Tree in the Park

Tree in the Park by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Tree in the Park.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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Inspired from a stroll in the park during a sunny summer day. This is another piece that’s up at the NIH “Collage Scapes” exhibition. Which reminds me, I’ll be stopping by the show to take some installation pictures that I’ll post somewhat soon.

Things are pretty busy these days. I recently finished a commissioned portrait and I’ll post the progress pictures of that soon. I’m really enjoying the work I’m doing on my children’s book – I’m on illustration number three thus far. Unfortunately I won’t be posting that work – although you’ll get a glimpse of the book when it’s nearly complete.

And now I’m inspired to get going with some more illustrations. This cold fall weather makes me want to curl up with some hot green tea and cut and paste away. Hope you’re having a lovely week in October.

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Jefferson Memorial.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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Sometimes I like to walk around the city to find some inspiration for my work – let it be DC, Alexandria, or any city I’m visiting. You can always find lovely sights or interesting and colorful characters in a major city. This piece was inspired by a walk around Washington, DC. I was also motivated to produce some more scapes pieces since that’s been an area I haven’t focused a lot of energy on. This is another piece that’s up at the NIH exhibit.

Maine Coon

Maine Coon by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Maine Coon.” Collage on paper. 5″x7″
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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.

The City by Day

“The City by Day.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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I enjoyed putting this piece together. It looks a bit different than my other scapes pieces and I liked making this collage a little more abstract. I kept searching for pieces of paper that had a lot of texture in them, and I’m happy with the result. “The City by Day” is another collage that’s currently on display in my “Collage Scapes” exhibit at NIH.

And now I’m off to put some finishing touches on a commission portrait I’m working on. I hope everyone has a happy Friday tomorrow!

Koala Bear

Koala Bear by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Koala Bear.”
Collage on paper. 16″x12″
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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.

Sunset in the City

Sunset in the City by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Sunset in the City.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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This collage is currently hanging in my “Collage Scapes” exhibit at NIH. I don’t often work on landscape or cityscape pieces, so it was nice breaking away from what’s familiar to me. I think I should try to do some new still life work in the future since I haven’t really explored it all that much.

Things have been pretty busy these days. Then again, when are they not busy? I’m enjoying the cool weather while working away on my web work and commission work. I’m hoping to begin a few illustrations for my children’s book relatively soon.

Anyway, I hope everyone is have a lovely week and a wonderful weekend!

Ragamuffin

Ragamuffin by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Ragamuffin.” Collage on mat board. 5″x7″
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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!

Old Town Townhouses

Old Town Townhouses by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Old Town Townhouses.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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When I was working as a visiting artist this past summer, I did quite a bit of walking. It was about an hour walk to the local art center from my house – and I tried to make this trek twice a day (to the center and then back home) so I could get some exercise. So often I get cooped up inside making artwork or sitting in front of a computer. I felt it was necessary to force myself to get out and move about a little more.

On my walks, I’d take pictures from time to time to file away and use for future works of art. This collage was based on a series of photographs I took of the bright, colorful townhouses you can find on King Street in Old Town, Alexandria.

I don’t typically do landscape and cityscapes (you’ve probably realized I’m more of a sucker for animal and portraiture pieces), however this was a collage I made for an upcoming show I’m having at NIH – it features landscape and cityscape collages. I’ll post more pieces from the series later on.

Brown Bear

Brown Bear by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Brown Bear.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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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.

Purple Meerkat

Purple Meerkat by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Purple Meerkat.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″ Order a print

This guy is my favorite piece from the body of work I completed this summer when I worked as a visiting artist at a local art center. I not only had a lot of fun putting together the meerkat, but I enjoyed playing with the textures in the background as well. And yes, this is another piece inspired by a trip to the DC zoo. I have to admit, those meerkats at the zoo are possibly my favorite animals there – they are just too cute!

At the moment I’m working away on a commissioned portrait, putting together a proposal for a couple of projects for a craft book, and continuing to write my first children’s book. Also, I’d like to thank Ann for featuring my work in her blog All Things Paper, and Beth for featuring me in her Featured Artist Tuesday post.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great month of August!

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