And here’s the completed collage. The other day I got started on another portrait collage which is coming along nicely – I’m hoping to take more progress pictures of it than I did with this one.
Also, recently I heard that several of my animal collages were accepted into a group juried exhibition in North Carolina. It looks like I’ll have another road trip fairly soon. Bosty might even tag along.
Here’s the finished piece. My client gave this collage to his wife as a Christmas gift. I was happy to hear that it was well received. This dog sure looked pretty cute – in all the reference photos the client sent me, Shelby had her tongue hanging out.
Anyway, I’m off to enjoy the weekend. I’m going to work away on my children’s book illustrations – and I must say, it’s pretty difficult being secretive about my book since I’m so used to sharing my progress pictures, etc. The only image from the project I plan to post is the cover art once I’ve finished it. I’m half-way done with the book – can’t wait until it’s finished and ready for print. I’m excited to share it – even though it’s got a ways to go.
Had another go at a cat collage. This one sort of fell together, which is always a good sign. I enjoyed putting together this little guy and adding the fragments of images of buildings in the background.
Recently I started watching quite a few animation video tutorials. I’m itching to get started on an animated collage. However, you can’t always do everything at once, so I’ll have to be patient and wait until I have some more free time to devote to a new project. For now, I’m off to work on a commission and a couple of illustrations.
I decided to make another dog collage – another day another dachshund. I really enjoy making animal collages and plan to start creating more narrative scenes with animals. Often I just focus on the little critter and add a plain background. Right now the children’s book I’m working on is about a couple of animals. I’ve really enjoyed creating more narrative scenes for the creatures, and so I’d like to work on expanding this area of my art.
Anyway, I’m off to run some weekend errands, enjoy the lovely weather in DC, and then work on some more artwork. Hope everyone’s having a fantastic weekend!
Another collage from my cat series. Pretty soon I should get started on making more animal collages. Or perhaps I’ll do a series of small coffee cups? We shall see…
This past Saturday I uninstalled “The Animal Kingdom” exhibit at Goodwin House. Time sure does fly – it feels like just the other day I was hauling nearly forty collages over to the gallery and spending the afternoon making sure everything was hanging just so. It had a good run and I’m excited to search for future venues.
And now I’m off to work on another illustration and do a little commission work. I hope everyone had a great weekend. It went by pretty quickly for me – but I kept busy and had fun.
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.
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!
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.
This piece is currently hanging in the Goodwin exhibit. I enjoyed working on the background and creating a blend of abstract shapes and color as well as more defined objects like the shrubs. This crane turned out to be quite the character – he seems to be almost smiling.
Anyway, at the moment I’m working on drafting my children’s book. Once the storyline is cleaned up and where I want it, I’ll work on some sketches for the illustrations. It’s quite an exciting process – I can’t wait to get started on making some collage illustrations!
Yet another collage completed during my visiting artist work and it’s the second piece in a cat series. While working in an open studio, and being away from the computer, I was able to get quite a bit of work done. However I was working about seven days a week for a couple of months, and I think at the moment my body is telling me to cool it. So I’ve been doing quite a bit of relaxing these past couple of weeks. Yes there’s also been a lot of work involved, but I haven’t been as intense about it as I have been in the past. I’ve decided I need to take it easy before diving back in.
At the moment, aside from “taking it easy,” I’ve also been dabbling in some brainstorming, story boarding, and working on art-related work in the digital sense. I think in a couple more weeks I’ll make myself sit down every week and complete at least one mini collage. While working with art that involves the computer, I don’t want my studio art skills to grow rusty – so I’ll have to keep at it on the side.
I’ve also been feeling very thankful for having so many supportive people in my life. When it comes to being an artist, there are always people who try to drag you down and discourage you from your dreams. But at the same time, the smaller group of people who are rooting for you from the beginning are the ones who are much more memorable and important than any negative talkers. I’m happy to have those positive supporters in my life.
Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend! I’ll be spending mine taking pictures for future Bosty adventures.