Et Aussi

Et Aussi

I was worried about what I would do with the partial cut off head of the man in the foreground.  Somehow the horizontal lines did the trick.  Maybe he is doing a standing limbo.

Grandeur

Grandeur

Having just finished more than 60 collages this month during the “lockdown” necessary for social distancing during this pandemic I have been reflecting on the convicted men who now must serve out the rest of their terms at home on lockdown.  It is not so bad for them staying at home.  I have been able to carry on a fulfilling life without stepping much out of my home.  So it ain’t so bad for them.

Water Wars

Water Wars

When I found the phrase “Hot Water Wars” I wondered just what is a hot water war.  I have no idea really.  Could it be when one is showering and someone turns on a sink hot water tap and suddenly the shower water turns cold?  Is it when landlords only heat boiler water during certain parts of the day infuriating the tenants who are home and need hot water?  I was intrigued and do not know the answer.  It is fun to use disparities in a collage piece.  Give me time and I could come up with a narrative for hot water wars and the two gentlemen.

Thank you Terry Garrett for yet another package with amazing Terry art on it.  You gave me a terrific beginning for this collage.  It feels like a collaboration.

Life

Life

Yesterday afternoon I finished my junk journal.  It has 56 collages in it.  I still have several to photograph and line up for posting here but I am pretty excited that I finished it and now onto other things.

Masked Men

Masked Men

It use to be that we knew masked “men” as Batman and Robin or outlawing s of the Wild West.  Everywhere we go now we see masked men and women and now masked children.  Well, I am not seeing children much.  It is as if they have disappeared in my neighborhood.  I don’t even hear them playing.    I am not seeing them in the grocery store or walking about.  In my neighborhood I am not even seeing adults.  It is as if the planet has sucked them up.  Guess not because they are in the grocery stores, thank goodness most of them are wearing masks.  There are those few who refuse.  Unfortunately this past weekend we saw a lot of ignorance celebrating at beaches and lakes and swimming pools.  No masks and definitely not social distancing.

I saw on CNN one beach goer say he was not wearing a mask because the President was not wearing one.  I heard a woman say we all have to die sometime.  This is such a selfish way of thinking.  What about the people on the front lines of this virus?  What about respecting the people who have died?  Think about them.

Cut the Ties

Cut the Ties

Several times each year I receive a “care’ package from my friend Terry Garrett in NM.  The outside of the box is always decorated with Terry’s art.  I carefully saved some of his art for the background of this page in my junk journal and then created a new collage around it.   Thanks Terry for the inspiration.

Determined

Determined

This woman is on a mission.  I do not think I want to get in her way.  All the background behind the red and blue is from a package I received from Greece.

Fabulous

Fabulous

My piece either reminds me of Henri Rousseau’s piece or his piece influenced my piece.  It is kind like the chicken or the egg.  No matter, I love Henri Rousseau’s work and I rather like this piece.  There you have it on this long weekend during the pandemic.  I guess it is time to remember.  I know it is suppose to be to remember our dead, but for nights now I am remembering things from my past.  I mean big time remembrances.  What is going on?  I am remembering  things I have not thought of for years.

Paris Tales

Paris Tales

I think I should have photographed this piece with my iPad instead of scanning it.  I adjusted the contrast in PhotoShop on this one.  I think I will try the iPad for comparison and post below later this morning.

Paris Tales 2

I like this one better. Thoughts?

O H

O H

I wonder what this guy sees.  Is he surprised or scared? Something is going on.  When I scanned this piece I ended up with some dark shadows which I removed using PhotoShop.  Doing so lighten the image.  So I had to add contrast to bring the image back closer to what it really is.  It kind of gives the piece a bit of fluorescence.

Target

Target

Usually when I cut out a piece of ephemera I cut right to the edge of the piece.  In the word FEEL I did not do that and used my Posca pens to add dots.  I like the look.  I just noticed something that I was not aware of when I created the piece.  Checkout the target, the center of the large background flower and the yellow and orange flower center.  Three circles.  Good balance that was intuitive.  I love happy accidents.

Follies

Follies

During the auditioning of ephemera for this piece was fun.  It was a challenge, too, because of the boldness of the mail art background.  I needed to lighten the piece and the paint in the upper right and the rainbow girls did the trick.  I called it Follies because I was reminiscing about a trip to Paris when I was 18.  On that trip I went to the Follies Bergere.  I looked it up online to see if it still exists but I did not find anything.

