Reading and learning are two of my hobbies. For me, a trip to the library is a fun day! Kind of like turning a kid loose in a candy store. What I read, the new ideas that I absorb, and my experiences all go into a mental "vault" in my head. It's sort of like paying into a savings account that is accruing interest that you can withdraw later. That mental accrual (the savings account) provides a kind of subliminal hum as I am working away. I can draw on it when necessary because it provides the energy that helps me to make connections that I might not otherwise have made. Those connections show up in the collages as images or words or symbols, things that I have selected to represent what I am thinking. All of those seemingly disparate items pull together to tell a kind of story.
The pieces shown below were all fueled by things I had read about or had a memory of or had experienced in some way. Song lyrics, scientific concepts or milestones, childhood books, and even a little self reflection! All of those things make their way into the work representationally in the form of colors, shapes, text, or letters. It's never a direct translation but just an abstract rendering. I always want to showcase my own ideas (my interpretation of them) but also hope that the viewer gets something too. Maybe a memory is recalled or an association made that wasn't there before. Whatever the viewer comes away with is just fine by me. It's always a win-win!
The pieces shown below were all fueled by things I had read about or had a memory of or had experienced in some way. Song lyrics, scientific concepts or milestones, childhood books, and even a little self reflection! All of those things make their way into the work representationally in the form of colors, shapes, text, or letters. It's never a direct translation but just an abstract rendering. I always want to showcase my own ideas (my interpretation of them) but also hope that the viewer gets something too. Maybe a memory is recalled or an association made that wasn't there before. Whatever the viewer comes away with is just fine by me. It's always a win-win!
Digital Collages-Found images and current work
Going Bad
12" x 16" painted and found paper collage
Going Bad
16" x 20" paper collage on matboard
painted and found papers
January 2022
For the next several pieces in this new series, both digital and analog, I will be adding mats and boarders to the online images. I think it helps the viewer (and myself) to visualize what the collage looks like as a finished piece of art. The collages are always intended to sort of corral my ideas into one spot and I think the enclosing nature of a frame helps to enforce that concept.
This new piece for January 2022 utilizes a variety of painted and found papers. Reproduction fruit crate labels, historical images, playing cards printed with cartoons, and hand painted papers have all found their way into the finished collage. It's my opinion that the materials, while fun, are never the point. For me, it's always the disassembling and reassembling of various items that makes the final piece so enjoyable.
16" x 20" paper collage on matboard
painted and found papers
January 2022
For the next several pieces in this new series, both digital and analog, I will be adding mats and boarders to the online images. I think it helps the viewer (and myself) to visualize what the collage looks like as a finished piece of art. The collages are always intended to sort of corral my ideas into one spot and I think the enclosing nature of a frame helps to enforce that concept.
This new piece for January 2022 utilizes a variety of painted and found papers. Reproduction fruit crate labels, historical images, playing cards printed with cartoons, and hand painted papers have all found their way into the finished collage. It's my opinion that the materials, while fun, are never the point. For me, it's always the disassembling and reassembling of various items that makes the final piece so enjoyable.
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2021/2022 Series 3 What Happened?
2021 Series 2 Possibilities
2021 Series 1 Hieroglyphs
