layer upon layer

I've been busy getting ready for Fresh Paint, held August 16-17 at the Everett Marina...
its a juried art show sponsored by the Schack Art Center here in town...

I've taken a new direction with my art this year...combining paper collage...with digital photographs... and then adding dimensional vintage elements as a finishing touch.

Though any one step by itself is not very involved or time consuming...when placed in the context of a completed piece, the time and effort can take months...

I thought I would share a condensed version of what goes into such a creation...to both inspire you as well as cultivate an understanding of my process...











The germ of an idea for the main collage of my highlighted piece started here...

Above are two scanned images of original paper collages from a commissioned art journal I constructed in October 2013...With techniques I acquired through the Photoshop Grunge class that I started in January 2014 (and I haven't even completed all the lessons yet) I found a way to merge these two images together while adding two more photographs of mine...so that's 4 images that went into this montage...with additional layers of textures and grunge...the resulting collage looks like this...

I then produced a high quality print...and started creating the larger multi-media assemblage...

At this point, the print sat on my studio table...for many moons (you can't rush inspiration...it sometimes takes its own sweet time)...











I often use old drawers as the foundation for my larger collages...but this print was an odd size - 10" x 16" ...and was confounding me...until I was cleaning out the basement...and found an old typeset drawer that was falling apart...it was perfect...

From there things came together quickly...wanting to pick up the blue tones of the collage, I covered the surface of the typeset drawer with a sheet of blueprint diagram (friends of mine had to scrape a remodel project and I happily snatched up a set of plans that were going to the trash) The white background of the paper was a little too bright...so my favorite patina to the rescue...

Several coffee washes later, I'm ready to put the photo print in place...finishing with a light sanding and a wax buff, this process of waiting for each layer to dry before proceeding takes about a week...

Wanting to keep with the original intention of the typeset drawer, I pull out my wooden type...and cobble together two words that express my message...

running short of traditional letters...you've got to use "poetic licence"... that number 3 is now an "E"

The inside edges still needed something...so it sat another couple of days...until I decided to add a length of metal measuring tape...secured in each corner with the letters n, s, e and w (for north, south, east and west)

At this stage, I leave the collage at a place where I can look at it each day - in this case, the dining room table - deciding whether or not it is complete or if something else is needed...once I'm happy with it, hanging hardware is attached then signed, labeled, ready for the show...

Come visit me at the show...I'll be in booth 21...and you can see this piece up close and personal...