Session three on the 30″ square cradled panels:

I have added color to the overall grid to make a “nine patch” pattern on each of the panels. This is only to give an underlying structure to everything that will come after this. I haven’t added any texture yet. To this point I’ve concentrated on color only. Eventually some of the square shapes will be lost and the grid will be rearranged into smaller and larger rectangles by the addition of textural elements.

There hasn’t been any sunshine for the past couple of days. Tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny, so hopefully I can work on these again and take a shot outside.

The top picture is the current stage of the two 30″ square cradled panels after applying additional color this morning. The bottom picture shows stage one.

I am going to divide the space even more. As I create smaller sections, some of them will be built up with a lot of texture and some will remain as they are now, because there are passages I like already. Even the areas that will get texture may have parts of the underlying marks showing through. I will take it as it comes.

My apologies for not having them in the same orientation as in the first photograph, but I think you can see what’s going on anyway.

The white areas in the centers of both panels are actually the same with no color changes. The room lighting was not as bright the second time around. I still have to paint my walls white, but probably won’t get around to that until spring. The rust colored walls and floor definitely influence the colors.

“Ant Farm” – Digital Collage, Heat Transfer on Arches Cover Paper
Image size 4 x 4″, Paper size 14 x 11″

Here’s another idea that I’ve had success with in my own work, and it relates to the previous discussion about mounting small works on paper to a larger background for impact.

In this procedure I create a small digital image, print it onto a good quality heat transfer medium, such as a commercial grade T-shirt transfer (I’ve tried several and don’t have a real preference) cut it down to just the image, and iron it onto a larger piece of good quality heavy art paper, following the iron-on instructions included with your transfer medium.

My favorite substrate for this is Arches Cover Paper because of its nice velvety and slightly spongy consistency. This paper works amazingly well because it tends to “grab” the heated transfer and incorporate it into the paper very much like fabric would. You can buy sheets in a variety of subtle neutral colors.

Other papers may work as well for you. Bristol board is good because of its smooth surface. Watercolor paper has too much tooth.

I usually print my images with my regular inkjet printer, because I feel the plastic contained in the heat transfer will encapsulate the ink and protect it from UV light. If you are concerned about the archival qualities of your work, a second way to do this is to get your image printed on a color laser printer. The color toner in these printers is as archival as anything you can find.

The above example is a scan of a real-life collage that I created, printed onto transfer paper and ironed onto gray Arches Cover Paper.

If you decide to try this, remember to flip the image horizontally before you print it onto the transfer paper.

I don’t have photographs of me doing this because right now I am out of transfer paper.

For More Inspiration

Seth Apter has begun publishing the fourth edition of  The Pulse, a compendium of ideas and inspirations from more than 200 artists in the online community. You could stay for days at Seth’s blog!

An Exhibition Opportunity

Here is information about a series of proposed online exhibitions, the first of which will be in January 2010. My friend Sheree Rensel, aka Wizzlewolf, has conceived the idea as a way for artists to bring their work to a wider audience. There are no entrance fees. This is a free exhibition and a wonderful opportunity! The theme of the first show is “Go Away!” If you click on the link you will be able to print out the prospectus for this exhibition.

Sunrise From My Front Step – Christmas Eve 2009

On this Christmas day, a very big thank you to everyone who stops in from time to time to see what’s going on in my world, and to exchange ideas and thoughts about the art projects you are working on. You are all very special to me, and you keep me going every single day.

If you’re new to this site, I hope you’ll browse through some of the posts to see what we’ve been up to lately, and that you’ll be inspired and come back again.

I am looking forward to more exciting art discoveries in the coming year, and promise to share them with you. I hope you will continue to bring your unique perspective to the conversation as well.

Here’s wishing you and your family a great holiday season and a happy and prosperous New Year!

“Hand Made” – Collage, 4 x 4″

I will mount this little collage on a large sheet of heavy archival paper, either 8 x 10 or 11 x 14. I don’t have a dry mount machine which would be nice (Santa, did you hear?) but I have been mounting these to the background with fusible webbing for fabrics. It works beautifully!

