Darks

 

Buy Now - $45 - 5x5in. - collage - "Undercurrents"

Buy Now - $45 - 7x5in. - collage - "Dark Corners"

Landforms

Buy Now - $45 - 6x4in. - collage - "Mountains"

I'm not a big landscape painter, but I am surely inspired by my surroundings. And we are surrounded by mountains here in Missoula. They are completely covered in snow at the moment, so here's a little made up color, just for fun. : )

 

Buy Now - $45 - 6x4in. - collage - "Buttes"

Hide and Seek

Buy Now - $45 - 5x5in. - collage - "Hidden in Layers"

A gal I follow on Instagram said this recently:

"In my artistic work, listening to the voice of the image is a guiding principle for me. In life it is similar and this listening, questioning and waiting is for me like a space that I want to give so that life comes to me, nestles in my heart and shares its quiet words and songs with me."

Her name is Eva Kalien. I think her words are as beautiful as her art.

 

Buy Now - $45 - 6x4in. - collage - "Rediscovering"

Memories

Buy Now - $45 - 6x4in. - collage - "Hide the Candy"

I was asked recently by an art student if I could talk about my art and how it relates to memories. I thought this rather specific, as I haven't really mentioned it. But it got me thinking. Obviously I have them (memories) and yes, anything I look at tends to evoke them. But I don't usually create art with a particular memory in mind (or message, for that matter, which almost flunked me out of art school). That said, I often have an emotional reaction as I'm creating, and afterwards. And my titles hint at this. But I expect the viewer to have their own unique reaction, and mine is no more important than that.

 

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Getting There"

Quiet

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Still"

I've mentioned before that I often do something I call "research." These days that mostly means getting on Pinterest or Instagram and collecting images I like for ideas and inspiration. Pinterest is especially useful for this because it's easy to collect and organize those images. I often look back through what I've collected and search for patterns. What color combinations am I picking over and over? What's a theme I like but haven't tried myself? I even sometimes copy a piece (for myself) to learn HOW they did it.

Buy Now - $45 - 6x4in. - collage - "Improv"

Warm and Cool

 

Buy Now $50 - 7x5in. - collage - "Shooting for the Moon"

Buy Now $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Into the Furnace"

I'm keeping these next 3 collages for myself and bought these inexpensive frames online to display them. I just think they look so great in frames!!

Posca Markers

 

Buy Now - $35 - 4x4in. - collage - "Passages"

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Stay Within the Lines"

For these orange lines I used a POSCA acrylic paint marker. I got a small set and then ordered a few extra colors. They make great lines and go over other colors pretty well (some better than others).

Connections

 

Buy Now - $45 - 6x4in. - collage - "Connections"

This is a post about the nicest person in the world. Her name is Sheryl and she GAVE me a scanner! And a fabulous one at that. This is my first try with it, and I can't even begin to tell you how accurate it is. Wow. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Sheryl!!!

Colors

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Bamboozled"

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "A Cool Pool"

School Days

This first one reminds me of growing up in the 80's and early 90's for some reason.

Buy Now - $50 - 5x7in. - collage - "Teen Spirit"

And this one reminds me of an ant farm, and ants in general. Out in nature I find them in long, long lines, one after another, carrying all sorts of things. I was fascinated with them as a child. I don't see very many ants here in Montana.

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Follow the Leader"

Paths

I think I mentioned that I have been doing abstract collage for a few months, and so I'm ahead by quite a few. So while I have a backlog I'll be posting 2 a day. I'm not actually sure how long each one takes to do, since I'm always working on several at once. It seems like a few come together quickly, but most are on my table for days. At any rate, I am still having SO MUCH FUN!!!

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Finding Your Way"

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Abrupt Shift"

Feelings

Today I heard from an old friend and art hero, Jill Carver. She said she teaches something very similar to my "art is a balance between rhythm and variety" idea, but she calls it "unity and variety." Not only do I think that is a fabulous word for it, but it's great to hear that other people (and of such stature!) are thinking the same things. : )

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place"

Another friend wrote and asked me to talk about a particular piece and how it follows this idea. In this next one, I would say the rhythms/unities are: the dominant light value - overall high key aspect; the repeating pink bits, orange bits, and green; the mostly low saturation, and mostly hard lines/rectangular shapes. The variety can be seen in: the different sizes of shapes, the sudden thin, curvy lines at the bottom, the small bits of saturation, and the one small, dark piece. I'm sure there are more things. I'm not great at analyzing art in general. For me it's mostly a feel thing.

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Essence"

Earth and Sky

I've been marinating for a while on an idea that occurred to me a while back. It's not fully formed in my head, but I thought I'd share it because it has helped me. The idea is that art is a balance between rhythm and variety. In music this is easy to explain - the underlying beat is the rhythm, and on top of that is the variety - long notes, short notes; hi, low; different kinds of sounds. In visual art the rhythm is the repeated bits - like a color that is repeated, or a kind of edge, a certain value, etc. The variety is all the stuff that's different - big shapes, small shapes; curves, straight lines; colors; etc.

