Unbinding the Visual Journal

"Unbinding the Visual Journal" in Williston went SO WELL!!! I met so many talented artists of varying backgrounds, and we all had a blast making collage journals. The gal pictured above is Holly Sierra. She brought color copies of her paintings, cut them up, and rearranged them into beautiful collages. Each person had such a unique approach to this process. It was truly inspiring to me.

Collage Journal Workshop

My Scribble Collage workshop at the Guilford Art Center in CT was SO FUN! I had great students, and we had a blast. Can't wait to do that one again. I'll post pix shortly. Meanwhile, I want to get the word out that I am teaching a collage journal workshop in Williston, Vermont (that's near Burlington) on Saturday, July 18, 9 - 5. The workshop is called "Unbinding the Visual Journal". Check it out! The contact person is Jill Abilock: jabilock@japanlink-trans.com 802-735-1443

Collage Workshop

I am teaching a Scribble Collage workshop at the Guilford Art Center in Guilford, CT on June 13 and 14. There are a few spaces still available, so if you're interested, sign up NOW. We will spend the first day painting, drawing, and playing with loads of materials and techniques in order to produce lots and lots of collage materials. On the second day we will have a collage marathon! The images here are examples of my scribble collages.
The following weekend, on June 20, I'll be teaching a workshop on layering with transparencies in collage, at Ink About It in Westford, MA. That one is full, but there is a waiting list. If there are enough people on the waiting list we may schedule another similar workshop in the near future.

Last weekend my Sweetie and I went to an opening of a show of quilts by Polly Stone. This is one of a series she did based on a trip to Machu Picchu. Beautiful textures, fine stitching, subtle colors... truly beautiful work.

I haven't posted in a while, as I am preparing for the Surtex show which is May 17 - 19. For the first time this year I will be showing collage work in addition to my "design" work. I have generally kept these worlds separate - my collage being the work I do to explore imagery and techniques without a particular outcome in mind, and design being what I do for a living - painting images, scanning them, and making them into artwork that can be used on commercial products such as paper goods, fabrics, ceramics, etc. My two worlds seem to be converging a bit, and I am excited to find out if there is interest in my collage at Surtex this year. This Coffee Collage was done using painting, collage and digital manipulation. Oh, and sewing.

Collage with Color

I recently heard from a reader, Judy Strom, who, after purchasing Collage Journeys, also ordered my previous book, Collage with Color. She kindly sent a photo of these gorgeous papers she painted, inspired by the book, and gave me an opportunity to put in a shameless plug for the book. Thank you Judy! Now I can't wait to see what she does with the papers...

I have been fooling around with layering fabrics, fibers, and papers with fusible web for a while, trying to create complex surfaces. I'm trying to incorporate more fabric-fiber-stitching kinds of techniques into my collage. I recently came across Sue Bleiweiss's web site. She is a master of this technique, and she has terrific tutorials available on her site. The pieces pictured here are my experiments in creating an overall surface. I did make a box out of the orange-pink piece using Sue's directions. I'll post a picture at a later date. In the meantime, check out her site and her blog, and have fun!

Speaking of foam core, here are a couple of jewelry items I made using paper-wrapped foam core as the base. They are embellished with fused Angelina fiber and film, wire, and beads. I would love to see what other mixed media and collage artists are doing with foam core. Please e-mail me and send photos! Thanks.

Gloria

Tonight in our Collage Journeys workshop we will start a project making collage on foam core. The fun part of this is that you can cut openings in the top layer of foam core, creating little niches, and place little three-dimensional things in them. The piece in this post is called "Talking with Gloria", Gloria being the gal in the striped sweater. I made the background using old maps of LaHave, Nova Scotia, where Gloria lives, and a letter from her. In the little niche, I placed pieces of sea glass from the beach in LaHave. It has been WAY too long since I visited Gloria! This collage makes me miss her like crazy. Check out her paintings on her web site (click "Gloria" above.)

Cloth Paper Scissors Article

The current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors contains an article BY ME on making collage on printable cotton. Check it out! I was so delighted to be asked to write for this publication, as I have been subscribing for several years, and I devour every issue.

On another topic: I am told that my "comment" function does not work on this blog. If anyone has a comment, please feel free to e-mail me - you should be able to by going to my Profile. Thanks.

Collage from a Reader

I love to get e-mail feedback from people who have purchased Collage Journeys. Lately I've been asking readers to send me pictures of their own collages. These just came in this morning from Edwina Kinch. "Sunflower" and "Emerald" are based on my "Color Collage" project. The red collage ("Collage 1") is made from discarded artwork that Edwina cut and tore into pieces and reassembled. I'm a big fan of recycling artwork this way. I love Edwina's use of texture and her stitching and beading. Fun! Thanks, Edwina!

Unfinished Collages

This week in our Collage Journeys workshop we are going to continue the Scribble Collage project. Last week we all scribbled, painted, drew patterns and doodles, and had a ball. I put together a few of my scribbles as collages, but I think I'll consider them unfinished for now and maybe introduce some imagery later. I'm teaching a whole weekend workshop on Scribble Collage in June at the Guilford Arts Center, so I'll be playing with it more over the next few months.