And now for a slightly different collage – a close up of a rooster! Roosters are rather peculiar looking birds when you look at detailed pictures of their faces. Nonetheless, I enjoyed playing around with texture and the expression for this one.
This is an example of a collage where I wasn’t wild about it, but decided at some point you just have to throw your hands up and say, “I’m done!” What’s always amazing is how you can make something, not really like the way it looks, and find that plenty of other people like it. Art is definitely subjective. And everyone has their own preference with styles and compositions – you never know who might enjoy something that you’re not crazy about.
Who knows, maybe a few weeks from now I’ll like this piece. When you’re working on a work of art, and it’s been in front of you for several hours, it’s difficult to look at it differently when you’ve been frustrated during different stages. Sometimes a bit of space from your art is all you need.
This piece started out just as any other animal collage does…however once it was nearly complete, I realized that the bird almost looked like it was smiling. I like it when my artwork surprises me.
I was recently profiled in my alma mater’s magazine, Elon Magazine. I was interviewed by a current student, and enjoyed telling him a bit about my artistic journey from being an art student to becoming a professional artist.
This collage started out looking a little bit abstract, and I decided to keep it that way somewhat. Sometimes it’s interesting to tackle a subject that’s so familiar like a squirrel. Every now and then you can get interesting results.
I thought this lion looked pretty dignified, so I decided to call him “Sir Lion.” I’ve done a couple other lion collages in the past, but this one is more of a close-up. I’m definitely on a streak with these animal collages, and I’m planning to complete a few more in the upcoming weeks.
I was recently interviewed by Workspiration. You can check out the “Work Inspiration” interview online.
The other day I received a request from a client in Canada to create a collage of the Calgary Tower. Architectural elements are always more difficult when working on a smaller scale, although I enjoyed the challenge. After spending a lot of time focussing on animal pieces, it was also nice to change things up a bit with a building.
I haven’t made a collage of a cow in years – the last one I did was a purple cow back in 2008. This time I went with a more realistic approach – and I like how gentle and kind this one turned out. I also decided that the cow looks like it’s trying to go somewhere, and the viewer is somewhat in the way.
I recently heard from a teacher from Port Aransas, Texas who used my artwork as inspiration for a student art project. Here are a few of the pieces that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders created:
As always, it’s a lot of fun to receive student work in my inbox. I definitely enjoyed taking a look at what this group came up with.