Seeing possibilities... collecting collage ingredients

I'm often asked where the bits and pieces of my collages come from... I have a habit of looking at the negative spaces, the spaces BETWEEN and AROUND the featured items in a photograph. It's often there that I see the patterns, color gradations, and subtle imagery that I find most intriguing and useable.

The large photo above shows a recent photograph from the newspaper that had ingredient potential. (Caveat: It's very dangerous not to finish the paper before I get to it, if you want to be assured of reading the complete story!)

At left is a detail of the photo where I've indicated, with green outlines, the areas that I will rip out for future use.

I was recently explaining how I gather materials during a demonstration to a local art guild. Afterwards one fellow said, "You sure see things differently..." Yep, and I took that statement as a huge compliment!

Lively abstract inspiration in a cemetery

A couple of weeks ago, while visiting New Orleans, I noticed really interesting found abstract imagery all over the city. To top it off, I spent several hours exploring St. Louis Cemetery #1. (Overall photos and information about cemetery conservation efforts are here.)

The worn monuments and surfaces of the cemetery were really amazing and inspiring -- an intriguing visual treat, on hallowed ground, in the midst of an architectural/historical treasure! Here are a few of my favorite photos, all details/patterns. This imagery may not ever make its way into my work, but I am fascinated by composing with the camera when I discover patterns/surfaces that truly constitute found art. 

The cemetery is interesting on so many levels and well worth a visit next time you are in New Orleans... assuming you can tear yourself away from the jazz, food (beignets!) and drink. 

Eggstravaganza, wild egg decorating soiree

Last night was our annual night-before-Easter egg-decorating party. Six creative people and five dozen eggs later, here are the favorites! Any tool/technique and combining of colors was fair game. We used Paas® egg colors, rubber bands, string, cello tape, duct tape, china markers, Sharpie® markers, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, etc. Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!

Now that I've got most of the colors off my hands, I'm heading to the gallery to take down my show... Rather bittersweet as it has been such a great experience for me with positive comments, sales, good connections made, and an invitation to join the coop gallery. 

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.