Re-discovering Collage

So I had had a bit of a clunker day in the studio, so the next day when I went back, I allowed myself to try something completely different instead of trying to finish pieces that I’ve started over year ago. A new book had come in when I was on vacation, and I was chomping at the bit to take a look at it. The Art of Expressive Collage: Techniques for Creating with Paper and Glue by Crystal Neubauer

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Expressive-Collage-Techniques/dp/1440335850

I have admired Crystal’s work for a long time for its subtle color palettes and always stellar compositions.

I have so many processes and techniques in the studio, I forget about some for a while…. and while I’ve been incorporating different papers and material into my recent encaustic work, its been a while since that was the main component.  I forget how much fun it is to forage through my collection and start tearing, cutting, ripping and burning edges! One of her projects was to assemble a collage within five minutes, not really thinking logically about it, just pulling together what intuitively felt right. A lot of my work involves research for the imagery, the text, and the process, and while I love that, sometimes it can be restrictive.  It felt very freeing just to pull together what I felt like. Even though these didn’t have a lot of forethought, I am looking at them now and thinking that they still relate. Anything that I collect that comes into the studio usually has some type of relationship with nature.  Its like everything gets filtered through a natural history perspective.   And so the title for this series will be nature ephemera, (ephemera being my new favorite word that refers to found paper bits). I let the color of a fossil inventory book from the 1800s determine the color palette of the piece, and then I built around that. I tore up an old bird book that led me to pulling out old screens of nests and making new ones of leaves and eggs. I spent an afternoon just poring over all the different types of bird eggs there are, and the patterns and sizes and colors that they come in. Very fun. I carefully considered the shape and arrangements of the pieces, and then I countered that with some very loose painting and writing. I finished it up by working drawing back into and highlighting the change in value in certain areas. 

Here are some of the in process shots.

just muddying up the panel a bit....

 playing around with what and where...

 

inserting my interpretation in writing...

gluing flat is imperative! 

       

  

"auditioning" silkscreens....

 

contemplating...

 choosing eggs...

 

lining everything up before screening...

adding more? 

highlighting what is already there ...

 all done....

Flock o' Geese ATCs

Sometimes while working and focusing on one piece, it will overlap or flow into another.  Sometimes its just a practical thing- using up the end of a palette- but often times its because you didn't say everything you wanted/needed to in one piece.  I think a little bit of each happened here. While working on a portion of the large project I’ve taken on (see Midwest Shrine),
http://holzstudiosampling.blogspot.com/2015/04/planning-for-next-big-thing.html

 I shaped a portion of Aldo Leopold's book, "Sand County Summer” into 2 gothic shaped doorways. As I was carefully screening them on, I was reading the text about flocks of geese arriving in the spring.

 

Totally not planned,  the text ended up on the ATCs because I hate to waste art supplies- and I had a fully loaded screen with ink, took a look around- and found a fitting place to deposit it. But then I wanted to see actual geese, not just the text describing them.  So for the small ATCs I was working on, I made a screen of geese in various sizes and positions to include over the text describing their arrival.  Those led me down its own path and imagery, and now love these little guys.  Two have the text in them- then I went a little “goose crazy” and started flying geese into quite a few ATCs….

the beginning....

 the middle..

the end! 

 More examples- before and after staining....

  

"going with the flow...."

Irish ATCs

( These were scheduled to be posted while we were in Scotland and Ireland- but Blogger had different ideas. So- a little late but the art remains the same)

As you are reading this- I am now in Ireland!!  It is a big part of my heritage, but I noticed that the closer the trip got, the more my choices became Celtic ones.  I am going to show you what that looks like here! 

Ogham ATCs

I first became acquainted with Ogham characters during my first trip to Ireland almost 2 decades ago. While seeing the Book of Kells exhibition at Trinity College, these intriguing writings just grabbed me for some reason I can't completely articulate. I bought a postcard to remind me of the marks, (no photos allowed!) then found many other examples on various rocks and ruins during the rest of the trip. I came back and did a little research, and although I am not a linguist, this is my best explanation: It is an ancient alphabet whose characters are based on 12 trees. Found throughout  Ireland, archaeologists now think it might have been more widespread than that- because they've unearthed examples in north and south America that also contain examples of it.  At any rate- the following pieces have excerpts from the Book of Ballymote, in which the priests during the dark ages tried to record what knowledge and history they could preserve.  For some reason, in my mind's eye, a line of Ogham finished these perfectly! 

Irish music

And then, of course, there is Irish music.  After having just seen U2 in concert a month ago, I am still reliving that concert via their songs while working at the studio!  So this piece once again started with alcohol inks on encaustic board- a lovely surface for encaustic. 

I added some contrasting pan pastel blue, then wrote in the U2 lyrics that were playing while I worked- a favorite song of mine-  "Walk On"

  (All that you can’t leave behind is not just referring to actual luggage :) I collaged on a little strip from an old fossil book, and then waxed it. I then took a photocopy of some grasses, “auditioned” them on top of the piece, liked how it looked and what it added, so made a silkscreen of it. 

Screened it on, added another layer of wax, and stopped before I went to far!!  

Here is Walk on -performed live at Slane Castle in Ireland. Imagine! 

Slainte!

Planting Art seeds in the UK

( These were scheduled to be posted while we were in Scotland and Ireland- but Blogger had different ideas. So- a little late but the art remains the same)

In preparing for our trip to Scotland and Ireland, I made a dozen or so ATCs.

For those of you who don’t know, ATC stands for artist trading cards. They are pieces of board or paper that are 2.5” x 3.5,” the same size as a baseball trading card. They are little tiny baby pieces of art that were originally traded, and now ACEO’s- art card editions and originals- are sold as originals or small series of prints.   The intention for mine was to plant them on both “islands” during our trip, giving them to people who I enjoyed or may enjoy a tiny piece of art.  So I thought it fitting while I’m in the UK, I’ll highlight them on my blog!

Magenta Grasses ATC

This first one I started with some alcohol inks, which I am currently in love with. It’s serious-want-to-get-engaged kind of love :)  I am going to need a cabinet storage area soon! Such vibrant colors, quick drying, and have awesome interactions with other materials.  It’s a loose start, but I like the proportions of negative to positive space…

Went a little crazy here…

So I simplified a bit with alcohol and some coarse kosher salt…

Sometimes there is a method to my madness- other times I love just foraging through my collections to see what feels right, making a right brain rather than left brain connection… that's how I happened upon some patinaed copper that worked beautifully with the magenta.  A wee bit of pressed goldenrod balanced the strong horizontal nicely, but still not feeling done….

Added “living in the moment” in white….

But once I added wax I lost the delicate writing. So added some abstract script, highlights on goldenrod and linear pattern with the contrasting white. 

Done, stamped, signed, and ready to be packed for the voyage!

Slainte!