minor (or not) changes

Well, I forgot the exact title that I wanted when I "stuck the mat" so it is now "You may be our only chance" (although I like "hope" much better... too late now). I also matted it with a cream-colored mat and also included a tiny blue rhinestone on the end of this dude's walking stick (or whatever it is). It was difficult to price this one (and perhaps that is good fodder for another post). Enjoy!

"You may be our only hope"

I have now finished this piece. Even though it's only 5" X 7", I'm going to try to mount it within an 11" x 14" mat and frame. I'm also going to see how it looks with a cream-colored mat instead of the black as shown here. This piece will be exhibited (and be for sale) at the Holiday Show at Sculpture Space on December 6th from 5:30-7:30.

my latest

I'm still working on a title for this one. I'm considering calling it "Preparing for the Invasion" (with allusion to the invasion series). It's darker than some of my other work (in more ways than one). Enjoy!

progression

This piece is not done yet, but for those folks who are interested in the process of the development of a piece, I thought this would be interesting. I'm not sure if this will be an "official" part of the "Invasion" series; although it certainly looks like it belongs. Enjoy!

Stanley Center for the Arts (SCA)

My piece entitled "Cerebrocardiotechnicha" has been accepted into the SCA regional show. The opening will be next Tuesday from 5-6:30 (upstairs from the Stanley Theater in downtown Utica). I'm glad this piece is being shown again... and in Utica. I feel very fortunate and grateful that I now have pieces in three exhibits going on simultaneously. All the hours of hard work have "paid-off" (although, truth be told, they've already paid off in terms of the enjoyment I've experienced in the creative process). Enjoy!

Sammy and Emma make collages!

Here are collages made after our Sloppy Joes dinner this evening by my nephew Sammy (age 11) and niece Emma (age 9).

"Simulatio" reception

Oh yes, I forgot to post the pic of the opening reception. I want to thank folks for coming out on this rainy afternoon. Hope you enjoyed.

"Simulatio" opening at MVCC

I really had a nice time at Mohawk Valley Community College this afternoon. My fellow artists are cool and the people seemed to like the show. The pieces are very nicely complementary. I'm very pleased! Check it out at MVCC in the small works gallery in the Technology building. Just a couple shots to share with you (hey, where's the pic buton?). Enjoy!

The light box "Brunoven"

I've finally finished the details of this light box I have been working on. It's entitled "Brunoven", which is an anagram of "noun verb". Each of the words written near the images can be used as a verb or a noun -- branch, pet, yellow, reach, block, love and head. The title is also suggestive of an "oven" and perhaps a word of German origin.. "brun". Enjoy!

Day 2 of The Invasion

Okay, so here is the finished product (the one with the double matting, to match Day 1). The first one in this series (the one with the colorful bird) was purchased by my colleague Dr. Tyson Kreiger. I was motivated to continue doing a series of these pieces because I like them and it seems that others do too. I was contemplating including a bird head in each one, but when I saw how nice this lady's head looked, I just couldn't resist. But... I did try a composition with a golden eagle head (as shown). When I used this head, I certainly had to change the color scheme of the background space imagery. It provided me with the opportunity to do some photographing to use in a workshop about collage composition I hope to put on one day. Enjoy!

Dinner 'n' Collage, Take 3

Mary Carol and I and my cousin Dan Sanders have hosted a couple of what we have called "Dinner 'n' Collage" events in our home. Dan is a wonderful cook (he's been featured on The History Channel's show "Food Tech" and teaches classes in Mexican cooking). After a nice dinner with drinks, the table is cleared and then I spread-out lots of pre-coated specimens from which guests choose to create wonderful collages. It's great fun and folks seem to really get into it and "dig" the finished product. Here are some of the collages created by others (none are mine) last night. I think they're great! Enjoy!

Fire zone - progress of the next invasion

After about a month and a half of feeling minimally inspired, on Thursday of this week I had the time to spend in my studio (and had cleaned-up my area a bit) and ended-up feeling "on fire" again or "in the zone" with regard to collage activities. It was exhilarating and greatly appreciated! I have several projects underway, but thought I would share a couple photographs of the second in a series of "invasion" collages I have in mind. Many people ask "how do come up with your ideas for a collage?". One of the things that I do LOTS of, is trial-and-error. I interchange many elements multiple times to finally arrive at what looks good to me. Fortunately, what looks good to me apparently looks good to some others as well. But the point here is that the collage doesn't just "come together" (i.e., it's not just simply "thrown together" quickly... in my case). Here are some of the "trials" that I have looked at this week. It's unlikely that all the elements shown will make it to the finished piece. But you can probably see things "developing". Enjoy!

new assemblage

A new piece for the upcoming show at Mohawk Valley Community College. Enjoy!

PSY507 - Psychology & The Visual Arts

Last night I had a great session with my class at Utica College. The course is NOT a studio art course - we mostly look at lots of art and discuss the various techniques used to create various effects like illusion of depth or Gestalt groupings. But last night was "studio art night". We started with some color mixing exercises and then spent the majority of the night creating collages. Here are a couple that were created by students (I will post more, but many of the images were slightly blurring for some reason). I was proud of the group for what the created. Enjoy!

National Collage Society Annual Juried Exhibit

You can now view this year's Annual Juried Exhibit of the National Collage Society at http://www.nationalcollage.com/2010.html.
In fact, this year the society has "gone green", so that there is no physical exhibit of this show at any gallery. Not sure if I really like that idea (I think there should be a gallery exhibit as well). The thumbnail images are a bit deceiving as they show only a small section of each respective image. It's best to open the first image and then hit "next" to go through the show. Enjoy!