Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Ahhh ... the struggle


I've been looking at one of the most recent Grand Tour collages, Bird's Eye View, above, almost every day for the past few months. It hung directly across the studio from my work tables. So, each time I looked up, I glimpsed it.

After a while, I began to not like it. The dark background didn't allow viewers to see the birds clearly enough. The birds were too close to one another. In short, it needed more air.

Toss it? No. Time to rework it. I popped it out of the frame, which will be put to use another time, and onto the work table. Happily, in order to give it the collage a 3D quality, each piece was not glued down completely. And PVA, which is water soluble, was used as glue on some sections. Even so, it took a few days of tearing, cutting and careful removal, to separate the birds and their passengers from the background. There was only one casualty: the baby's head, which I saved to reattach.

As I soon discovered, all that was the easy part. Below are images of it in progress, including two showing what it might look like if I created two pieces from it. More photos will follow, because it took an odd turn after the bottom one. I set it aside for a few weeks, and, so, it remains a work in progress ...








Thursday, March 20, 2014

They're back: 2014 Open Studios


  Just updated the Open Studios page with this year's dates. Hope to see you!

Meow. A few more kitties to fill out the 2015 calendar

Dove back into the Sweet Petite cat collages this week. Was off for a week. Before leaving, I started another collage, then, left it on the work table. That gave me something to dive right into when I returned. A trick I read about years ago. This way, I didn't have to face the dreaded "blank page."

© Art Patron

 © Fat Cat II

© Studio Cat

Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Sweet Petites are purring ...

I've been distracted by issues with a remake of a large collage, so it seemed time to take a break from it.  I turned my attention to having fun. For me, that usually means working on small collages, so that's what I did.

The new Sweet Petites - matted to fit a 5" x 7" frame - began with four 1917 fashion plates, then a group of cats. Last year's cat collages were so popular, that they ended up on their own calendar. Another one is in the works for 2015, and after this week I am well on the way. Take a look … (oh, I will be posting these on the official Sweet Petite page, too).

Sybil Ignores the Man
Behind the Curtain

Claudine Gawks Right Back
at the Gawkers

Isadora Brought Males of Every Age
to Their Knees

Marie Walked As Tall As Any Man

Easily Distracted

Not Intimidated

Fascinated
Fat Cat



Hitchhiker

Idol Worship
Irresistible



Mischief