while weekend working

Last night and this morning, while prepping some of the eyes for the collage lapel pins I'm creating for "Thoughtsgiving", I was playing around with some collage sketching. I'm happy to say that I finished this piece this afternoon. It's entitled "On Dreams' Edge".

weekend work

This Wednesday is the 10th anniversary of a holiday I created (with the help of Brad Emmons and Jason Denman) called "Thoughtsgiving". I have written about it for this blog previously. One of the traditions that this holiday involves is my creating a bunch of lapel pin collages for people. I enjoy doing it... once it's done! It does create a bit of a stressor for me as I want to create good collages and they have been thematic in the past (i.e., I try to do duplications of related collages). This year, I think I am going to do something like this. I can find a variety of eyes and a variety of words or numbers to place in the eye. I'm kind of liking it!

comparison

The next-to-last post featured a "sketch" for a possible composition. Last night, I finished the piece. I thought it would be interesting to put the sketch next to the finished piece for comparison.

National Collage Society Annual Juried Exhibit reception

Had a really nice time at the opening reception for the NCS exhibit Thursday evening at the Cummings Gallery at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was nice to see Gretchen Bierbaum again, and to meet Will Ursprung.

tonight's sketch

This piece is not finished (as can easily be seen), but I thought I'd post it anyway. I've been trying to clean out some materials that have been laying around the studio for a while. The nautical map and the vintage image of the boy and man have both been around for over a year in my studio. I absolutely love the color of the boy and man; and I am really intrigued by the boy's expression (or lack thereof). The structure on the horizon is an ornate vase which I had prepared for the piece with the rose... but had mentioned that it was to intricate (it would have "competed" with the flowers). The women statues on the side and the borders are all from those 1870s publication The Art Journal. Such beautiful elements!
BTW, an update about my previous post... it was NOT accepted into a juried small works show at Main Street Gallery in Clifton Springs (NY). I was kind of bummed about it. I thought the piece was VERY strong; and I really wanted to show at that venue again. It's really a nice place! But I don't know... this is the second year in a row I was rejected; and I thought I had very strong pieces each year. Oh well.
Hmmm... not letting me upload the image right now. I'll post later.

currency

So excited about how this piece turned out. It's entitled "If you got the money honey,...". It's 7" x 7" and will go into an 11" x 11" frame. There is a total of 20 elements to this piece; 17 of which are pieces of American currency. I had to obtain older versions of the $10 bill, because the profile of Hamilton on contemporary versions is too large. Of the common bills, only Hamilton is facing left. The two dark squares on the upper and lower portions of the piece are the cut-out portions through which you see the presidential profiles. This piece is a bit of departure form my normal "surreal narrative" compositions, in that it is a bit more "design-y". I've also tried to create a bit of tension between symmetry and asymmetrical components.

Juried exhibition of the National Collage Society

I am very excited that this piece, entitled "The Great Escape"  (which I posted last year on this blog) has been accepted into this year's NCS juried exhibit! The acceptance rate is under 15% (of the 373 submissions). The exhibit will be on display at the Cummings Gallery at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania from November 4th through December 7th (the opening reception will be on Nov. 7th).