Re-discovery

A coupkle days ago, I was going through a bunch of materials I had put in a map drawer years ago. I ended-up re-discovering this little gem...

It's titled, "The Orphan"... although the clothes that this young girl (or boy) is wearing certainly doesn't look like anything an "orphan" would be wearing (not to mention having a dog). Because I am still struggling with what to do with the main project I am working on right now, I decided to "play" with this image, and some of the scraps that I have laying around my primary work space. I started with this addition...

Then, I added a couple "accents"...

I felt that the semi-circle on the right was a bit too bright, so I tried some other reds. I finally found another piece that came from the same source as the red area on the left. I also shifted the vertical element slightly. I think shifting it has made it more compelling because of the interaction of the eye of the orphan, and because it "opens up" the dog's face a bit more. Not sure if this will be the final composition, but it's getting close to being done.

Fruits of our labor

It's always nice when a piece of my work gets accepted into an exhibition. The annual arts festival at Munson Museum of Art features many of the best local artists in the Utica area. The festival coincides with the annual 15K Boilermaker Road Race -- which is probably the biggest community event of the year. The art event used to be the "Annual Sidewalk Show" and they would have the artwork hung outside. I had a watercolor painting in that event years ago. But having collage work out in the hot summer weather, doesn't really work. They now have the event inside the museum; so I have submitted and gotten accepted in the last two years.

Visual beauty -- golf and collage

Golf season is in full swing (pun intended), and the weather has been splendid. So what does this have to do with collage? Well, I am spending more time on golf courses lately, than in the studio (that's why I haven't posted in a while). But what I find interesting, is that I think there is a connection between golf and collage, at least for me, personally. Both activities involve an appreciation of visual beauty. And both involve dedication and problem-solving skills. Last week, several of my long-time friends treated me to a week-long golf and kayaking vacation in northwest Maine. I am profoundly grateful. It was beautiful (and challenging)! I do have two ongoing projects in the studio, with others waiting to emerge. But for now, I thought I would share the visual beauty that I experienced in Maine.

A "good" conundrum

Okay, so I have done some cutting, and trimming, and experimenting; and have identified the beginning of what I think is a good composition. I think these colors work very well together, and I love the dimensionality of the sketches. But I find myself at a "fork in the road" at this point. I think that inclusion of the guy's muscle portrait works well. But I also like the elements without the portrait -- and perhaps it creates even stronger dimensionality. If I don't include the head, I might place some colorful orbs within the "tentacles" of the blue field. I certainly will play with that. On the other hand, the head element is so powerful (and I don't have another one... and I don't do photocopying) and fits well with the strength of the other elements. What to do? A real conundrum. A good conundrum, to be sure. But I am feeling rather "stuck". I'm heading out of town for a week-long golf trip to Maine; so I will be away from my studio for a bit. Maybe when I get back, I will feel less torn (... then again, probably not ;-)

More science inspiration

I'm playing with another portion of the science classroom poster/map that I used for another collage I posted a while ago. So excited to explore and see what comes of this!

 

Inspired by science

 I finished this pair of pieces last night, They are entitled "Prelix Supra" and "Prelix Infra". The pieces are 3" x 5" (8" x 10" framed). The letters represent the complementary amino acids found in the double helix of DNA. In this case, the string of amino acids in each composition are unpaired (although the sequences of each individual composition is complementary to the other). That's from where the first part of the title comes -- "Prelix" (before "helix"). BTW, the small "u" in the composition represents "uracil" which is found in place of thymine in RNA translation of the DNA pairs. The "supra" and "infra" part of the title simply refers to "above" and "below", respectively. That's the arrangement of this pair that I intended (i.e., one above, and one below)

The Making of "The Sacredness of Comfort and Care" -- imspirations, parallel processing, and emergence of a collage composition

Check out my new video on YouTube about my process of making a collage...

https://youtu.be/S_gWqImwO7E?si=iva1czZcpE6RQbby