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!

Passionate people profile: who, me?!

I'm honored to be featured in life coach Ruth Davis' blog about Passionate People this month. Check it out... an interview including all kinds of things you may not know about me, especially how I acquired and maintain my collage habit! (Thanks, Ruth!) 

The accompanying portrait was taken in front of one of my large and early works, "Yellow Rising,"  a 36 x 24" contemporary paper collage on wood panel, a piece I considered pivotal and kept as part of my personal collection. 

The collage work that illustrates the article is representative of several different series, plus commissioned work -- more of all is available to view on my website.

Blue and white sketchbook collage explorations

I've always loved the color blue, in all its variations, and been attracted to nearly any patterned blue and white pattern/motif (as evidenced above in a quick stroll with camera through my home.) In culling materials for collage, I rarely find blue and white patterns that are large enough in scale to use in my work... but I rip them out anyway, just in case! 

I recently decided to play with the blue and white bits in my sketchbook. I painted rough swatches of black gesso across a spread and am beginning my small-scale explorations in blue and white there. The process is already giving me new ideas and directions for future, larger, pieces. I'm especially enjoying responding to the rough-edged black patches by adding collage elements and have already started another series on paper that experiments with large gessoed areas of black as a basis for further collages. 

 

Non-linear visual journalling

Sketchbooks, "legacy" projects, and visual journalling have somehow figured in many of my conversations over the last week or so. Funny how ideas connect, collide, and enhance each other in unpredictable ways!I participated in a really wonderful and inspiring workshop on visual journalling with Judith Cassel-Mamet, sponsored by Abecedarian Gallery, over the weekend. I loved Judith's premise that a visual journal needn't be linear. The idea of working a bit on many pages simultaneously, back and forth, in the spaces (intervals) between things, in small moments, really resonated with me. Not surprisingly, working in a layered and additive manner appeals to me as a collagist.It was great fun to work rapidly and freely with mixed media approaches to the pages. I have lots of wild new thoughts about journalling and artist book possibilities.I've decided to try integrating my art idea sketchbook (existing) into an idea/visual/fun/life journal. It's all intertwined anyway. However, my junk mail journal, which has been rather dormant of late, will remain its own entity... as it has a long, storied, and independent history!Hopefully I'll have pages from the sketch-journal (or whatever I eventually decide to call it!) to post here from time to time. The experimental piece shown is a cropped portion of a multi-layered mixed media piece that I worked on during the workshop, then simply taped into my book, to await further play (or not). We'll see... happily, anything goes.