I saw some art, made some art, finished some art — the full gamut this week.

Meetings & Making

Wow, I have ALL the pages done from my spelling collage scans! Here are the last 4, completed during my Arizona Collage Collective call.

Now what?? I’ve started a video, but it’s already big. I randomized the background textures, so there’s no cohesion, other than the book’s pages. Hmmm. Another pass, to unify them more? Or sort them by hue? Just asking these questions, so that maybe the answer will come to me later, is part of the process. You too?

It was a good week over on the Paris Collage Collective — I loved the image. Here it is, along with 3 takes.

I do like to play with the specificity of a photo in an abstract composition, even when it’s just playing the role of increasing the contrast or structure.

Those pieces, plus these, were creating during SLMM meetings this week. Here, I’m putting photos of houses (very recognizable, grabbed during a recent visit to see family in Ottawa) into abstract collages.

The last one is more subtle — I think, as did the SLMM group, that’s a better choice.

In home studio news, I got my gelli printing act together, played with the aforementioned twisted plastic wrap, and sorted out my print drying rack. Magnets & clips on an earthquake reinforcement beam: why not?

Viewing

I had a series of stops very conveniently near each other. First, Sherida Charles had a group of floral monotypes up at The Cultch. Spread across several areas, the set was just stunning: warm, expressive, abstracted. What a bright spot in my day!

On the way there, I stopped into Georgia General, which I can recommend for collage inspiration. A copy of a 1967 LIFE magazine made its way home with me, but there were just so many treasures, old & new. So fun…

Then, on a tip from a designer, I checked out Art Works Gallery down the street, with a tempting framing shop in the back. They seemed open to my ideas of framing without glass, so I’ll need to follow up there. They had a good selection of art and artists, from realism to abstracts and in between. This textured piece from David Graff caught my eye, for one.

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More recently, I stopped in at Monte Clark Gallery, where there’s a Roy Arden collage show up.

I was most drawn to the monochromatic pieces, but there was a good range of work, including some sculptural creations. I also noticed the frames, shallow shadow boxes, which the gallery was kind enough to share details on. They are custom-made, locally, by Jonathan Syme at The Workshop — another framing option for me?

Up Next

Under consideration on my studio desk, there are yet more large marks on manila paper — nothing new, but still fun, the aforementioned LIFE magazine, and another piece started on a 9×12 watercolor paper base.

For next week, I want to make more of these grid-based starts on 9×12, then tape 4 of them together to make BIG marks as a second layer. Eeeek! Feels like the edge of bravery — it takes me a while to gear up to that. Maybe I’ll start with the house elements, and make them more subtle, as a starting point. How do you nudge yourself to make big moves?

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