Embracing the Seasons

After a wet summer, it looks like autumn will be dry.  We enjoy taking the convertible out on fall road trips.  These photos were from our overnight to Wausau.  The colors are a bit ahead that far north, but certainly not peak yet.  Still, the journey is the pleasure, not just the destination. We had a nice meal at a supper club, and did a bit of hiking, and took in the Birds in Art show at the Woodson.

Passing Through

Every year about this time the rose breasted grosbeaks pass through on their way north.  They are big and bright, and they dominate the feeder.  They also are not afraid of my new camera.

New Collages

I go in streaks, painting for a while, then going back to cutting and pasting.  On Friday I drove to Madison to deliver a painting to a WRAP show at the Pyle Center, and took the rest of the morning to visit Artist and Craftsman Supply, and the galleries at the Overture Center and the Chazen.  My favorite show was at the James Watrous Gallery, a retrospective of the work of Madison artist/illustrator David McLimans.  I had never heard of the man, but his collages of animals and insects created from bits of maps spoke directly to my heart.  So much vision vision and skill!  Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack last year.  Why had I missed his work before? Anyway, I wanted very much to clear away the paints for a bits and get out my own papers.

These are three recent collages I did, all from my stashes of found and altered papers. All are six by six inches, on gessoed watercolor paper, designs inspired by examples in a book by Randel Plowman.  Some of my old and now disliked watercolors are hidden underneath. 

Waste not, want not.

Puffins as Mood Enhancers

6x6 inches, paper collage

I went upstairs yesterday afternoon, and I did some mood improvement therapy in the form of finding background papers to set off this 1940's photo of a puffin from National Geographic that I salvaged from my local consignment shop.  I finally settled on an altered page from a modern NG, part of a celestial map, a bit of a photo of snow covered pine branches, a scrap of blue painted tissue paper, and a narrow strip of origami paper.  I wanted a touch of red and yellow to echo the colors in the puffin's beak, and the origami paper fit the requirement.   The best surprise was the way the faded black in the bird photo intensified to vibrant black when I put on a final coat of gloss gel medium. The photo could have been taken yesterday.

Yes, feeling much better, thank you.