Friday 27 February 2015

When I'm in the Middle of a Dream, Please Don't Wake Me, No Don't Shake Me...


I recently acquired a vintage book that included an image of a girl on a telephone with a perched parakeet and I knew I wanted to use them in my next collage.

The woman in the bubble is from a famous photograph by Melvin Sokolsky entitled "Bois de Boulogne", 1963. A postcard of this photo has been hanging on my art studio wall for nearly 17 years.  It was time to use it.

The background is the Grand Canyon.

Nocturnes For The King Of Naples


The Puppet Masters

Dreamscape

Thursday 26 February 2015

Telescopic Ear

Is this dreamy or nightmarish enough? Actually meant this for the previous theme but seems to fit well enough for this one!

NEW THEME: "In my dreams..."

We all love to dream don't we?  (I know I do!)

Disconnected or crazy or beautiful or peaceful or nightmarish!  OR all of the above in one dream?

Collage a dream -- one you really have had or imagine one you would like to or not like to have!

Wednesday 25 February 2015

NEW THEME FOR THE LAST THURSDAY in FEBRUARY

Will be posted by yours truly TOMORROW.  And I will also continue posting themes during the month of March!  Get ready, get set...

Saturday 21 February 2015

Cheescake Cadillac

This one just flew together.  All three elements were sitting in an already cut out box. 

Friday 20 February 2015

the welcoming darkness below


Another example from my archives. Upper left is a photo of Donald Judd's untitled installation of large stainless steel boxes. Photo of nurse and patient was taken in a World War I field hospital.  Abstract below them is one of Jasper Johns's series of "Grey" paintings.

The original title for this collage was just "the darkness below." I added "welcoming" in the hope of conveying that I don't think darkness has a valence of being "bad." Darkness is simply itself, and sometimes it's in a welcoming mood.

Why I chose it as an example: the shiny stainless steel sink does evoke the idea of someone's life going down the drain, but it also brings a lot of light into what would otherwise be a pretty dark collage.

More Exercises

Back Exercises

Testing New Legs

Thursday 19 February 2015

blue it is


From my archives. Background by William Morris. The text is from an essay on the color blue by Alexander Theroux. The shiny gold objects are from a necklace in a catalog.

theme: shiny metal objects

I think if I were a bird, I'd be a magpie. I like to collect pictures of shiny objects and put them on collages. This week's theme is about gold, silver, copper, aluminum, stainless steel, and so on: shiny metal objects with reflections. (And let's not forget chrome, on old cars!) The reason I like them for collage art is that they're a way of bringing light into a collage—although shadows are another way, of course.

Caution: gold and silver pens, mylar, foil, and other reflective surfaces won't work for this theme, because the scanner makes them appear dull. We're talking about representations of shiny objects, where the reflections are in the photo, engraving, pen & ink, etc.  But if you can take a good photo of your shiny collage, where the surfaces have light reflections, then go for it!

blue for nikki


I apologize for not making a new collage this week. Things have just been crazy: big snowfall, sick cats, you name it. But I did go back through my archives, where I found quite a few collages with only three pieces or less. I decided to post this humble little number because it's my first abstract collage, from early 2010. I love making abstracts!

The Frank Stella Factory

Thursday 12 February 2015

Darkness


It´s one from the archive!

Big Red


Diana's Latitude

Made this one for a previous theme of maps so glad to get to use it here. Diana Dors was the UK version of Marilyn Monroe who made quite a few films back in the 50's and early 60's.

Feeding Baby

Is There Anybody There?

strange sunset


From a one-page-of-a-magazine challenge on this here blog in 2012...

untitled


From my oldest archive (early 2010). Only two pieces!

theme: three pieces of paper

This week we're doin' minimalism. Any subject you choose, but you have to use three pieces of paper—no more, that is. You can make your collage on an all-white or all-black background: otherwise, the background counts as a piece of paper. Less is more! =smile=

Bronto City