“A Piece of the Ocean.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″ Order a print
Here’s another collage that I made for my animal series on display in The Animal Kingdom exhibit. I haven’t really explored underwater creatures with my work, perhaps I should? The Baltimore Aquarium isn’t that far away, and I’m sure I could find plenty of inspiration there…
I’m about to get started with some more brainstorming and storyboarding for today. I’m excited to work on some new projects. I’m thinking of dabbling in video sometime soon as well. We shall see – there are only so many hours in the day.
“Turkish Angora.” Collage on mat board. 5″x7″ Order a print
After doing a series of dog collages a few months ago, several people started requesting that I do a few cat collages. While I was a visiting artist at the local art center for June and July, I was able to complete a few cat collages. Here’s one of the first ones of the series.
I hope everyone had an excellent week! I’ve been working on some grant writing lately – it’s not my favorite thing to do, but the more I force myself to do it, I sure hope the better I’ll get at it. I also hope to work on writing, editing, and revising a few artist statements for the different portfolios I send out to galleries. And once all the paperwork is through, I hope to get started on brainstorming a children’s book.
“Yellow Bird.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″ Order a print
Another day, another collage. And it’s another one inspired by a trip to the zoo. I love the bright colors you can find in nature and other creatures.
So the craziness of all the exhibitions I’ve had going on this summer has calmed down a bit. The past couple of months I was practically working away on art or art-related things about seven days a week. Now that I have my summer lectures, presentations, and the majority of my shows under my belt, I’ve been a little lazy these past couple of days. I suppose you can say I’m resting up from all the work I was doing.
Pretty soon I may take a bit of a break from working on original works of art. I want to get started on storyboarding a children’s book or perhaps planning out an animation. I’ll still work on a few small pieces here and there, although there won’t be as much work posted here.
“Mr. Kangaroo.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″ Order a print
This piece was inspired by a trip that I took the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. A lot of my animal collages are inspired by trips to the Natural History Museum when I swing by their animal exhibits – or the National Zoo. I’m really having quite a bit of fun making animal collages – after making so many figurative pieces earlier this year, it’s definitely a nice change of pace.
I’m beginning a lot of exhibition prep work for the animal exhibition that goes up this coming Sunday, August 1st. My “to do” list includes framing all the artwork, preparing an artist talk, and getting together all my postcards, business cards, etc. to set out during the show. We shall see how it goes…
Inspired by a walk through the National Zoo – these two pelicans were swimming about in the seal exhibit. Again you can see I’m drawn to the blues in water. There’s just something that’s really fun about working with reflections in water.
In other news, I was pretty excited today to receive my contract for my solo show at Krempp Gallery in May 2011. It’s in Jasper, Indiana, although I’m planning to take a road trip when the time comes to deliver about twenty to thirty collages for the show. One of my goals this year was to get an exhibit in a gallery from a state that I’m not affiliated with at all and I’m pleased that my work will be off to the Midwest before long.
Anyway, I’m off to work on getting things a little more organized around my room. I’ll be busy with quite a bit planning these next couple of weeks.
“Blue Rhino.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″ Order a print
This piece was inspired by one of my visits to the Natural History Museum. I decided to make him a blue rhino because I’ve found that blue is just one of my favorite colors to use in collages. There are also so many different shades and textures of blue that you can find when flipping through magazines. I suppose I’m just drawn to the variety.
So things are still a little bit busy. I’m currently working away on a few landscape and cityscape pieces for an upcoming show. And goodness – time is just flying by. I can’t believe it’s mid-July – before long I’ll be packing up the studio and leaving the art center. It’s been a great two months. I’ve learned quite a bit from it all. And so we move on…
My crazy week of artist talks and lectures is over with. You can check out the Art League Gallery’s blog post on my blog lecture from the other day. A few down, and many more to go. With each presentation, I learn quite a bit from what is working and what needs improvement. For the upcoming animal solo show, I’m doing another artist talk. Since I’ll be talking about my source of inspiration for animal collages, it will be a little different than my recent talks.
Anyway, it’s getting a tad bit late, so I should go off to bed soon. I hope everyone had a happy Monday!
“Orange Monkey.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″ Order a print
This little guy was hanging out at the zoo and I just had to do a collage of him. I immediately loved his inquisitive little face. I had some fun with the texture in this piece.
Anyway, things are still pretty busy. I’ve decided to do another artist talk for my upcoming animal exhibition in August. So…more things to plan for. I really am loving what I’m doing though – which explains why I keep trying to take advantage of every opportunity that walks on by.
Another piece I completed while being a Visiting Artist at the local art center. It’s another piece inspired by one of my trips to the National Zoo. I’ve completed quite a few animal collages there last month and now I’m off doing a few landscape/cityscape pieces.
I’ve enjoyed my time in the open studio, and at the end of this month that position will be over with. Time really does fly! I’ve met quite a few wonderful as well as interesting people during my time there. I’ve also realized that I don’t think having an open studio year-round is quite the right thing for me – I prefer having the flexibility to dabble in a variety of things as a means to get my work “out there.” So this Visiting Artist position has been just the right thing for me – it’s given me a taste of what it’s like working in a studio that’s open to the public – and also setting up shop there.
Anyway, it’s getting late, and I should start planning out one of the talks I’m giving this week. I hope everyone had a happy Monday!
“Cuddling Turtles.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″ Order a print
Another collage completed during my Visiting Artist time at the Torpedo Factory. Time is flying by – before long July will be over!
My solo show was installed this morning. I created sixteen pieces for the show, but we were only able to fit fourteen on the wall. Tomorrow’s the big day for the opening reception – I just need to take care of a little prep work tonight to get ready tomorrow. It’s crazy to think that I knew I had a solo show at the Art League Gallery back in 2008. All last year I worked on the body of work for the exhibit. And now, it’s finally up and ready to be viewed! Exciting!!
Here’s the finished piece – and now the next several collages I post won’t include any progress pictures (like I mentioned before). Perhaps I should start taking my camera with me to the studio…
Things have been going pretty well lately. Getting ready to install my solo show “Stories in Paper” tomorrow and then I’ll work on prepping for my artist talk, etc. on Thursday. Then the following week I’m doing a demonstration/talk for a collage group and giving a lecture on blogging. So lots to do – all very exciting, yet it will still be nice once everything is done.
Work in the studio has been interesting. I really enjoy a lot of the visitors that pop in and have met quite a few lovely people. From emerging artists to art enthusiasts, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the conversation I’ve had with others. However, you still get an oddball in the studio every once in a while – I suppose that’s the charm of having the art center studios open to the public.
The other day, I was working away on my latest scapes collage for an upcoming show at NIH. An older woman came in and gradually made her way over to where I was working. She hovered for a while, watching me work. Then she piped in, “You must have done real good in kindergarten.”
I glanced up at her, kind of shocked and mumbled something like, “Yeah, sure.” After the English major within me cringed from her grammar, I was a little surprised by her comment. I do look pretty young but sorry lady, my kindergarten days are long, long gone. I initially felt insulted by this. Once I got over that initial response, I thought her comment was pretty hilarious. I suppose some people consider cutting and pasting paper to be pretty elementary. All I can do is smile and laugh about that. There’s so much more to collage than just that.
