Finally finished my collage!!

I finished up this collage over the weekend. The black square in the upper right corner is a little distracting, but I tell you, I can't take it off, I like it too much. It's an old lettraset Y that hasn't been removed from it's backing, but stapled onto the collage. It's staying....

The kids came in and joined me in my studio while I was finishing up the collage, and they were having fun using my watercolor pencils while working on the floor. They like to use the inside rectangles of mat boards as their painting or drawing surface. I have a framer that I adore here in Austin, Augie Augustine, and he gives me his extra mat board. Mat boards also rock as a matrix for collagraphs. Inexpensive (or free from your framer) and durable.

Nothing is a bigger motivator than a deadline. I'm taking my work down today from the UU Church and installing it in one of Austin's library branches sometime this week. Since the library show coincides with EAST, I'll need to print a few pieces this week so I have work at both venues. (My solo show in March was awesome, but I was in such a lather getting it finished that I only printed one print in each edition, then moved on to the next image. Now I have a ton of open ended editions. I need to squash this bad, bad habit. Now that the work is no longer fresh, my desire to visit those plates again is close to nil.)

I've had work at Brevard College's Spiers Gallery for their alumni exhibit which comes down this week. I missed the opening due to poor planning of the airline ticket, but my good friend and fellow artist (wood crafter) Preston Woodruff took some pics for me. My former art prof, Tim Murray was at the opening. He loved pencil. I remember that about him. He did huge self-portraits with shiny pencil marks on them and I think that's where I started loving graphite.

I have a post coming soon expanding on my favorite collage materials. (Collage is so immediate and gratifying, but as much as I like it, I don't think I'll ever give up printmaking. It may be laborious, but there is nothing like an etched line.)