Collage studio views: small support prep

A gallery gift shop has asked for some original "Poundling" pet collages to display and I'm out of inventory. Here are some images of how I begin the process.I use pre-gessoed 5 x 7 x 1/8" panels. I begin by covering them completely with a patterned background. Here I'm using "pet for sale" want ads and musical scores from books the library has de-acquisitioned. I create the background look by painting generously with acrylic and rubbing much of it away with a rag for a tinted look. I can add layer upon layer until I get the desired effect.All kinds of lids and containers are recycled for mixing paints. Notice the tray repurposed from a recent Whole Foods sushi lunch!The first photo is of the plain boards. I use that giant glass ashtray to hold glue/medium. It's deep, heavy enough that it doesn't move around, and the cigarette indentations hold a brush beautifully!The second image shows the background layers of papers drying after being glued down. The final photo is of the newly tinted backgrounds drying atop random jars in the studio. I'll add photos of the resulting collages in a future post.

Galvanized for Day of the Dead

I've been wanting to try out some different supports for collage and had some small pieces of galvanized metal in the studio... So I used a 6 x 4" piece to create a collage ofrenda to donate to A Book About Death's Day of the Dead exhibition at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in Fort Worth, Texas, sponsored by the FluxMuseum.

"Retablo 2010" (above) has acrylic paint applied to the metal, with collage added, and was coated with a UV varnish. The collage elements seemed to adhere well to the galvanized metal and I like the very understated, industrial, sparkle. I will definitely experiment further with using metal in my work. The composition is intended to be somber, thought-provoking, and uplifting all at the same time... hope I've accomplished that in some small way!