Wednesday, September 24, 2008

at home on the wing




inspired by robyn's collage pages, i signed up for shelley klammer's online collage course. i just could not get robyn's collage images out of my mind. i started the lessons on sunday night -- this is my second collage; i'm doing one every night. the first one is at the end of the post, and the third one isn't finished. i'm beginning to think that collage isn't as mysterious or difficult as i thought it was. like everything in art, it seems to be mostly a matter of jumping in and letting go. at this point when i 'mess up' it looks like it's my subconscious (supraconscious?) mind telling me that the area could use some 'work' -- the 'mess up' seems to be a sort of indicator, if that makes any sense. i 'messed up' on the left side of this -- got carried away with a white pen a friend recently gave me. so i covered up most of it with turquoise and blue acrylic paint. somehow it seemed to make Laughing Leaping Woman laugh even harder! i loved it! i see this happening over and over... mess up, keep going, it's okay in the end. there's a quote by anahata katkin that goes something like this: 'everything's okay in the end. if it's not okay, it's not the end'.

yeah.



last week i spent a lot of time working on my art group journal. this is what the cover looks like now. who knows what it'll end up like. that's a degas sculpture on the left. i read that none of his sculptures were taken seriously by the 'art world' when he was alive. too crude, they said. which just goes to show that we really should ignore the 'art world'. i like the painting of the rabbit underneath too...



the inside front cover (yeah, i really am into cutting up dictionary pages in this journal). it had a chair on it in the pic a couple of weeks back. the clay sculpture is by debra fritts. i cut the picture out of an 'american craft' magazine (i think) a long time ago. i love it here.



the first page in the journal. i think it'll stay like this. the name of our group is 'open doors' and that bit of blue is my open door.



the last two pages i've finished. is there anything i didn't use here?! the right page has pine needles from roxanne, a piece of crocheted doily, misc. papers, and paint. the left page has four hunks of bark on it plus a bunch of paint and paper. all waxed... there are things that i like about it and things that i don't. it could change. i've started gluing down more pieces of dictionary on the next page -- left brain is ecstatic!



my first collage. i think i feel like the yellow bird most of the time. i'm delighted (and relieved) that the beautiful creature in the foreground knows the way!

16 comments:

  1. Pure eye candy!I'm so glad you are doing the course Lynne. I love your collages and funny you have that crested eagle in your collage....I do too. I wonder what that means. Maybe we are both cooky looking birds from the same flock :-)
    Love your Degas page...a lot!

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  2. lol, robyn! yeah, i'm pretty sure we're from the same flock! well here's something else -- i cut out one of the stone figures like you have in your first collage before i thought 'wait a minute, i think this is the same guy/s robyn has in hers!' he didn't fit on the page so i left him off. i think i really need a bigger journal - i can't fit much on a page. what size are your pages? for now i'm going to stick with this journal, but next time...

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  3. I like the yellow bird... these new collages are great!
    These online classes are such fun and I have enjoyed checking out a few of the blogs doing this class. Amazing stuff and I love the quote.

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  4. Hey Lynne! LOVE these collages and yes, not quite as difficult as one imagines. The key, as with most art, is not getting in one's own way! ;) LOVE the Degas one ... I've used that sculpture in my own work yonks ago (http://jenworden.com/art/8-no2.jpg) ... can't believe it was considered NOT art. Just goes to show what critics know, our own inner one's as well ... NUTHIN'!

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  5. These pieces are amazing Lynne. I can just picture you in your corner, throwing caution to the wind!Fantastic.

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  6. How fun!! Love, love, love these collages! Slightly addictive, aren't they??

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  7. Lynne - 'messed up?' - then wahoo for a 'mess up' - it pushes you to extend yourself even more - these are truly allowing you to explore your own personal esthetic - I think collage is one of the best tools to give us our own voice - journey on!

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  8. I'm using a big sketch pad 294 x 420 mm. I tried to go smaller into a journal type book after I had done my first 2 collages but wanted to pull my hair out so have gone back to the large.

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  9. hi jacky -- thank you! yeah, it's great to be able to take an online class, especially from someone as supportive as shelley.

    oh jen, i love your piece with the degas ballerina!! wonderful!! yes, the key is not getting in one's own way. and yeah re: what the critics know -- NUTHIN!

    lol, annette, can you see me on the other side of the pond throwing caution to the wind? yep, that's me. ; )

    amy, yes, these things are EXtremely addictive! i love that they are. i'm placing great value to fun these days. : )

    hey jeane -- that's why i put the quotation marks around messed up. cause it's not REALLY messed up. just so called messed up. i agree -- collage is one of the best tools for giving us our own voice. and really, most mixed media is collage.

    thank you for telling me that robyn. that converts to about 11" x 17", which seems like a good size. i may have to switch -- it would make things so much easier. i've already switched to a looser kind of collage to accomodate my smaller pages (7" x 9"). the pages seemed big initially, but now they seem really small.

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  10. This looks rich and deep too, like Robyn's. Eagles fly with the gods, have very keen eyesight so they can see what is coming. Think how many nations had eagles as totems.. the roman empire was one..

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  11. Great work, Lynne!

    I am in love with the textural piece with the red. Wow, I made it larger and it practically ended up in my lap.

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  12. grrl, yes, eagles SEE, that's for sure... and these crested eagles are so gorgeous! eagles -- all eagles impress me. whenever i see one i think it's an important event.

    hi karen, thank you about the red piece! yes, the more i look at it the more i like it. it's a little darker in person, which makes it better i think. but thank you for seeing some goodness in it in its lighter form. : )

    hey kate! okay, so i was beginning to wonder where you'd got to... very glad to see you here and at your place again...

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  13. Lynne - just a quick stop to say thank you for linking to Debra Fritts - her work is absolutely amazing, powerful and I'd die for one of her pieces - I was holding on the phone, running through my bloggie friends and clicked on her link! man oh man! thanks!

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  14. i'm glad i found your pages...i'll be back for more delicious wandering

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  15. jeane - you are welcome! she is very, very good...

    hi tumbleweed! oh, i'll be over at your place wandering too!! lovely, lovely blog!

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