Another series is about to launch

For the past few weeks, I've been working on a series of collages that is quite a departure from the narratives. I haven't cooked up a name for it yet, even though I'm already on collage No. 7 and have at least three more in mind.

The photos above are blurry, but they''ll be scanned and posted soon. The idea was inspired by a clever collage by Georgia artist Robin Miller, spotted in Manifest Gallery's Magnitude 7.8 exhibit, which ended a few weeks ago.

Robin punched small circles of letters from a variety of books, then, pasted them in the shape of a circle onto a found book page and titled it "Letter Bomb." I just couldn't get it out of my mind and wanted to make something similar without copying him.

After a few weeks with the idea rolling around my head, I dove into it headlong. The first piece, "F Bomb," did involve letters, but took on a life of its own from there. I don't want to give everything away quite yet but suspect you can figure it out from that title and the images above.

One of the great surprises - as always, I suppose - is the evolution of each collage. Another surprise was that I - finally - am using background papers painted two years ago during a Greater Cincinnati Calligraphy Guild workshop taught by visiting artist Jacqueline Sullivan, as well as a watercolor painting recovered from a dumpster around the same time (hear that Diana Taylor?!).

More as it happens ...      

Butterflies ...

I can't explain it but butterflies are popping up in many recent collages. So, I decided it was time to create a few pieces that focused on butterflies. Initially, I was inspired by a simple, crafty greeting card with a triple-layered butterfly that I spotted in a catalog retrieved by a friend from a recycling bin. "I can do that," I told myself, thinking I was getting into a relatively easy series. Wrong. As you will see in the photos that follow, "easy" isn't in my vocabulary. Ignore the mats, I use them as cropping devices.

The original easy idea (above). Stacked butterfly. Background. Piece o' cake.

Larger version. I've been itching to use the 12" x 12" mats bought last month. The background is from a vintage book on drawing animals, the quote is from a photographic essay about butterflies and the red butterfly was clipped from a recycled greeting card in the stash. Oh, the main butterfly; it was cut from a combo of a greeting card, a catalog and vintage wallpaper.

  
While on my butterfly binge, I cut four large butterflies from a variety of sources. This one is typographic and placed on a calligraphic background from a 19th century book on penmanship. It's in a shadow box and that was the final evolution of three of the pieces. I've almost wrapped them up and you'll be seeing the finished collages within the next few days.