The reason I find this helpful is because when I learned about variety I thought that was IT. But  if everything is different, you get chaos. Having some stuff be regular gives the piece structure. Art can range from lots of rhythm and little variety, to the opposite. And there are a million ways to do that.

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Half Moon"

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Half Moon"

More Minis

Buy Now - $30 - 4x4in. - collage - "Psychadelic"

Buy Now - $30 - 4x4in. - collage - "Orderly"

Buy Now - $30 - 4x4in. - collage - "Far Out"

Minis

Here are a few smaller collages - 4x4in. The process is the same but the feel is a little more intimate.

Buy Now - $30 - 4x4in. - collage - "Right, Again"

Buy Now - $30 - 4x4in. - collage - "Hills and Valleys"

Buy Now - $30 - 4x4in. - collage - "Tying Knots"

Challenges

One hard thing about these collages is not knowing AT ALL what's going to happen - how they're going to end up - IF they're going to work out. I have tossed a good number. But the ones I post FEEL right to me.

Buy Now - $50 - 5x7in. - collage - "Obstacle Course"

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "In the Depths"

World Building

I used to have a nice scanner, but gave it to my stepdaughter before we moved last time because I felt it was too delicate to transport. And she needed one. Now scanners have gotten a lot more expensive! So I've been taking photos of these on a white background with window light. I think they're pretty accurate, but I'm thinking I may need to spring for another scanner. Do you have one you like that you think is accurate in terms of color? I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!

Buy Now - $50 - 5.5x7in. - Collage - "Other Worlds"

Buy Now - $50 - 5x7in. - Collage - "Construction"

Science Fiction

The way I learned to apply my paper bits is with acrylic matte medium (as glue). First I apply some to the substrate with a brush (right now I'm using a heavy cardstock as my substrate). Then I put down my paper bit, brush on top of that with more medium, run my finger, firmly, all over the bit to completely flatten and get out any bubbles/extra glue. Then I brush the medium evenly all over the bit and around to make it nice. Because I'm working on several collages at once, I can let that one dry (doesn't take long here in Montana) while I work on some others.

After my collage is "done," the whole thing tends to dry curved. So at the very end I'll brush on more matte medium over the entire back of the collage, sandwich it with wax paper, and put some heavy books on it. I leave this overnight and in the morning it's pretty darn flat.

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Reduced Flow"

Buy Now - $45 - 4x6in. - collage - "Somewhere in Hyperspace"

Shapes

For these collages, I make my own paper, which is super fun! I learned a few techniques from Jane Davies when I took a workshop from her some years back (she also has youtube videos). The rest I have gotten from the internet or just my own experimentation. A lot of the time I use a gelli plate and make "prints" with acrylic paint or ink. (Here's more about that). There are a million ways to get different textures and patterns. I also draw with markers or paints right on the paper - I have a particular affinity for stripes, as you will see.

Buy Now - $40 - 4x6in. - collage - "The Big Pink"

Buy Now - $40 - 4x6in. - collage - "Rock Climbing"

Skies

Here are a couple more of my little collages. One thing I LOVE about the process is that it is completely intuitive, from start to finish. I don't do any planning - at least for now. I cut out a starting piece, glue it down, and set it aside. I usually have 4 or 5 collages going at the same time. I look around and something usually jumps out at me like - "oh maybe a little orange stripe would look good right there?" I cut something out and try it. If it doesn't look good there, I try it elsewhere, because - who knows! Eventually things start to "work out." It is very different from the process of painting real things, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it.

 

Buy Now - $40 - 4x6in. - collage - "Blue Moon"

Buy Now - $40 - 4x6in. - collage - "A Skyscraper Afternoon"

Hills

Thank you all SO MUCH for the support and encouragement you have given me in this new direction of mine!! It is very much appreciated. Here are a couple more. These first ones are 4x6in. and will fit nicely into standard picture frames. I haven't signed them on the front because I want the owner to choose which way is up. : )

 

BUY NOW - $35 - 4x6in. - collage - "Pink Hill"

BUY NOW - $35 - 4x6in. - collage - "Three Red Hills"

Sunrise

 

Buy Now - $35 - 4x6in. - collage

For the past few months I have been completely obsessed with abstract (or non-representational) collage. It's why my paintings have been few and far between. At first I just decided to let myself indulge in it for a little while to satisfy whatever temporary draw it had. Not to sell - just to take a break and refill my well for painting. But my desire for it hasn't gone away. And I am now proud enough of the results to try and sell them.

On this last part I have been dragging my feet. As artists I think we always feel like we are stripping down naked when we show our work, and asking - what do you think? (cringe) But this feeling is especially strong when trying something completely different than usual!

So here I am, naked in front of you, showing you my new direction. It's totally fine if you don't like it - I realize this is not everyone's cup of tea. But it's something I like, so feel free not to share with me if you don't like it. : )

No, this doesn't mean I'm done with painting! Not at all. In fact I'm learning a lot about color and design with these little collages. And given enough time I know I will land back on painting with a renewed passion. I always do.

Thanks!