Collab piece with Eric Whitfield

 I'm SO excited about this collaborative effort with painter Eric Whitfield. Here are the before and after photos of the piece...

The most challenging part in the process of adding collage elements to a painting like this, is that in order to add something that looks like it's in the background (the galactic element, in this case), is that it would really be feasible to cut the canvas and place an element beneath. What that requires then, is cutting a collage element so that it looks like it's actually behind (occluded by) the foreground. I accomplished that by taping transparent paper over the canvas and carefully tracing the complex shape that it required.

Interestingly, my first attempt did not include the curved portion of the element (it would have ended-up being off the painting). It wasn't because I made a mistake, I just simply didn't "see" that the curved portion of the element would have added more aesthetic interest. Fortunately, I had a number of similar galactic elements (part of a series in an astronomy book). 

Here's what the two different cut-aways looked like...

Of course, as another detail process, I had to paint the edges of the elements to cover the white interior (I did that for each of the small dark rectangular images being dropped form the hand too...

And as often happens, good collages usually entails some element (pun intended) of luck/serrrendipity. The element around the eye, was a bit of a throw-away piece (I had previously cut out the planetary portion of it. Not only was the hole a perfect size, but check out the matching color of my collage element and Eric's paint color. LOVE it!

OMG... I almost forgot to mention something about the TV/radio tube element. I had had that element for quite a while. It is an absolutely beautiful element (from the cover of a vintage electronics magazine). But it doesn't really match my typical aesthetic. I had been thinking of trying something new with that element as an impetus. It hadn't worked out in the couple times I tried to incorporate it. But as soon as I placed it on Eric's painting, I was off-and-running! It certainly matches his aesthetic, and it got me excited to work on the rest of the piece. If I hadn't placed that on first, I wonder what else would have emerged. But I can't imagine any other element so perfectly blending in.