Last night, I helped a friend move a big, heavy mirror out to the side of the street for garbage. When we set it against the tree, I saw the reflected image and surroundings and knew it would make a good photograph. It came out much better than I had expected. This image looks SO much like a collage; but it's a "raw" photograph with no filter or other manipulation... like a "mirage collage". I think it's SO cool!
If you have followed this blog long enough, you might remember "Thoughtsgiving" -- a "holiday" that I created with a couple of friends from the pub, in 2010. It's the name that we gave Thanksgiving Eve. We gather at The Green Onion pub on that day and reflect on what we are thankful for. I made a tradition out of creating small collage lapel pins for the event. COVID put a damper on all of that (if you look back at Thoughtsgivings before 2020, you can see some of them). But last year, my friend Maisie made some crocheted Thoughtsgiving pins and we tried to resurrect the event. It was small, but very meaningful last year. This year, we hope to re-invigorate the tradition. And I am very excited to say that Maisie and I are going to do a collaboration on the lapel pins. Here are some of the bases for the pins, on which Maisie will be adding an embroidery element. I can't wait to share pictures of the finished pieces!
My intention to focus on my artwork this weekend has paid off so far. Not only did I finish the piece that I show in the previous post, but I also finished this one. This piece was inspired by a recent call for artwork for a still life themed exhibit, to be held at Rome Arts and Community Center in January. I don't typically consider my work to be "still life", but when I read the call for this exhibit, it reminded me of an element that I knew I had in one of my piles. It was a still life, of sorts, of a bunch of Diamond walnuts from a vintage advertisement. I absolutely loved the saturation of colors that they used. So I searched for that element Friday night (and found it quickly). After I found that element, I started experimenting with other elements to use with it. I also recently acquired a couple of decorative ovals frames, and put one of them over some of the sketches I was doing with the walnut element. I think the oval frame is perfect for a still life piece -- it's kind of typical for a still life. I actually consider the frame to be one of the collage elements in this composition. One of the common questions folks ask me when I do a presentation is "How long does it take you to do one of your collages"? I couldn't possibly answer that question in general, because completion time is SO variable. But I must say, this piece came together VERY quickly -- from inception to completion in less that 48 hours!
I finished this piece this morning. I ended-up going with kind of a hybrid placement for the flower in the upper portion of this composition. I have a working title for this piece which I actually consider part of the composition, in a way (like many of my titles). It's a three-part title... "1. It's really none of your business; 2. And you wouldn't understand, anyway; 3. Fuck off"
