Blog | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

May 13, 2010January 29, 2017

Piece by Piece: Figurative Collage Exhibit Postcards

Yesterday I worked on installing my first solo exhibition, “Piece by Piece: Figurative Collage” at the Fisher Gallery. The show opens this Friday, although the reception isn’t until the 22nd. Below I’ve included images of the exhibit postcard – you can click on the front and back view to see a larger image of the card.

Front view

Piece by Piece: Figurative Collage by Megan Coyle

Back view

After loading and unloading artwork all day yesterday, it felt great to see the work up on the gallery walls. Now all I need to do is get organized for the reception. Then it will be time to prep for my Visiting Artist work. Yep, there’s never enough time in a day to get everything done…

May 10, 2010June 5, 2024

Leisure Day

This is the last piece in the figurative series for my upcoming solo show. I’m installing the show on Wednesday morning, so this week will be a busy one of marketing the exhibit and making plans for the reception in a couple of weeks.

I’m also beginning to prepare for my work as a Visiting Artist at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. I’ll have to plan out how to present myself while I’m working in an open studio there. I’m thinking of using Blurb to create a quick book filled with images of my work so I can have a more professional looking portable portfolio. Hopefully I’ll have enough time to get organized for this…goodness, so many upcoming events coming up all at once.

May 6, 2010June 7, 2024

Afternoon Conversations

They look like they’re having quite a serious afternoon conversation. I just have one more finished collage from this series to post. Before long, I’ll get to go back to working on animal collages.

While looking through my artwork the other day, I noticed that I don’t have that many landscape or still life pieces. Looks like I’ll need to work on building those sections of my portfolio out some more sometime in the future. Yes indeed, there’s always work to be done.

I hope everyone has had a lovely week – it’s almost the weekend!

May 3, 2010June 14, 2024

These Crowded Streets

Another scene inspired by one of my trips to NYC. I’ve enjoyed working on different angles of figures – by doing so, you can come up with some interesting narrative images. This was a piece that I revisited to edit and add more detail to it. Sometimes, when working on a collage, I can have a tough time getting into the piece. Although by setting it aside for a little bit of time, I can return to it later on with renewed energy and fresh eyes.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I somehow managed to hurt my foot the other day so I’m doing my best to rest up so I can move around like normal soon.

May 1, 2010June 14, 2024

Windy City Walks

This piece is pretty thick in some areas from layering lots of magazine cut-outs in order to get the figure looking right. It’s funny how that happens with some of my collages – if I have to focus a lot of energy and time on one area, the collage will feel heavier in that area when I lift the piece up.

In other news, Carly from MommyGarten.com mentioned me on her site in an article, “Art & Work of Creative Parenting: Field Trip Friday.” She discusses using collage as an art project for your child.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I’m taking care of quite a few errands, working on a new collage for my show in July, and of course, having some fun.

April 27, 2010June 14, 2024

Stroll in the Park

I’m excited to say that I’ve finished my series of collages for my show in May. I have yet to post all of them, thus I’ll go ahead and do that within the next couple of weeks. The past few days I’ve spent a lot of time editing this series as well as touching up frames. Now I just need to do a couple more figurative pieces for my show in July, and then I can take a breather on all these people collages. As much as I like collaging people, I’m getting a bit burnt out from the subject matter. Thus I’m moving on to animals next.

Anyway, I’m off to do some late night sketching. I had an interesting day – spent a good chunk of time trying to get my internet working again (it was down practically the entire day). I always forget how much I rely on the internet until it’s not working like it should. But isn’t that the truth with so many things?

April 26, 2010January 29, 2017

Bosty’s Cook Out

Bosty the Boston Terrier's cook out by collage artist Megan Coyle

We’ve had such nice weather these days that Bosty decided to hold his very own cook out. While grilling the meat, he had a tendency of nibbling the food every time it was flipped.

Bosty the Boston Terrier Making Salad by collage artist Megan Coyle

To be a little healthy, he made a salad.

Bosty the Boston Terrier Making Potato Salad by Megan Coyle

And how about some potato salad? Don’t mind if I do!

Bosty the Boston Terrier and Deviled Eggs by collage artist Megan Coyle

And deviled eggs…wait a minute, wasn’t there a full plate of deviled eggs just a second ago? Bosty seems to enjoy feeding himself before he feeds his guests.

Bosty the Boston Terrier and Lemon Meringue Pie by collage artist Megan Coyle

The meal was finished off with a lemon meringue pie – care for another slice?

April 24, 2010February 5, 2017

Landscape Collages from NYC

A few weeks ago I received an email from a high school teacher, Monica, from New York City. She told me that her class had just finished a landscape collage unit and that they had focused on Romare Bearden and my work for their artist focus. Her class analyzed my landscape collages to figure out how I created the work so they could learn from it. They also worked on their own collages inspired from their studies.

Below I’ve included images that Monica so kindly sent to me. I always enjoy hearing from teachers who’ve shared my work with their students. It’s great knowing that your work can inspire others.

Each collage is about 3″x3″

April 21, 2010June 6, 2024

Bar and Bakery

I think I’ll revisit this collage in a few days to sharpen up a few details. For the most part it’s complete. I’m actually just about finished with this series for the show in May, and I’m beginning to go back through my work to clean things up.

Then it looks like I’ll just have to work on a couple more figurative pieces for my show in July, and then I can finally change gears by working on animal collages. I’d also like to get started on making a weekly mini collage to add to my Etsy shop again, and possibly introduce another art project to my blog.

April 20, 2010February 4, 2017

Q & A: What do you listen to while you work on artwork?

It’s usually nice to have something playing in the background when you’re in the studio. I like to I listen to radio shows and music. Podcasts are an amazing thing – they really do help the time pass. The following are my top podcasts to listen to while I work:

This American Life – I really enjoy the way this show focuses on a theme and tells stories related to that theme. The old English major within me really gets a kick out of this.
The Classic Tales Podcast – again, I like to read but lately all my artwork and marketing work has really made it difficult to pick up a book. With this podcast, I can enjoy familiar stories or hear classic tales that I’ve never heard before.
Fresh Air – I’m a sucker for Terry Gross’s interviews with directors, musicians, and actors. It’s also a good way to hear interesting stories about current events.
60 Minutes – just good journalism.
Escape from Illustration Island – when I first discovered this podcast, I downloaded all of the episodes and gradually worked my way through them. Needless to say, listening to Thomas James interview illustrators and talk about illustration is part of the reason I decided to look into going back to school for illustration. You can find some really helpful and inspiring tips here if you’re a fellow artist.
Art Marketing Action Podcast – these are typically really short podcasts, only a couple of minutes, and from time to time I get a few good ideas of directions to move in with my art marketing.

Other times I listen to music. Recently I’ve had a tendency of falling back on the following albums/musicians:

500 Days of Summer Soundtrack – this is my latest obsession. For some reason I absolutely love this album and just about every song on it. “You Make my Dreams” by Hall & Oates is of course a favorite.
M. Ward
The Beatles
Ray LaMontagne
Bob Dylan

When I get tired of listening to interviews and music, I’ll usually change things up by watching a movie. I’ve started taking advantage of Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature. I’ll listen to/watch movies on my computer as I sprawl out on the floor with all of my magazines. Lately I’ve watched a lot of comedies and flicks from the 80’s.

What do you like listening to while you work?