The Art Fair at Queeny Park was last weekend. This is a two and a 1/2 day art fair that has been taking place here in St. Louis since the late 1970s. It draws thousands of people. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my booth. I made some sales, met lots of nice people, saw friends, family, and a former high school student.
For some of you, this will be your first newsletter/blog from me. Several of you had expressed interest in the collage classes that I teach at Green Door Art Gallery. My next classes, Collage Grid Sketches and Mixed Media Collage, will take place on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Collage Grid Sketches will be offered in the morning, from 9am-12pm, and the Mixed Media Collage class will follow in the afternoon, from 1-4pm. For more information on the classes, including course content, costs and registration procedures, visit my exhibitions and events page. Below you can access PDFs fliers for both classes.
New Work
For the second year in a row I took the Collage Maker’s Summit course, put together by collage artist Drew Steinbrecher. I love getting lessons, ideas, and tips from a variety of collage artists. They help me to step outside my comfort zone and explore new methods and techniques. Below are some of the pieces that I created from a few of the lessons.
On the top left is, The Edge of Darkness, which came out of a lesson by artist, Lydia Rink. I struggled with this piece, and ultimately made some adaptations of my own. I loved working intuitively to create this abstract composition!
On the top right is the layered floral paper paper that I created from the lesson by
Marabeth Quin.
Tissue paper sheets were tinted with watered down acrylic paint for a pastel tone. Botanical figures were then loosely painted on the dried tissue paper with more diluted acrylic paint. These papers were then randomly glued in layers to a substrate of watercolor paper, on which a few large leaf shapes were painted. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with this floral paper, but I know that I’ll try this technique again in the future.
On the bottom left is my piece, Worth a Thousand Words, which came out of the lesson by Jane Chipp on making a vintage collage using a grid. I included cropped prints from some old family photos.
On the bottom right is my take on Gloria Gelo’s lesson. I liked using neutrals and applying some bold elements in black, as well as introducing a color. I also liked using her technique of veiling, which is using a brayer to apply thin coats of paint to mask areas and unify the composition. This piece is titled, Emergence.
Exhibitions
On April 1st, the Collage Artists of America's virtual exhibit, “Interplay”, became available online at The San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center. Two of my collages, Strip Away Layers, and In the Rainy Season are part of that exhibit. And on Friday, April 12, the St. Louis Artists Guild’s, "Change of Scenery", exhibition opens with a reception from 6-8pm. My collage, Daybreak, will be on display as part of the exhibit.