Hardhat tour at commission site

I've been commissioned to create a four-part collage for the new Castle Rock Adventist Hospital. A fun first step was a hardhat tour, with all the commissioned artists, to see where our art would ultimately be located. My work will go on a wall in the surgical waiting area.The commissioned pieces will all relate to the aspen tree in some way. After measuring the wall, and spending time thinking about the root concept that was requested, I drew up a series of rough, thumbnail ideas with some notations about intent. These were presented by the art consultant who is managing the process.The hospital art selection group decided on a quadrant format that will have a hillside cross-section motif. The root idea, a nod to connectedness and community, will be the focus of the piece. Did you know the aspen tree is the world's largest living organism? Really! Whole groves are connected by a single root system.The four panels are now getting prepped with gesso in the studio and I'm anxious to get the project underway. More on this endeavor to follow...

Recapping... "To EXPAND" at the Madden Museum

Stretching out in the studio, September 2012.I spent a good portion of my studio time this year experimenting with how I could make bigger work after I was asked to participate in an exhibition at the Madden Museum. Six artists met with director Hillary Reed, toured and considered the venue, then decided that we all needed to respond in some way to the very expansive space with our artwork for this exhibition... and preparations for "To Expand" were set in motion.Because I use so many magazines to supply color ingredients, my collages have always reflected that source material and tended to be more intimate in scale. For this exhibition, I wanted to work with some larger papers. Included in the new collages are pieces ripped from shopping bags, from large papers I painted, and from make-ready press sheets set aside by a friend at a printing company. For the first time I also painted color on my supports and worked into that with my paper compositions.It was a stretch, literally! I'm so glad I pushed myself because I have new confidence in my ability to produce original work in sizes appropriate for corporate or public spaces. I've already realized that I can do small pieces and enlarge them through digital technology and now I know what it takes to do original work at a large scale. It's been a big year :)Above: A portion of my work at the Madden Museum, November 2012.So the exhibition included the largest collages I've created to date, some 80" in height! It was a bit of a whirlwind when our show date moved forward, but it all came together and the work of all six of us was amazingly cohesive with lovely unexpected relationships in color and composition. It was great working with painters Ken Elliott and Karen Scharer; encaustic artist Victoria Eubanks; fabric artist Carol Ann Waugh; and sculptor Mary Williams. The "To Expand" group will also show together at the Teal Gallery in Breckenridge, Colorado in January.Above: This view shows less than half the museum space... my work in center, rear.Above: The artists' reception, October 2012. Thanks to all who came out! 

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Hiatus... or, what I did on my summer vacation

I didn't really intend to take a summer vacation from this blog but that's truly how it has turned out. So much has happened since I last posted... here's an attempt to fill in at least some of the blanks!

We decided it was awfully quiet at our house and made the big decision to add a dog to our family. Derby arrived on "Derby Day" in May. She is a spunky, red standard poodle, growing fast! Needless to say, our home has been a very dynamic place lately.

My show at Spark Gallery in Denver was well received and lots of fun. Three of my best friends from college came for the opening reception -- traveling from Oregon, Alaska, and New Jersey to be here. I'm very grateful for their support and friendship over all these years.

The show was written up in the a new art magazine called kolaj. I'm thrilled to be included in the first issue. 

One of my collages was juried into this summer's All-Colorado exhibition at The Curtis Center for the Arts & Humanities.

As Colorado dealt with record-breaking heat and serious fires, I was in the studio working on water-influenced collages for a show at Parker Adventist Hospital's Healing Art Program in July and August. 

I've also been working on new collages for the upcoming "To Expand" exhibition at the Madden Museum. This show was scheduled to open in November... recently we were asked if we could move it forward by a month. Of course we can! So my efforts to get ready are a little more compressed than anticipated -- and I'm madly gluing away, working on the biggest collages I've ever attempted.

Throughout the summer, my graphic design work has been surprisingly busy, forcing me to rethink how to keep all the balls in the air. Still thinking!

My husband and I decided we don't use the family room much with our kids mostly gone... so we took it apart and moved the TV into our living room, a vintage 1910 Craftsman space. This required rearranging all the furniture and artwork, in several rooms! I love that we are now using the living room more though -- it's so cozy -- and the whole house seems fresher, more in tune with who we are these days. I'm lucky Jim is content with his basement studio... since my work seems to keep appropriating space!

Next we moved the computer work station, design supplies/files, my favorite "thinking" chair, and a 9 foot long table into the old family room. Now my old studio space can be used solely for art work. The two rooms adjoin and it just took some out-of-the-box thinking to realize how much sense it could make. The art room still needs a lot of organizational work (where did all these papers come from?!) but I've turned my back on that issue and am just dealing with a makeshift situation in the studio as I prepare for To Expand. After that work is done, I'll be able to return to reorganizing the spaces.

We did some traveling... My daughter and I took a trip to the LA area to visit my Mom, who is dealing with Parkinson's Disease, and my sister and her family. We also had a great visit with my stepson, Hunter, including a fun-filled beach bike ride.

Mid-August found Kelsey and I on the road again, headed to Bloomington, Indiana where she began her senior year at IU. Her car was fully loaded with clothes and IKEA furniture...brought back that scene from the intro to the "Beverly Hillbillies!" I helped with the move-in and flew home.

Then there were all the wonderful little moments -- the art openings, lectures, book club meetings at the Botanic Gardens, bike rides, walks, yoga classes, evenings on the porch, and other social niceties that rounded out the summer. It has truly flown by. I was feeling overwhelmed and needed some summer ease, so something had to go -- it was the blog!

However, I have been updating the Facebook page about my art more regularly! Please consider "liking" it... yes, that means you have to click the button at the top of the page! Then when I post new work, it will show up in your news feed. Click here to check it out.

More soon, promise. :) 

I look rather short...

... and I'm actually fairly tall, 5'9"ish!

Here's the latest photo of the constructed landscape collage, framed and ready to be delivered to its final location at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, Colorado. Eventually I'll take a field trip to photograph it installed.

Above: Janice McDonald with the constructed landscape collage, enlarged and digitally printed on canvas panels (each three feet square) from scan of original paper collage triptych where each part was one foot square.