I really enjoy cutting my own mats if I need only one or two reasonably small ones.

Here is an excellent demo by artist Ginny Piech Street showing how she uses a Logan Mat Cutter. This setup is a step above what I use. Mine is simply a little hand held cutter, and I measure by hand and make my cuts using a simple straight edge. I also like that she uses as an example a small piece of art with a very generous mat border.

For additional explanation with photos and diagrams and a slightly different setup, here is a great article. I really like the tools outlined in this article, and would get this if I were in need of more mats than I’m currently making.

Cutting your own mats is more economical in some cases (but not all!) and the skill comes in handy when you want a mat with a non-standard opening, or even perhaps with multiple openings. If you know in advance that you want a quantity of custom mats to fit a specific size of artwork, you can order them precut and very reasonably from several sources online. I have ordered mine from Redimat where I can also get the poly bags, backing boards, and other framing supplies.

If you’d like to see the proper way to mount and mat your artwork to prevent damage to the art, watch this short but elegantly simple video.

“Love Spake” – Collage, 4 x 4″

I think I like creating these 4 x 4″ collages more than doing little canvas paintings.

It’s great to present a small collage with a very generous border.  This is how it might look matted and framed in this way:

You can have small works on paper like these professionally framed or purchase your own ready made frame and you will have an affordable piece of art with real presence.

Look for my collages in my Etsy shop for collage.

“Branches” – Collage, 5 x 7″
Mounted on 8 x 10″ Acid Free Paper

These collage were created as I documented my Intuitive Collage Process in a series of recent posts. After choosing something like a dozen 5 x 7’s from the matrix, I then came up with several 4 x 4’s. This is one of the original 5 x 7’s.

After choosing my basic composition for this one, all I added were the dogwood branches. I cut around the image contours, leaving my collage as the background behind the branches.

Time in the studio is at a premium these days, and not really because of the holidays. That has all been taken care of with minimal preparation on our part. I’ve been accompanying my husband all over the place to pick up things for the house and future garden, including topsoil for the tulips and daffodils, three blueberry bushes, birdseed, and mulch. Yesterday I planted the blueberries. Today or tomorrow we will be planting daffodils. My good friend Kim Radatz was so right when she said that gardening is an art form in itself and can be just as absorbing as any other creative activity.

The next project in the studio is to continue working on my big panels. This will require a major time commitment, so naturally I’m putting it off. Here is where I left off with them.

Most of this will be covered up in subsequent layers, but some will peek through here and there.

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Pears are always such a wonderful luxury. We have a bowl of mixed fruit every morning at breakfast, and right now there are almost always pears since several varieties are in season.

The small and rather pricey container of blueberries has reminded me that we need to go pick up our blueberry bushes and get them in the ground. I’m trying to convince my husband that we want pear trees too!

Here is one of my recent collages with a pear and a ghost of a pear.

“Pears for Breakfast” – Collage, 5 x 7″
Mounted on 8 x 10″ Acid Free Paper

This collage will be listed in my Etsy shop later today.

The only bright fall color left in our area are the leaves of the Bradford Pear trees. And those are just about completely gone. These are leaves from my neighbor’s trees that blew into my yard. As I walked through them, I picked up the ones that still had some color. I don’t know what those big faded green papery leaves are, but they are from a tree in my yard that I haven’t identified yet. And there are always the pine needles, both green and dead ones. Some of the green ones have fallen off in the last few days when there was a lot of wind.

I took a fairly high-resolution picture of these leaves on the table, because I might want to use parts of it in collage, both digital and glued.

And just because I enjoy looking at these fence post wood scraps, I thought I’d share them with you. I have them stacked in my shelf in the studio for inspiration. I love the patterns.

Every time I look at this stack of blocks I think of totems. When the fence out back was being put in, I naturally had to have a bunch of these. They were cut off in several different lengths for discard. Who knows what I’ll ever do with them, but they seemed like something to ponder for a while.

And today I just finished scanning a whole array of collages that were completed this week. I love getting out to the studio every day to work on more of these!

“Persimmon” – Collage, 5 x 7″
Mounted on 8 x 10″ Acid Free Paper