Category: collage

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I hope you dance

I hope you dance“I hope you dance” is a mixed media collage art work using the sheet music of the beautiful song made famous by LeeAnn Womack and penned by Mark Sanders and Tia Sillers. My painting uses the iconic ballet dancer’s graceful en pointe image against a background of pinks and red tissue and washi papers.

You know, I was fortunate enough to see the charismatic, adorable and talented Tia perform it live at the Bluebird. I already loved the song and was so moved at her performance, I had to express it in some way and out came this painting.  Head over here for the back story on Tia’s inspiration in writing this song and the gorgeous music video of I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack.

Check it out as a design element in a beautiful home interior: hope you dance

Like this image? I’m afraid it’s only available in print these days. You can purchase it from this site. The good news is, if you really, really, really love it, you can even score other goodies such as note cards, yoga mats (yes, you know you’d love one), beach towels, hell, even shower curtains! So head on over and get your credit card out!

PS: If you absolutely must have an original along this same line, contact me to explore a commission for that once-in-a-lifetime gift for the special someone in your life.

 

 

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>Grumpy

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BP Can Go Eff Itself! 

The news headlines about the Gulf Oil Disaster have been weighing me down for weeks and I didn’t realize how much it had dominated the news until I sorted through the stack of newspapers I use for protecting surfaces in my art.  There were so many heart-wrenching headlines and I got more and more pissed off, so I tore them all out and figured I’d process them somehow.  At the same time, I had some remnant acrylic paint that kind of looked like the earth from up in space – green forest, blue water, and such.  I had been mulling it over with the intention of using it in some abstract or another. One thing led to another and … Voila!  I think I feel better! 

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Another Collage – LOVE THIS ONE!

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When we went to Florida last fall, we visited St. Joe Peninsula State Park and happened on this lovely scene I caught with my camera.  Thank heavens for long lenses!

I used a lot of natural materials for this, including corn husk for the feathers, blue recycled wax paper that I’d done some leaf print work with, and of course twigs, grasses and tree bark.  Golden mat gel and voila!

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>Finally, my first collage work

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You’ll see Warhol-style simplicity, some amazing phrases I found in books, a b & w photocopy of an old movie star posing with confidence and astarlet in her bo-peep cutesy dress, ribbon and curls gazing up at him adoringly.  Finally, if you look close enough at the words in the woven section across the top, you will see they are all names and events that took place in the past few centuries that have given women a near-equal standing with men in this world. 

In creating this piece, I had a real struggle not to go too snarky and cynical with it.  I mean, with the listing of career choices such as “Reluctant leader … Seamstress … Spectator of sporting events” it was very hard to quelch my self-righteous, outspoken demons.  But in the end, I am really pleased with this oddity and hope you all enjoy it too.  My first collage piece… Done at long last. 

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>More treasure hunting means more inspiration

>I’m referring, of course, to treasure hunting at the local Goodwill store.  This time, I also hit the Dollar Tree where I found some interesting made-in-China items that I might be able to use in some way, shape or form if I ever get to collaging.  Before I procrastinate a moment longer, I am signing off to go start one. 

TTFN.

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>Process

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It’s been five days and the leaf prints I have been working on produced some striking results!.  They are really time consuming and unpredictable in their outcome, however.  I will put up an album with final works in the near future but I am unable to replicate in photograph the metallic sheen and luminosity that bounces off some of these gorgeous prints.

While working on these, I definitely made some mechanical errors (like weighting down the prints far too long in too great of heat, producing some fusion of materials that made it impossible to use some of them).  Next time, I’ll know to work with fewer sheets, remove the weights quicker, and allow each to dry individually under lighter weights.

Once the prints dried, I sorted them all and pulled out the “frame-worthy ones” which either were prefect as is or required some simple outline work with paints and fine markers to punch them up and make the subject pop.  Final step is selecting mats.  The picture above shows two mats I had on hand and was just tooling around with them to check how they’d work around some prints I had completed. I will need to purchase a mat cutter before too long. Any suggestions readers? 

Back to process:  those prints that aren’t deemed “standalone frameworthy,” I either incorporate into abstract work, as in the photo to the right, or will use in collage work.  Toward that end, I’ve been collecting and categorizing scraps, other materials, washi, and other papers. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this weekend is it for collage work. Can’t wait!

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>Itching to do a collage or two!

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This weekend’s American Artisan Festival in Nashville motivated me to tackle a collage or two.  I saw a few truly wonderful works there, including those I’ve posted images of, above, and the works of Charla Steele.  They all burst forth and inspire me with their great color, texture, style, words, etc. and today went to the local goodwill where I scored some great materials to work with.  Now it’s just a matter of finding the right supports and getting to it.

The Goodwill materials include several very old books, some with terrific illustrations, some with great photos and cutlines, some with fantastic chapter and section headers.  I’ve got three of four themes I plan to work on to build these collages around.  I’ve scoured the internet for some instructive sites but haven’t found too many that add anything to what I’ve read in books already. 

I can’t wait to get started!  Now if only this damn heat wave would exit so I could work out in the garage.  The studio is cooler since we pulled the lined curtains closed in most of it.  There’s still plenty of light to work but it’s laid out more for painting whereas the garage has a wonderful countertop work surface which will be perfect for some of the collage work.