Collage as respite

So I've been caught up a bit in the holidays.  Creating cards, making some gifts and so on.  Can't share them here yet, as someone might be watching. But when my head is ready to blow up, I take another kind of rest and immerse myself in collage just 'because'.  

Images catch my eye and I'm off and running.  In a recent wonderful email communication with Mili from DailyOasis, a collage sharing newsletter, she said that my collages seemed to move from emotional work to fun.  I hadn't thought of the less personally-driven pieces as 'fun', but it does seem to fit the bill.  I am very attracted to the stuff of pop culture - vintage, retro, present.  The images speak to me in ways I really don't bother to analyze.  And I imagine that it's in that 'don't bother to analyze' energy that I my spirit is refreshed with those collages.

The main image in this collage is photograph by Mark Selinger which was featured in a recent Rolling Stone magazine article on Eminem.  I'm a fan of Eminem and really like his film 8 miles.  Anyway, the image took me for a spin,  I amped the color, extracted the main figure so I could enhance the size and popped in some multiple Eminem.  I do like multiple images.  This and that and there we go.  

More trivia, the brass cage with the man inside in the lower right, comes from the opening photo sequence for Elementary, the new tv series featuring a contemporary Sherlock Holmes played most excellently by Jonny Lee Miller with Lucy Liu as Watson.  The opening credit sequence delights me each time I see it and I captured some of the interesting images. 

Eminem digital collage - inspired by Mark Selinger photo

While looking for who-knows-what, I found a neat image of the great actor Robert Mitchum. Something about the image reminded me of my father and I decided to make a collage with them in it.  As I thought about it, I recalled that people always used to say that Victor Mature reminded them of my father, so in he went as well.  The 'amped' Victor Mature is by Mark T and you can see more of his work at Stars Portraits.

Anthony, Robert & Victor digital collage

You can see the cool Rube Goldberg opening sequence to Elementary right here!

Collaging, and Bits and Pieces

I've been doing a lot of digital collage lately, for myself and gifts and cards.  Since the Fall Foliage Art Show I haven't done any multi-media assemblage work, except to complete a couple pieces.  Hmmm - maybe packing, repacking and moving the abundance of work I had on hand, dampened the energy for such work for a bit.  Of course, as soon as I write that, I confess that I just ordered online a wonderful torso that I am planning to alter.

This pieces are bits of whimsy and it makes me laugh.

Monopolized mixed-media

Route 66 mixed-media

This piece is made from a jewelry hanger. These 'torso' jewelry hangers are pretty available now and I've used them as bases for other pieces.  I was going to embellish her further by hanging items from her curly 'hangers', when I realized she would be quite nice to actually use as a jewelry hanger, so she is a practical girl.  She's on offer at the gift shop of the Shenandoah Valley Art Center now.

Blue Jewelrygirl

 I've been very intrigued by Mountain Lions as of late and she has inspired some collage work.

Mountain Lion Crow Mother

The wonderful crow woman on the right in this collage is a 'Mother Crow with Tree of Crows' gourd art doll by Jeanne Fry and you can purchase it at ArtFire.