Sketch or piece?

Have I mentioned lately that I love collage? ;-)

So... I can't decide if this is a sketch, or a finished piece. I will decide tomorrow (or in days to come). I won't make a "permanent" decision if I have enjoyed some beer. I do love it though.

Exhibition proposal

I submitted this exhibition proposal to one of our excellent local art galleries. If anyone sees this and might be interested, please let me know.

 

First piece of 2023!

I'm very excited to have completed this piece today! I had posted a "sketch" of the composition in an earlier post. It's nice to have it completed. It's strange that I do not have a title for it, as of yet. Typically, titles emerge for me very freely. I just don't have it for this one yet. The image of this young woman was so compellingly beautiful. When I saw this single page at the auction in Pennsylvania last year, I just HAD to have it. I was worried that I would hang on to it for too long, waiting for a very special moment to use it. But the composition emerged fairly quickly in the studio at the end of 2022. The cactus flower elements are from a calendar that used to belong to my mother-in-law, Peg; who passed away unexpectedly last October. A-HA! As I wrote that, a title just emerged.... "In Memory of Margaret". Yes!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 Happy New Year to one and all! I am looking forward to a creative and productive year ahead. And I wish the same for all of you. One of my resolutions for the year is to "get my chops up" with regard to my music-playing (it will take some hard work to get to where I was prior to the pandemic). But I will also continue to create collages throughout the year; and I am looking forward to "stretching" a bit with my collage work. I have TONS of large frames, even though my work tends to be small (usually smaller than 16" x 20"). So I am looking forward to trying some large format pieces. I have also recently been experimenting with abstract works comprised of architectural elements. Here are some initial "sketches"...

Holiday surprise

 I have had a couple of unfortunate experiences over the past several years of finding an element that I REALLY would like to use, only to have it "ruined" by the ink from the reverse side bleeding through after coating. For example, when I coated this iconic image from LIFE magazine, ink from the reverse side of the page bled through...

Of course, the question of whether to use such an emotionally-charged and sensitive image is the topic of another post, perhaps. The point that I am trying to make is that the coating process can sometimes "ruin" an element. I only had this example; but it has happened a number of times. I tried using this colored mat to test whether I could make the element "work". But I was not satisfied. Some folks have suggested that I make a photocopy of the element, and coat that. Sorry folks, I only do analog collage -- so that option is not going to be a remedy.

The same bleeding-through happened with this element (but I didn't take a photo of the "ruined" image):

Which brings me to my holiday surprise. I recently came across this image -- which I was very excited about using as a compositional element:

When I coated the page (it was very thin paper -- newspaper-like), the ink from the reverse side bled through. Once again, I was very disappointed that the image was rendered "unusable". Instead of throwing it out, I set it aside in a pile in the standard chaos of my studio. When I was cleaning my studio a bit this week, I was very pleasantly surprised to find it, and discover that the bleed through had disappeared (perhaps as a result of thorough drying?). I'm re-energized to work with this element. I suspect you will recognize it in a new composition for 2023!

Kracken 'n' fish

Knowing that I do collage stuff, a colleague of mine asked about the best way to attach a photocopy to a painted board. I explained what I would do; and offered to bring in some of my acrylic medium. Then I offered to bring the materials into the studio and do it for her. I decided that the piece would look better with some fish to embellish the scene. Of course, I checked with her before putting the fish down. I think it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. She loved it!

It's time

I remember taking a course entitled, something like, "Visual Arts Appreciation" in college. It was an "Art History Lite" general education course, taught by Professor Michael Fox (yes, I still remember) for first-year students, primarily. I loved the course! I remember vividly when Professor Fox showed the class a number of paintings of shoes, by Van Gogh. Some of the shoes were quite worn, with thin. soles and holes in the leather. Professor Fox suggested that these shoes captured the intimacy of normal life, and represented the humanity of the individual who had donned the shoes. I think that sentiment can probably also be captured in the "over-clothing" that painters, sculptors and other artists wear when they create their artworks. 

At the end of what has been a trying year for me, I am ready to look forward to a new -- and hopefully better -- year ahead. And in that spirit, it is time (actually past the time) for me to don a new pair of "studio pants" (lined, canvas Carhartts). I've been wearing the old pair for over 10 years, and it shows. But, if acrylic medium-covered, paint-splotched, hole-y material could talk, there would be lots of good creativity stories to be told by these pants. The big question is this: "Should I simply throw them away; or save them as a nostalgic artifact?"

They were more faded than I realized too...