reptile | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

January 18, 2022June 8, 2024

Later Alligator

It’s a new year, and I’ve decided to do my best to maintain more of a balance in my life. This time last year, I had already completed several new works of art, and then felt somewhat burnt out the rest of the year. So this year, I’m going to aim to complete about one new work of art every month so I can ensure that I’m pacing myself. And this is the collage I tackled for this month.

I’ve only ever created one other alligator collage, and it was a commission that was completed years ago. It’s fun to see how my style has changed over the years, while certain elements have remained the same. The challenge with this new alligator collage, was working on the scaly texture, as well as the teeth since this piece was one of my smaller sizes. Overall, I was pleased with the finished product and enjoyed tackling a new challenge.

August 28, 2017June 5, 2024

Slow and Steady

I’m drawn to making animal collages because I love how much variety there is when it comes to animals. They come in so many shapes and sizes. Each species has its own expressive quality and personality with whatever shape and form they take.

As a child, I used to be a bit of a nature kid. I loved animals, loved reading about them, visiting them at the zoo, and buying knick-knacks and souvenirs of them. I used to spend hours playing outside, playing games with my imagination where there were always some sort of animals present. And I suppose today, the way I stay in touch with that part of childhood, is by continuing to create different images and depictions of animals in my artwork.

This turtle collage is another example of how I’m continuing to explore compositions of different animals, as I continue to play with texture and solid colors to construct each image. For the background, you can see that I used fragments of images that had clouds and terrain in them. For the turtle, I focused on various solid greens, and made sure the shell had fragments of texture from images of street signs and shrubbery. Overall, I had fun making this piece – at times it was a bit of a struggle, but I’m happy everything got pieced together in the end.

January 13, 2015June 17, 2024

Alligator

Last night I completed my first collage in 2015. This piece was commissioned by a teacher from Washington state, who is having her students study my work in class. I think it’s absolutely wonderful that she reached out to me to have a work of art made that she can share with her students, so they can see one of my collages in person! I also had a lot of fun working on this piece – especially with the detailing for the gator’s scales.

And now I’m off frame and prep the collage for shipping…

May 29, 2012June 6, 2024

Lipstick Lizard

And the collage is finished! The lizard that inspired this collage lives at the National Zoo, and I noticed that its skin was a little pink around its lips. Thus the way it looked inspired the title.

And now I’m off to work on a turtle piece. The photos will be posted shortly.

March 29, 2012June 16, 2024

Karma Chameleon

Here’s my first attempt at collaging a chameleon. Next time round I’d like to play even more with the texture of the lizard, and perhaps have some fun with focusing on what chameleons are known for – changing colors. There are all kinds of possibilities…just think of how many unique backgrounds or settings could be used for the chameleon as it tries to blend in.

In other news, last week my solo show in Manassas ended. It was wonderful getting the opportunity to share my work at the Candy Factory, it’s just a shame that the time flew by so quickly. I was pleased to see that several collages now have new homes. As great as it is to sell your artwork, sometimes I find myself thinking “Oh no – I hope I can make something just as good to replace the sold work.” There’s always the worry of having enough consistent and cohesive work to exhibit in upcoming solo shows.

I’m going to be pretty busy working away on artwork for future exhibits this year and next year. After that, I think I’ll take a break from exhibiting my work so often so I can focus more time and energy on other projects like short animations or another children’s book.