages have typically included birds. There’s a story here, but for another time. The parrots, technically yellow-crowned amazons, feature the collage’s full color palette. Two of the three parrots’ bodies were cropped in their source catalog. It felt fun to give one a wing made from a sugar snap pea. Two are being helpful by holding fruits and balls in their beaks. One has a bucket hat fashioned from a pea stem.
Beautiful shoes make their way into my work. Back in the day, pre-pandemic, I was known for wearing a heel or two. I love gorgeous footwear. One very spendy baseball pump is buried in the layout and loaded with balls and fruit. Please, designer label that rhymes with Italian Wine, don’t sue me. Take the compliment. I’d rock that shoe (for one hour before changing into some Adidas Gazelles).
Speaking of fruits and balls (clears throat). Only a few of the apples are sliced open, but one is bitten into. It’s a misnomer that Eve tempted Adam with an apple. Bruce Springsteen knows the truth. He ain’t going for that. But something’s got those sugar snap peas sweating. It isn’t the two ladybugs, which may be the trickiest images to find. Hint: they’re near each focal point.
’56 Corvette is fresh and vibrant with a combination of vertical and angled visual movement. My collages have evolved over the last ten years with more deliberate placement of imagery and a sense of directionality. As always, the humor is present, and the references are subtle. Enjoy the exploration. Remember, cookies are for closers.
Up Next
‘78 Toyota Cressida
I don’t normally make statements with my collage, but these are crazy days. This work in progress could dip a toe into political waters.
