Another great art opening this week. On Saturday evening, the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts (Little Falls, NY) hosted its annual regional juried exhibit which included work from my friends and fellow artists Tom Nettle, Doug Whitfield, Eric Whitfield, Andrea Vedder, John Paul Gardner, Erin Gardner, Terry McCarthy, and Jeff Miller, among others. Very impressive group of work, and worth the visit to another arts gem in the Mohawk Valley (NY). Wish that I had entered a piece :-(
When folks ask me about my "creative process", I often say that I am "an explorer", and "an experimenter", and "a recognizer". I rarely (if ever) start my creative endeavors with some preconceived composition idea in my mind, which I then try to create. Rather, my process starts with foraging/exploration of images from various magazines or books (often vintage, but sometimes contemporary). Once I have found interesting images, I then experiment with juxtapositioning. I refer to these experimental combinations as my collage "sketches" -- and I like to post these intermediate sketches to share the process with anyone who is interested. I continue to experiment, until I "recognize" a collage composition that I think will really "work" as a final product. Although I did some prep work last night in the studio coating a box I will be using for another assemblage work, I spent most of my time exploring and "harvesting" images from the "Illustrated London News" magazines from 1893. It was SO much fun! Interestingly (I think), this publication, as well as many publication that are from this era, includes two types of images -- some are based on drawings; some are based on etchings. I rarely use the images based on drawings, but am compelled by the higher quality of the images based on etchings. Here are some examples of the images based on drawings:
Creating collages is one of my passions. I love my time in the studio, exploring, experimenting and creating. Even if I never had the chance to exhibit my work, I would still embrace the process. But I do enjoy opportunities to exhibit my work. It's like frosting on the cake. And I can't think of a much better evening out, than to go to an art exhibit, and then go out to dinner with friends and fellow artists. Last night was one of those nights. The "Mixed-Up" exhibition of mixed media artwork at the Rome Arts and Community Center (Rome, NY) was last night. It's a VERY nice collection of work from a number of very talented artists from central New York. Afterward, we went to "Sugarbeets", a wonderful restaurant just blocks away from the RACC. A spiritually-uplifting evening!
I've been spending most of my free time on the golf course lately (a VERY visually-rich activity, I must say). But I have also been making my way into the studio a bit too. I anticipate that when golf season is over (which will be shortly), I will have lots of productive evenings in the studio, because I have had lots of fun experimenting with many interesting collage elements. I'm excited about what will emerge! Here's a few shots of more sketches that may or may not be converted to final compositions...
I'm really "digging" this sketch. I absolutely love the saturated colors. It may be close to being finished (although, I must say, I should post some of the other experiments...
Here's the finished piece (I think). I was contemplating, and had experimented with placing one more small "numbers" element on the lower left-hand side. In some ways, it really "stabilizes" the composition. But when I tried a couple versions, I just wasn't satisfied. I can always add it in the future, if I feel like it. But I think this composition is good as it is. I am submitted this to a mixed-media exhibition in Rome, NY (Sept.).
Went into the studio last night to get some things taken out of frames that I purchased over the weekend. I wasn't expecting to do too much creatively. But as it turns out, I had a VERY productive evening, inspired, I think, by this lovely vintage (and large) image (also purchased over the weekend at an estate sale)...
