Category: In the Studio: Original Art

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!

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!

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.

There’s already a Toucan Sam, so why not introduce people to his female counterpart, Toucan Samantha? I had fun working on this one – especially with the fragments of images I used for the background.

Anyway, where have I been? It’s been a while since my last post! Well, the past few days I’ve been spending a lot of time moving out of my apartment. I’m going to move to a new place fairly soon, and the move has really consumed the majority of my free time. I’ve still put in a few hours here and there in the studio, and I have a few pieces I’ve completed there that I need to take home to photograph.

I’m also beginning to prep for the opening reception of my solo show “Stories in Paper,” which opens next week, July 8th. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

I was going to stick with the title “Flamingos” but then I thought I should start changing these titles up a bit. Flamingos always remind me of ballerinas for some reason. I think it’s their pink feathers and how they perch on one leg like the flamingo in the center.

Anyway, things are still pretty busy. I just finished putting together a bunch of handmade magnets to sell at the studio (they’ve been pretty popular – especially with tourists). And I’m continuing to work on a series of animal collages. I recently took pictures of several finished collages, which I’ll later post. In July I’m planning on working on landscape pieces for another upcoming exhibition. And hopefully, sometime soon, I can begin work on a short animation. I have so many ideas at the moment, and there are so many possibilities of projects I can work on – sometimes it’s hard to acknowledge the fact I’m not wonder woman and can’t do everything all at once.

This weekend was a lot of fun at the studio. I’ve gotten quite a bit of work done thus far – and I have yet to take those finished collages home to photograph and post. My goal is to complete about a dozen animal collages before moving on to creating about eight landscape pieces for my NIH solo show in September.

Tomorrow I’m uninstalling the Fisher Gallery exhibition. It had a good run – and I can’t believe it’s already over! A lot of planning and work went into that show, and I’m proud that I was able to pull it off. Next up: my solo show at the Art League Gallery. I still have quite a bit of planning to do for that exhibition although it won’t be as intensive as the Fisher show.

Anyway, I hope everyone’s week has gotten off to a good start!