Just daydreaming the day away, thinking about future works of art…or should I say previously completed works of art? I suppose that’s how it is in this case.
I’ve been fiddling around with Photoshop again to make a few images for the new section of my website. I’m putting together an educational section that was inspired by a few recent emails I received from teachers who use my artwork in their classrooms. Anyway, I had fun with the last photo that I did like this (the photo of me is from the same day – same shirt, same necklace), so I thought why not try another version?
“Experiment 3: Landscape.” Collage on paper. 7″x5″ Order a print
Another experimental piece of mine. It’s fun trying something new, although I must admit, I enjoy my usual style of “painting with paper” much better than creating abstract pieces. However, it is pretty therapeutic putting together torn bits of paper.
I set my children’s book illustrations aside for a couple of weeks, but I’m back to working on them. And I’ve started planning an educational section that I’ll add to my website sometime in the future. I get emails from teachers every once in a while who use my artwork in their classrooms, and I thought it might be nice to put something together that could help them with their lesson plans.
“Experiment 2: Landscape.” Collage on paper. 7″x5″ Order a print
Every now and then I’ll do some planning for my workshop in Jasper, Indiana. I like taking my time when it comes to planning for exhibitions and lectures, so that way I can ensure everything is taken care of and that I’m well prepared. So bit by bit I’ve been working on examples that I’ll share with the class.
Above is another experimental piece. Again it looks much different than any of my other work. This is more like playing with the materials and seeing what results I can get. It also helps me think about what projects I can have for the class. This piece is an abstract landscape made entirely from tearing magazine strips. You can see that some of the pieces have more obvious tears while others are pretty subtle.
“Ryan and His Sweetheart” Collage on mat board. 5″x7″
I like the story behind this collage: Recently the guy who owns the domain megancoyle.com contacted me. I wanted that domain when I first put my website together, but had to settle with megancoyle.com since another Megan Coyle had a site up and running on megancoyle.com. So the owner contacted me, telling me that his client, another Megan, no longer used her website. Thus the web address wasn’t being used and was pointing to an error page, although the owner was still paying money for the domain. So he offered to do a trade – he’d transfer the domain to my account if I made a collage for him.
Above is the collage that I made for him. The challenge with this piece was that it was one of my smaller sized collages, and I wasn’t doing a portrait of one, but two people. I had to cut the magazine strips pretty small, but I’m pleased that it came together in the end.
Bosty decided to head off somewhere that’s a little warmer this time of year (DC is still too chilly for him). So he wandered off to the south to spend some time in the country. He LOVED all the colorful chairs that were being sold by the side of the road.
And he was a bit confused when he noticed all the machinery lined up near his doggy hotel. What are they up to around here?
Lastly, he just had to get his picture by a tractor – to prove that he had gone off to the countryside. Silly Bosty.
“Experiment 1: Non-Objective” Collage on paper. 7″x5″ Order a print
These past couple of days I’ve been doing some planning for my workshop in April. Part of my prep work includes coming up with projects that the class will work on and creating my own samples to share with the students. I’ve decided that one technique I’ll share is creating non-objective art with magazine strips. I never create abstract pieces myself, but I decided to give it a go with this small collage.
At the moment, I’m also working on a small portrait piece. I’ll share an image of that collage once it’s complete.
Hope everyone had a happy January! Can’t believe it’s already been 2011 for a month!
“Nancy Pelosi” Collage on mat board. 7″x5″ Order a print
And here’s the finished piece – as you can see it’s much different than the first progress picture. When my client reviewed progress images of this one, she decided she wanted Nancy wearing a dark jacket instead of blue. She also made a few suggestions here and there. Her feedback was pretty helpful with shaping this into a Nancy portrait that looks more like Nancy.
I’m kind of excited about the idea of making a series of political leader collages, especially since I live in the DC area. We shall see how that goes when I get to it…
And now I’m off to work on my children’s book illustrations as well as another portrait for a client. It’s snowing like crazy outside – good weather for staying in and making artwork!
Today the exhibition “Nature’s Human” opened at Eastern Kentucky University’s Giles Gallery. Two of my pieces are currently on display there – “Into the Woods” (pictured above) and “Riverside Loungers” (see below). Both pieces were initially created for one of my solo exhibitions last year – “Stories in Paper.” The artwork in this national juried exhibition comes from a variety of artists and was created from quite a range of materials. All the pieces focus on the theme of humans and nature.
A couple weeks ago I made the trek to Richmond, Kentucky to drop off my collages. I wanted to check out the gallery space and get a feel for the area. I’m glad I did, but I’m also glad I made arrangements to have the work shipped back to me after the show. It was a fairly long trip after all.
I was a little nervous about making the arrangements for shipping since I’m always concerned about the safety of my artwork. My “Nature’s Human” collages are the largest size I currently work in – both are 18″x24″ – and I have never shipped a piece that large before. However, after dropping by the UPS store, buying lots of bubble wrap, and getting a prepaid label that included insurance to cover the value of the collages, I felt a little more comfortable.
“In the Woods.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″ Order a print
January 24th – February 18th, 2011 Giles Gallery; Richmond, Kentucky Map and Gallery Info
Opening Reception: January 27th, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
“Into the Woods” and “Riverside Loungers,” two of Megan’s figurative collages, were on display in the EKU Chautauqua National Exhibition “Nature’s Human” in Giles Gallery. Eastern Kentucky University’s Chautauqua Lecture Series and the Department of Art & Design jointly sponsored the juried art exhibition on the theme of humans and nature. Ann Tower, a professional artist in Lexington, was the juror of the exhibit.
The exhibit featured the work of artists around the country and their interpretations of the theme “Nature’s Human.” Megan’s “Into the Woods” and “Riverside Loungers” both feature figures in a natural environment. The fragments of paper used to construct each piece initially came from images of models and natural landscapes in magazines. By cutting up magazine pages, Megan has pulled the pieces of paper away from their original context while creating scenes where the human form and natural landscape are major components of the finished work.
So many ideas and so little time! I better hurry up so I can capture them all on paper! Or should I say “in” paper?
My desk is covered in slips of paper – all my “to do” lists. I’m anxious to start quite a few projects and finish them soon, but there’s only so many hours in the day. Thus I’m focusing on just a couple of things for now.
I’m continuing to work away on my book but I have a couple of other projects coming up that I haven’t mentioned before. A client of mine contacted me about donating my services for a silent auction for an organization called The Cure Starts Now. TCSN raises money for pediatric brain cancer research. I’ve lost a few family members to different types of cancer, and I couldn’t think of any other type of organization I’d want to donate my work to. So it looks like I’ll be donating a custom work of art for the first time in the next few months.
Anyway, I’m off to turn my collage thoughts into actual collages.
Just daydreaming the day away, thinking about future works of art…or should I say previously completed works of art? I suppose that’s how it is in this case.
