As you can see, I'm contining to add big areas of color via chunks of paper to get the background filled in so I can work into the piece with further detail.This collage is so big that I'm incorporating sheets of kraft, rice, and wrapping paper -- along with the usual found and repurposed papers. If I used my typical materials (the size of a typical magazine page or smaller), the overall effect would be far more busy and kinetic than what I envision. I need an interesting, but simple, band of layers upon which I can develop the root structure of the aspen grove.Can you tell that I have to stand on a stepladder and hold my camera over my head to get this all in??!! That's why these process images are a bit skewed... I'm working on a counter height table and don't really have any other way to see the whole image assembled!
"Rooted together" commission in progress 4.29.13
in Collage Art, Studio
Here's an update... I'm working away on getting the big areas of color applied so that I can go back with more papers to represent the details: aspen trees, undergrowth, and roots.I also was videotaped and interviewed while working today to document the development of the collage. The hospital will have QR codes near each commissioned artwork so that the creative process can be seen by interested viewers as part of a virtual art tour. I responded to numerous questions and rambled away... here's hoping it will be both insightful and a good diversion for those who may watch it online while in the surgical waiting area!
Hardhat tour at commission site
in Collage Art, Studio
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...
High altitude art
in Inspiration
I had a lovely drive up to Breckenridge, Colorado last week to drop off work for another show with the To Expand group, this time at Teal Gallery. The roads were dry and the mountain vistas were spectacularly snowy. I love how the shadows move, change and define the planes under the all white surfaces of the snow.Finally I was able to go over to Beaver Run and see my collage project, in person. (Thanks to the snowboard gal who took a moment away from the slopes to snap my photo!) It is installed in a two story portion of the lobby so I enjoyed the views from above and below but wasn't wildly successful in getting a better photo of it in situ... It really could use some additional lighting. Still, I'm thrilled to have it there!The day was so warm, and the area so protected at the bottom of the ski runs, that I settled in at a sunny picnic table to eat my sack lunch outside and people-watch... a nice little field trip.The artists' reception at Teal Gallery is this Saturday, January 19th from 5-8 pm. If you are in the vicinity, please come by and say hi! The show will runs through February 7th, 211 N. Main Street, M-F, 10-5 and Saturdays 10:30 - 6.