Buzzzzzzzz

 The bee has just lifted off the blossom after doing his pollination work. I was originally drawn to work with this photo because of the bee and the bright blue sky behind him. After running a number of filters on the photo in Prism, I chose three to print out and cut into quarter-inch strips. I layered those up on the wood panel and then added in vintage postage stamps and paper with script from my great uncle's ledger.

I've put a circle around all the pieces of stamps and ledger paper in case you couldn't find them all:

Daisy Days of Summer

I seem to be on a flower kick! This scene of dewy daisies at sunrise got really interesting after running filters on the photo. I picked three versions to cut into quarter-inch strips and combined those with handmade green and yellow papers, text from a French book, and shredded U.S. currency.

Sunflowers & Process

After taking photos in two fields of sunflowers last week, I chose one to work with and ran 8 different filters on the photo. I picked 3 I thought played well together and started working on making a mixed media collage. These photos show the process  starting with the photo... cutting and adhering to the panel... the finished base layer... stamps I found to cut and insert in the big sunflower petals... the finished piece.

Studio Time

I've been getting more time in my studio during this hot summer weather and have finished two pieces in the last ten days. The first was a 14"Hx11"Wx1.5"Deep artwork of a purple clover field at sunset. I added handmade papers and vintage stamps that fit in with the colors of the field. One of the stamps was of Edgar Allan Poe... so I decided to add in a flying raven at the last minute as a nod to Poe. The piece is entitled "Nevermore".

The second piece is a 16"x16"x2" commission; the original photo was provided by the buyer of her property in North Carolina. After layering up the strips of three altered photos I'd cut by hand, I added in handmade paper, vintage stamps and paper from a Virginia paper mill's 1864 ledger.

Anniversary Commission

What a sweet idea... I was asked to make a collage of the place where the couple first met, and she is giving it to him for their 1st anniversary in September! I enjoyed the fact that the Iowa venue had a great name, so I put little fragments of newspaper text and an 1872 map of Iowa in the stone, along with handmade papers and colored pencil additions.

Resting in Hope

This was another photo my friend Ellen McDowell took that I ran filters on, chose three to print and cut into strips, then added in vintage text, colored pencil and shredded U.S. currency to the nest. 12" x 12" x 1.5" deep wood panel.

Finished... and Sold!

I posted photos of this piece on Facebook on Saturday and had a request to purchase it on Monday! My friend Ellen took this fabulous sunset photo on a calm lake, and I loved how it messed with your sense of space since the sky was the same below and above. I picked three filtered versions of the scene, cut them by hand into quarter-inch strips and combined them with handmade paper and vintage (green and blue) postage stamps. I named it Eventide. 14" x 11" x 1.5"