Last of the mixed media collages

I don't know why some of the figures have closed eyes. Now to name them all...

Some drawings & more MM collages

Threw together some more mixed media collage/drawings inbetween painting endless pieces of canvas with gesso, Paynes Gray and sumi ink. And dunking rolled canvas in paint. More to follow on that. These quick drawings are done with a cane stick pulled from a sushi mat, forcing myself to just draw quick and not agonise over correctness. Hopefully I'll get them sent away for ICE. And in the middle of my mess the kitten. Since jumping out a window and spending the night outside she's been clingy. A friend visiting took this picture before I put her out of the studio (the kitten of course, not the friend!). The kitten likes to try and catch my brush as I paint, or knock over the rubbish basket and make a mess.

Also attached to this post are some recent drawings, from life drawing group (pastel and charcoal, blue portrait is done with a chinagraph pencil).

Mixed media collage

As a break from my current work I started making collages for Dale Copeland's ICE. The upper one does not have a reflection on it, is part of the imagery. This is so different from what I've been doing over the last six months which is materials and process based, non derivative, and something I used to do. I quite enjoyed it, is rather random. No particular meaning. Hand painted papers, magazine paper, acrylic paint, sumi ink, pencil.

Knowledge which is acquired...

It's that time of year again when I need to get busy and create the thirteen works for the 2009 International Collage Exhibition and Exchange. It'll be the fourth time I've participated and yet again I've left it to the last minute! But this time I have an idea! Previously, I've rummaged through looking for inspiration to come from a piece of text or an image, or a drawing or photo, but this time I know what I want to do for the whole series. I wonder if it will make the process any easier!

The image is from the 2006 exhibition. It was exhibited in the 8th International Collage Exchange exhibition at Turchin Center at the Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. I started with the drawing of the baboon (white pencil on black paper) and added the bars (like teeth). Quotations printed on computer, magazine collage, and some text from my own teaching materials. It's a probably obscure comment on compulsory eduction. The title of this post is the title of the work.

To see previous exchanges look:

here for 2006
here for 2007
here for 2008

there's a link on the sidebar for how to participate but you can click here

The exchange and exhibition is organised and run by Dale Copeland...and she does an amazing job. There's an online exhibition of pieces for sale, one from every artist. One work from every artist is exhibited overseas somewhere. And the rest...well, Dale sorts through them and every artist receives a package of 11 (or 12 if the sale pieces doesn't sell) collages back.

Guardian - 13th collage for ICE 2008

I'd forgotten to take a photograph of this last collage before sending it for the exhibition/exchange. The recipient, American artist Jean Tock, kindly took a photograph of it and emailed it to me. The centrepiece of the collage is a photograph of mine that I named "Guardian", hence the name.

10th Annual International Collage Exhibition & Exchange is online

It's always a thrill to see this exhibition go online. 159 artists from Japan to USA, from Denmark to New Zealand, from Australia to France & Romania, make 13 collages - one is exhibited online and at the TART Gallery in New Plymouth, New Zealand. It then travels overseas to be exhibited at and become part of the collection of the Amarillo Museum of Art in Texas. There is also an online exhibition of one collage from each artist that is for sale - do take a look!

I leave it to the organiser and curator of the exchange and exhibition, Dale Copeland (see my links) to choose which of my collages she would like to exhibit and put up for sale - so it's always a surprise for me to see which of the 13 she has chosen. She chose High Dance of Innocence for the exhibition that will travel to Texas, and An Appropriate Contract for sale.

At some stage I'll receive a large envelope containing 11 collages from other artists. Dale is incredibly organised and in the past we've received a list that cross matches our collages to the receiver. I'll be waiting for that list because the very last collage I made wasn't photographed. I was working at night and meant to photograph it in the morning, clean forgot about it, and now I can't even remember the title! So hopefully the eventual owner of that collage will be kind enough to send me a photo of it.

I haven't painted for a while. The first part of the year my thoughts were only on making the collages. Now I've started life drawing and again it's taking me a while to settle back into paint. Lots of ideas in my mind though.

I'm also booked into a printmaking workshop at the end of the month (Design is one of my majors and printmaking will be part of that work). This is not convenional printmaking though. The course is described as "Experimental Printmaking with an organic approach". The title and the list of materials is very interesting. The tutor is Bev Truloff. Click on her name to see some of her work.

More Collage

These two are titled "Dream vs Concept" and "Another Earth". The first is magazine collage and the second has hand painted papers with a little magazine collage.

Once a month I spend the day at Gordon Base Studio with a group of artists - we each take along some work and have an enjoyable, relaxing day socialising while working on our painting/drawing/collage. Three of the artists recently participated in a sculpture symposium in Matamata (New Zealand) and you can view the works here.