Inspired by a warmer day in DC when the tourists were out paddle boating. I like collaging water – it’s fun using so much color and working with reflection. I also like how abstract water is. It gives me a bit of variety as far as my subject matter goes.
Anyway, I’m off to enjoy the weekend. I hope everyone is having a happy November thus far!
And my DC cityscape/landscape series continues…I’m getting close to the end of this series, just a few more to go. I’m currently working away on a new collage as I hide away from Hurricane Sandy. I hope everyone on the East Coast is staying safe!
And it’s finished! This museum really has a unique look, and I enjoyed working on a collage of it. I had fun incorporating all the colors in this.
I like to think of the Bluth family as a dysfunctional version of the Brady Bunch.
Arrested Development was a TV show that aired from 2003 until 2006, and it follows the story of a dysfunctional family. The show is going to be back for another season, and the above collage is my submission for the Arrested Development and Netflix contest.
The Concept
I wanted to make a collage portrait of one of the Bluths but couldn’t decide which one. So I thought it would be better to make a collage that included all the main characters. I wanted to find a creative way to incorporate all the portraits, to tie them all together. I thought about how many main characters there are. Then I thought, “there’s a bunch of them, sort of like the Brady Bunch.” When I remembered Tobias’ character Mrs. Featherbottom, I realized Arrested Developement had their own bizarro Alice. So I had to go ahead with the idea…
The Bluth portraits would be reminiscent of the Brady Bunch opening credits that include blue squares with video portraits of each family member. My collage would mimic the Bradys so the Bluths would look like portraits of a Brady Bunch gone wrong – the complete opposite of the memorable wholesome family from the 70s.
Placement of Characters
Since the Bluths consist of four kids and two grandkids, with only three women, the arrangement would be slightly different than the Bradys. Mrs. Featherbottom would obviously go in Alice’s position in the center. Lucille would go above Mrs. Featherbottom while George Senior would go below. The first row would be arranged just like the Brady’s by including the mother and the oldest son and daughter. To the left of Lucille would be Lindsay and to her right would be Michael. Maeby would go below Lindsay to follow the Brady’s model of having all women in the first column, and also since she’s Lindsay and Tobias’ (aka Mrs. Featherbottom) daughter, she would be closer to their portraits. Plus her facial expression works well next to Tobias. George Michael would be below his father Michael, but above his uncle Gob. This is so George Michael would be near his father and in the all-male Brady column. He’s above Gob since he definitely the more mature of the two. Since there aren’t as many women as there are men, in Cindy’s space is Buster’s portrait. I thought this was very fitting since Cindy had a lisp and Buster has a very distinct voice.
The Process
I cut out nine 5″x5″ squares of watercolor paper. Each square was used as the support for each collage portrait, where I used my “painting with paper” technique. With separate squares the composition can now always be rearranged for fun:
The portraits can also come apart and be viewed as separate works of art or put together to form one large work of art.
This idea came to me a few days ago so I only had this past weekend to complete the piece. It usually takes me about a day to complete my smallest portrait size. I don’t know how I managed to finish this before the deadline…
This collage is inspired by some of the green scenery you can find around the DC area. I’ve been working on a couple more urban/building collages, but it’ll be nice to find a few more natural landscapes to fit into this new series.
This was inspired by the many colorful townhouses in DC. I created another townhouse collage a couple years ago that was inspired by the buildings in Old Town Alexandria. Anyway, I think I’ll make another one of these somewhat soon. I have a lot of fun working on colorful buildings.
And now I’m off to continue my work with this cityscape/landscape series. I have a handful left to make…
September 30th, 2012 – January 5th, 2013
Beatley Alexandria City Gallery; Alexandria, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info
Megan Coyle’s work is on display in a solo show at the Beatley Alexandria City Gallery. The Alexandria City Gallery Program exhibits the artwork of local artists in fifteen city galleries.
As a child, Coyle was always drawn to animals and colorful illustrations. Growing up in the D.C. area made it easy for her to visit the Smithsonian museums. She especially enjoyed visiting the animals at the zoo and seeing the animal exhibits at the Natural History Museum. Coyle continues to visit those places, but now she does it to study and gather inspiration for future works of art.
“Animals in Paper (Part II)” features several of Coyle’s new animal collages alongside a few older works of art. Her newer pieces include several 18″x24″ animal collages depicting species that didn’t appear in her previous work. The artwork explores the colorful diversity of animals in nature – with mammals, reptiles, and birds.
Inspired by color and the unique characteristics of different species, Coyle has created familiar images of animals big and small. All the collages were constructed entirely from magazine strips using a technique she calls “painting with paper.” If you stop by for a visit, you can get a closer look at all the layers used for these paper creations.
The Air Force Memorial is one of my favorite memorials in the DC area, so of course I had to create a collage of it for my new cityscape/landscape series. I like how simple and elegant the design of it is.
And here’s the finished piece! So far, this has been my favorite collage that I’ve worked on in this new cityscape/landscape series. It came together pretty easily and I enjoyed working with this color palette.
Anyway, I’m off to work on another building collage…
Another collage inspired by city living. The next few collages that I’ll work on will include a few landmarks around DC, as well as a couple basic cityscape scenes.