21 February 2007

Stitching Things Together



One of my visual preoccupations is with stitching - actual or virtual, real or metaphoric. I like to see how things are connected. When things are collaged together, the challenge can sometimes be in seeing the connections. Crow, pumpkin, heart, beehive? Flight, fruit, flow, community? Magic, bounty, mystery, communion...?

10 February 2007

Good Luck


I'm always intrigued with good luck symbols. After all, why does a four-leaf clover represent good luck or any luck at all? Yet, I've absorbed enough of a sense of the power of the symbol that I feel a little uplift at the sight of one - in a field or on a postcard. Maybe feeling a little lift is good luck enough?

30 January 2007

Bottlecaps, Yoyos and Monkeys in a Barrel


I'm back to bottlecaps. I love the whirly, swirly effect of the bottlecaps and yoyos in this detail from a piece in progress. I've also been on a crazy search for a Barrel of Monkeys because I wanted to add some little red monkeys to the mix. I've learned that a lot of toy stores just "get stuff sent" to them without anybody in the store having any control or being able to place an order for a customer. I wonder who gets to decide? Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

15 January 2007

Nova Scotia Fishing Boats



Sometimes when I'm working on a collage, roads diverge and I'm not sure which road to choose. Sometimes it's absolutely time to stop. Sometimes something needs to be more fully developed. So, I started this series. Each collage is built on top of a copy of a previously finished piece. In these examples you can see parts of Nova Scotia Fishing Boats showing through Cats in the Vineyard. It's an interesting process that challenges me to wipe out, cover up and sometimes (gasp) just paint over images and combinations that had been carefully completed.