LAW 151: The Anatomy of a Collage

The way i approach the creation of a collage has changed significantly since i created the 52 Weeks series. There are many reasons for the changes that have occurred, first and probably foremost, with time and practice my art has matured. Certainly the space i am working in has changed, as in, it has gotten much smaller, and it is shared use space. I can no longer leave a collage on my work table for a week at a time auditioning pieces.

Trajectory, 5.17.18

 So, i no longer simply page through folder after folder looking at material waiting for the inspiration angel to strike. No more waiting for that aha moment when a narrative builds itself around disparate imagery.

The process i am now using stems from the work i did with the altered  book project, Never Dine With A Dino. Please see LAW 144 for more about this project.

Using imagery from just one source, in this case the work of Oleg Tselkov narrows and refines the process even further.

I start by pre-selecting a color palette. This involves choosing between 10 and 20 whole or relatively whole pages in a specific color range; usually grey/black tones and either a warm or cool range as well as a limited amount of contrast color. At this point i also usually choose a texture palette, with Tselkov that is either an airbrush smooth, or his beautiful, crackly, painterly style.

Vortex, layer one

At this point i have already reinforced the corners and edges of the book board as well as gessoed the front and back surfaces.

The next step is to create the background. This is the most random element of the process, as well as the one that really develops the overall composition of the piece. Literally i start with a randomly chosen page, start cutting it into strips and triangles and start gluing them onto the board.

Since my intention is to not frame these pieces i am very careful to wrap the imagery around onto the back of the  board. As if i was painting the edges of a canvas. Years of book making come in handy here. I finish all the corners with a "library corner". I have always preferred this technique to the mitered corner. Although bulkier, a library corner is far more durable.

Vortex, complete

A note on adhesives. On a boat, living on the water, absolutely none of them work very well. I go back and forth between liquid glues, which i really do not like, to glue sticks, and back and....

Which ever i am using i always end up taping the edges of every piece that wraps around onto the back. And yes, i always always always use pressure.

Once the background layer is complete, i document that and usually stop for the day, sometimes, but not very often a piece will come together in one sitting. It usually takes a couple of days to finish one of these pieces.

Witness, layer one

I keep the cut pieces from previous collages, you can never know when you are going to need that little curvy bit of pink that was trimmed from something else. Yes ultimately i will discard the scraps, actually they all go into the bin of scraps to become hand made paper. Waste not.

I always look at these pieces from every point of view. I almost always start from a portrait perspective, but turn and work with the composition from every angle.

Witness, complete

Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

More later,

gail

LAW 146: More New Collages

One of the things that most rocks my boat(so to speak) about collage is the wonderful, serendipitous connections that magically occur.

On the Altar

 I almost always know where and what the images i use came from. That sort of insider information is important to me, and is one of the elements that predicate just which image i use in each collage. ON THE ALTAR, for example the background images include spy satellite imagery, the American flag flying on the moon and a atom bomb test photo. Combine with the profoundly disturbing, yet silly image of the little girl "wrapped" in the flag reading these images should give you a greater understanding of where i was going with this particular piece.

  I keep my collage materials in manila file folders. This allows me to keep the material in some sort of order and also  keep track of the last time i searched through a particular file as i date a file each time i search it. I do this because i find that material gets stale if i look at it too often; if i know what is in any particular group of images i find that i tend to not really look at them, not see what is there.

Does this.... make me look....

New material is the life blood of analog collage work. I think that this is particularly important if you work the way i do; which is in a very open ended, spontaneous connection making fashion. I almost never have any preconception of what i am going to create; instead preferring to see what offers itself.

Imagine

It is getting more and more difficult to find the sorts of materials i like to work with. Second hand stores used to be great sources, and to be fair, some still are. Just not the ones that are close to me. So now whenever we travel a visit(s) to new, local thrift stores are always on the agenda.

Pensive

We went to visit friends in Delaware last week and i managed to score s few pretty awesome children's books in one of the three stores we visited. I don't often find kids books that i like to use, as the imagery is usually to simple and cartoonish.

What Do You See When You Dream?

These books however proved to be little gems of slightly psychedelic pattern and color. They have provided much of the imagery i used in these last few collages.

Enjoy, and as always
More later
gail

LAW 145: And They Called the Wind.....

Well today's creativity will be limited to the sorts of things that can be done without sharp, pointy, and cutty things. We are experiencing some of the effects stemming from whatever this northeaster is called. The wind has been rocking our boat strongly since about one this morning, and it is supposed to peak about three this afternoon. Oh joy!

I will take the opportunity given to update you all on what's happening in my studio here on Tesla's Revenge.

BUY, BUY,  2.23.18, 5.5 x &.25"

I have several projects i have been working on through out this winter, some of which are close to complete. I've been doing a lot of drawing and an abstract collaged altered book project as well.

DO NOT SPEAK,  2.25.18, 8.5.X 11"

Narrative/surreal collage is a special favorite of mine, and after the Parkland shooting i felt compelled to pick it back up again. These are unrelated(to each other) pieces in a variety of smaller sizes. I am not planning on showcasing them in book format.

YOU,  2.26.18, 8 x 8"

My intention is a daily practice; quick reactions to my emotional/mental state that require fluid i decision making. In other words, yet another attempt on my part to stop my obsessive search through every piece of collage material i have here on the boat for that "just right" element.

ANOTHER DIVIDED MIND, 2.27.18, 5.5 X 8"

I have to learn to trust my design choices, to not drag out the process until even i get tired of it.

So here are the first five; i did back myself into a corner with the 2.28.18 piece, as yet unfinished; i know what type of image i need to complete it, i just don't own it. So it is waiting.

NOT TONIGHT...,  3.1.18, 5.5 x 7.25"

There will be more later.
gail