Commissions

I worked this past week on making three commissioned pieces. All were made from photos I'd taken; one is a photo I took in Maine last year, one is a Christmas present so I'm not showing an individual shot of it, and the third is my Grandpa's barn that a cousin wanted me to make art using it as the focus. It's always fun knowing who the piece is going to as I'm making it.  :-)

Balloons!

My husband and I went to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October. Over 600 balloons ascended in the morning!!! I'm sure there will be more balloon collages in my future.

This is Me!

I made this piece to submit to a local show of women artists entitled "This is Me" and to use for my monthly project with my Art Sistas for the assignment of "flight/flying".  I chose to work with a photo my friend Mary took of a prairie plot owned by our friend Linda (all three of us are in the Art Sistas group). I added the illustrations of a bird taking flight to the digital file and then ran several filters on the photo. After choosing 3 that worked well together, I printed those out and cut into strips and did my usual art making process. I then added some strips of yellow and green handmade papers, little torn circles of purple and rust to highlight the flowers, and shredded US currency from the Federal Reserve.

 

 

Going to the beach!

C2C Gallery in Grand Haven, MI, sold 4 of my collages in August. The work will be up through September, so I'm taking 5 new pieces up this weekend. Here are three new pieces and the fourth is a beach stairway 2.0 (I sold the one I posted August 11, so I ran a new set of 3 filters and created another version of the scene.)

The gull/sailboat scene has text floating in the water about boats and water. The beach chairs have yellowed newspaper text under them in the sand.  The grass beyond the stairs in the last one have pieces of shredded US currency embedded.

Calm...

This serene piece is 12"H x 9"W x 1"Deep and is titled "Open to Joy." The original photo was taken by my friend Ellen McDowell when she was kayaking. I ran filters on the photo, printed out 3 versions to cut into strips and added in the Japanese characters for water lily in the top right of the sky. Some handmade papers add to the texture of the lily and shredded currency from the Federal Reserve float among the lily pads.

Summer Time, Beach Time

I wanted to make another composition with an inviting walk down to the beach. I took the original photo for this on the upper shore of Lake Michigan. At first I thought I'd do a horizontal landscape, but then felt the big wood tops of the walkway were a bit distracting. I cropped the image into a square and made this 12"x12"x1" collage (middle photo) using three filtered versions of the scene with some Michigan road maps added into the clouds and handmade green paper in the grassy areas.

I'm the Featured Artist at C2C Gallery

Check out my art on display in Grand Haven, Michigan for the months of August-September 2019. C2C Gallery has a great collection of Michigan artists' work on display and I'm proud to be exhibiting among them with my show "Woods - Water - Words".

Large commission

I finished this 30"H x 20"W commission and will deliver it later this month. The photo was supplied by the client, taken in Alaska on her 25th wedding anniversary, and is a gift to her husband for their 27th wedding anniversary.

Wrapping up for my Michigan show

I made a few more pieces for my show in Grand Haven, Michigan (August-September 2019). All three are 6"x12" on 1" deep cradled panels.

Outside In

After bringing in daffodils and jonquils from my wooded backyard this spring to enjoy, I decided to photograph one of the vases and make art from it. In this 14"H x 11"W x 1.5" deep piece, I combined the cut out strips from three variations of the original photo with handmade papers and text from an 1864 accounting ledger from a textile mill.

Spring's First Gifts

This piece was inspired by all the varieties of daffodils and narcissus that sprang up in the wooded backyard of my new home. I used my invented process of filtering my photos and cutting them into strips and then added little pieces of shredded $1000 bills in the leaf litter areas (bottom detail shot shows some of the currency). The two smaller panels are 1.5" deep and the middle one is .75" deep. The panels are attached and hang as one artwork.

You're Invited to the Lake!

I titled this 24"H x 18"W piece "Beckoning" as the stairs feel like an invitation to come down to the lake. I made three digital alterations of this scene in Michigan, tiled out 18 sheets of legal paper and cut them all into 1/4" strips and combined those with text and handmade paper. I felt like the trees on the left needed something more to activate the dark green shapes; the answer was found at the Michigan Banker's Conference I was attending with my husband. The gentlemen at the  Federal Reserve booth gave me little bags of shredded $1000 bills... so of course I used them in my art!!! I guess I've made a "money tree"!

My friend Rae took the original photo, so when she saw the finished collage she said she had to buy it. I told her I wanted to have it for my Michigan show in August/September, and then she can "take possession" of the art.  :-)  The first photo is of the finished collage (on 2" deep cradled panel) and the 2nd and 3rd photos are detail shots showing the text and the shredded currency.

2 more for my Michigan show

Grand Haven, MI has an iconic lighthouse and pier, so I made this 16"x16" collage for my August-September show in that town. I made the sky more active by weaving in some vertical strips of paper. The squirrel is 8"x8" and the area around the tree hole is mounded up... and includes some text.

Walk in the woods anyone?

In this piece, I'm trying to evoke the memory of walking in the woods on a crisp autumn day. I've added in handmade papers of gold and green to the foliage, and some railroad distance map fragments in the rocks. 12"H x 9"W.

Feeling Beach-y

Combating winter cold by making beach art! I made a 12"x9" collage from a photo of collected shells, adding in ledger paper and handmade paper surf. The cormorant is also 12"x9" and incorporates some yellowed ledger paper and weaving in of vertical strips in the bottom right corner.

Coping with wintery weather

Coping with the Polar Vortex by working on images of hiking and time at the beach!

I like how the eye-flow in the hiking scene is up the boardwalk to the hiker. Hopefully it is inviting to the viewer to think about being on this quiet path in the autumn woods. 12" x 9" with a few pieces of text and some handmade papers added into the strips of imagery that make up the scene.

The beach scene is 12" x 12" and has pieces of old ledger paper and colored pencil added to the paper

strips of imagery.