Megan Coyle | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

September 20, 2010June 15, 2024

Koala Bear

This piece was inspired by a visit to the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Washington, DC. When I can’t get great pictures of the animals in real life, I check out the large collection of creatures exhibited at the NHM. It’s the next best thing.

I remember when I was working on this piece in the open studio at the Torpedo Factory, a visitor came up to me to chat while I worked. She was seeing the piece from upside-down, and asked me if I was working on a helicopter. That made me chuckle a bit.

September 16, 2010June 5, 2024

Sunset in the City

This collage is currently hanging in my “Collage Scapes” exhibit at NIH. I don’t often work on landscape or cityscape pieces, so it was nice breaking away from what’s familiar to me. I think I should try to do some new still life work in the future since I haven’t really explored it all that much.

Things have been pretty busy these days. Then again, when are they not busy? I’m enjoying the cool weather while working away on my web work and commission work. I’m hoping to begin a few illustrations for my children’s book relatively soon.

Anyway, I hope everyone is have a lovely week and a wonderful weekend!

September 15, 2010January 29, 2017

Bosty goes to Oxford

So what’s next on Bosty’s trip? Wandering the streets of Oxford. He figured that after seeing Cambridge, he might as well mosey over to another college town.

He spent a little time in the park, admiring the colorful trees of autumn. Hmm, how about a nice fall dip in the fountain?

Next he decided to go to a few touristy places. Being the Harry Potter fan he is, Bosty checked out a few areas where they filmed scenes from the Harry Potter movie.

Including the Great Hall. He felt like a wizard’s hat was necessary for the occasion.

Then it was off to admire the architecture…

Bosty by collage artist Megan Coyle

And end the day with an English sunset.

September 12, 2010June 15, 2024

Ragamuffin

Another addition to my cat series. This one looks a little silly – but I had fun putting the piece together nevertheless. I really enjoy making animal collages – there are so many animals that look like such characters.

My weekend has gone by quickly and it’s been quite a productive one. I’m just about finished with a commissioned portrait and I also had a chance to deliver a piece that sold the other day. And now I’m about to head off to work on making several new magnets to add to my Etsy shop. Hope everyone else is having a marvelous weekend!

September 10, 2010January 29, 2017

Collage Scapes Exhibition

Today “Collage Scapes” opens at the East Alcove Gallery at NIH. The show will run from September 10th until November 5th, 2010. It features eight of my landscape and cityscape pieces. Of those eight, seven were completed within the past couple of months – so the majority of the work is fairly new.

I decided I wanted to create new scapes for this exhibit since I have a tendency of focusing a lot on animal and portraiture collages. I wanted to change things up a bit and add a little more range to my portfolio. Landscapes and still life work is something that I don’t often do, and I’m trying to incorporate more of these subjects into my work.

With “Collage Scapes,” my goal is to capture the color in everyday settings. More specifically, I wanted to capture scenes that are familiar to me and present them in a different light.

September 10, 2010June 15, 2024

Collage Scapes

Old Town Townhouses by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Old Town Townhouses.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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September 10th – November 5th, 2010
The East Alcove Gallery, NIH; Bethesda, Maryland
Map and Gallery Info

Eight of Megan Coyle’s latest collage scapes were on display in one of the National Institute of Health’s clinical galleries – The East Alcove Gallery.

Landscapes and cityscapes are one of the subjects that Megan hasn’t explored too often, and she wanted “Collage Scapes” to serve as a body of work where she’d explore the world around us in nature and urban life.

Her new landscape and cityscape collages featured scenes around the Washington, DC area, as well as New York City and abroad. With subjects ranging from local memorials to townhouses, Megan focused on the color that surrounds us in everyday environments.

September 9, 2010June 15, 2024

Old Town Townhouses

When I was working as a visiting artist this past summer, I did quite a bit of walking. It was about an hour walk to the local art center from my house – and I tried to make this trek twice a day (to the center and then back home) so I could get some exercise. So often I get cooped up inside making artwork or sitting in front of a computer. I felt it was necessary to force myself to get out and move about a little more.

On my walks, I’d take pictures from time to time to file away and use for future works of art. This collage was based on a series of photographs I took of the bright, colorful townhouses you can find on King Street in Old Town, Alexandria.

I don’t typically do landscape and cityscapes (you’ve probably realized I’m more of a sucker for animal and portraiture pieces), however this was a collage I made for an upcoming show I’m having at NIH – it features landscape and cityscape collages. I’ll post more pieces from the series later on.

September 5, 2010June 5, 2024

Brown Bear

I used a lot of texture for this one – I’m realizing that some days I’m in the mood to work with a lot of texture/fragments of images, while other times I like to focus on plain colors. This piece was inspired by a trip to the Natural History museum – I took a picture of one of their bears on display in an animal exhibit to use as a guide for the general outline of this bear. The background and shadowing were sort of made up as I went along.

I hope everyone is enjoying the first few days of September. I’ve been working away as usual, and I’m excited about a couple of commission pieces I have in my schedule. I’ve been working on a lot of animal and landscape collages, however both of my commissions are portraits. I sort of put portraiture aside after having two solo exhibits back to back this summer that showcased different work for each show. I was a little burnt out on using figures for my subjects, however now I’m rested up and ready to dive back in.

At the moment, my children’s book and animation work is put on hold until I finish up my work with clients.

September 1, 2010June 15, 2024

Purple Meerkat

This guy is my favorite piece from the body of work I completed this summer when I worked as a visiting artist at a local art center. I not only had a lot of fun putting together the meerkat, but I enjoyed playing with the textures in the background as well. And yes, this is another piece inspired by a trip to the DC zoo. I have to admit, those meerkats at the zoo are possibly my favorite animals there – they are just too cute!

At the moment I’m working away on a commissioned portrait, putting together a proposal for a couple of projects for a craft book, and continuing to write my first children’s book. Also, I’d like to thank Ann for featuring my work in her blog All Things Paper, and Beth for featuring me in her Featured Artist Tuesday post.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great month of August!

August 30, 2010January 29, 2017

Bosty goes to Cambridge

Bosty in Cambridge by collage artist Megan Coyle

After a trip to Brighton, Bosty decided to head over to Cambridge to take a look at the sights over there. He saw some tourists going on boat rides as we walked over to check out Cambridge University. Bosty was more in the mood for boat rides or watching boat riders than wandering the streets.

Once we made it to Cambridge University’s campus, Bosty wanted his picture taken. Another tourist shot? Don’t mind if I do!

And then he walked down the streets to do a little window-shopping.

And ended the day by running around the evening market. He grabbed a few bites of the pastries that were for sale as a snack. And he was quite content greeting all the strangers gathering at the market until it grew late – and was time to go get some shut eye.