Happy Holidays to one and all, and best wishes for a wonderful New Year! Thank you to all of the recipients of my newsletter blog. I so appreciate all of the support that you've given me over the years. I love creating my artwork and sharing the experience with all of you.
As 2023 is comes to an end, I wanted to wrap things up with a look at this year's activities. In addition to creating new artwork, I have also taken and taught classes, and applied to multiple exhibits both in St. Louis and beyond.
Throughout the year, I've created 24 collages, 1 pastel, 1 watercolor sketch, 19 Christmas ornaments, and 62 collage magnets. I also completed multiple online tutorials through the Collage Makers Summit, took a botanicals gel printing class, and an acrylic and alcohol resist class. I taught 4 sessions of my Art of Mixed Media Collage class and, in November, taught my first session of Collage Grid Sketches; and I also taught 4 art classes at Crown Center Senior Living. With regard to exhibitions, I was lucky enough to have work accepted in 8 different shows, and the Queeny Park Art Fair. It's been a good year for me!
My last two collages are shown above. On the left is Resilience, an 8"x16" mixed media collage mounted on a cradle board. This piece began with an image I created from printed ginkgo leaves. I knew that I wanted to include it in a collage piece. The composition also includes wallpaper scraps and hand stenciled paper.
I chose the title after doing some research on ginkgo trees. I kept seeing references to their resiliency. The ginkgo is one of the oldest living tree species in the world, and some of them survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
On the right is Modigliani's Muse, a small collage (4"x6", mounted to 8"x10") that I started as a demo piece for one of my classes. I used a black and white image of one of Modigliani's portraits that I found in an old art history book. Over the face in the painting I glued an image of an African mask. Modigliani himself was influenced by African masks, which is evident in many of his portraits.
Finally, I've also added a new art product to what I have available at the gallery. Pictured above are 5"x7" notecards with an original monoprint collage on the front of each card. From left to right, they are titled, Transcendent, Windblown, Between the Leaves, and Night Music. Send a note, and give an original piece of artwork at the same time!
Now it's time to clean up my studio space before my grandsons come in for a visit, and to get ready for whatever 2024 has to offer.
Thanks again to family, friends, patrons, students, and teachers. You make all this possible for me!