All About Eve

All About Eve

I received a writing from an art friend.  I think it was Elsa who sent me this one.  It says:
I wanted to send you something special but how in the world do you send a PRAIRIE?

Isn’t that perfect?  Yes, how do you send a prairie?  I glued this bit into my junk journal and it sat for weeks.  Yesterday I collaged not knowing where it would lead.  I was not focusing on the words.  I auditioned pieces and finally decided on the main focal point.  She needed some background and so I continued auditioning.  Like a puzzle the background formed and then I committed.  I love that the second woman behind is there but she is in the background.  The collage needed a bit of red.  It needed a large letter.  Add a bit of graphite writing and white transfer paper asemic writing.  There you have it.  My narrative was now ready for me to discover.  As quick as the piece was almost finished I thought about the film All About Eve.  There is my story.  Maybe the bit of writing is dialogue from a play.  Maybe it is a discussion between the two women.  It might be a piece of writing found by the actress and taped to her dressing room mirror.  It could have come from anywhere.

Strum

I just love the monkey and the moon.   I have had this piece of ephemera for quite awhile.  Time to use it.  I don’t pay too much attention to astrology but maybe the reason I like this piece of ephemera so much is because i am a Cancer and a moon child.  At least that is what they say....I believe anyway.  Monkeys fascinate me.

Mirror Image

Mirror Image

I love how the large letters, the paint, and the focal image of the monkey came together to make the composition that it is.  I think I have mentioned that I am pretty much in bed each day laying prone as I have an intestinal issue.  So I have created all the collages in this journal from bed.  Usually I work with matte medium but have had to use glue stick for all the collages.  I have made it work.

A Form of Patriotism

A Form of Patriotism

I have decided not to explain what I mean by the title.  Everyone can decide the meaning for herself/himself.  What I am trying to wrap my head around is that a friend’s sister was hassled for wearing a mask in public.  What is with that?  I am actually shocked.

Madame Butterfly

Madame Butterfly

Yesterday afternoon I did my every two week grocery shopping. Each time I shop I notice differences. I thought more and more people were wearing masks over the weeks.  Yesterday I noticed the opposite.  What is with that?  I find myself resenting those who do not wear a mask.  I feel like asking them why?  I got up the courage to as the deli guy if it was his choice not to wear a mask.  He said he was taking a break.  Taking a break!  One can not take a break.  I know it must be uncomfortable to wear the mask for a full work shift.  Getting the virus will be much more uncomfortable.

A Bird in the Hanad

A Bird in the Hand

Several years ago I was at the University of Washington Quad to see the cherry blossoms.  They truly are an amazing sight.  While sitting on a bench I heard a crow.  Since I am a fan of crows I had to investigate and found that a pair of crows were building a nest in one of the trees.  I was fascinated how they worked so diligently flying about to find the right twig for the building of their nest that I am sure went on for hours.  I was inspired by their drive to get the job done.  It signals that life does go on.  The majority of people in our world are trying to do the best we can during this difficult pandemic.  Life certainly is different right now.  Some form of normalcy will return.  There will be differences.  We can’t let the fringe dictate.  Like the crows we know what needs to be done.  Hold tight America.

A Man on a Mission

Man on a Mission

Don’t you wonder when you see someone on the street where they are going and who they are as a person?   I love to sit and people watch and create narratives for total strangers.  This guy looks a little perplexed and he seems in quite the hurry. What is his story?

You

You

This one pleases me.  The composition just seems to go together in a pleasant way.  For some reason I am thinking of Godzilla or King Kong.  I guess it is the size of the bumblebee.  I also like the depth and the abstractness of what seems like a skyscraper scene.

Hop

Hop

Although I have not seen the bunny rabbit for some time, all winter we had the cutest bunny hopping around our yard.  I was very surprised actually that we had one because for eleven years we have not. My neighbor even mentioned it to me Saturday.  So at least I am not hallucinating.  I wonder if there is more than one?  You know what could happen!

High Wire

High Wire

There does seem to be a circus tent atmosphere in the background.  The blues and reds look like a heavy fabric as if it is a tent type structure.  The figure looks as if it is just about ready to be caught mid-air by another performer.  Maybe you see it totally differently.

Corona

Corona

Have you been on YouTube to see any of Leslie Jordan’s short videos?  He is a hoot!  He was first hunker-downed in Chattanooga, TN but magically went home to Los Angles.  He does a video daily and has over 3 million followers the last time I looked.

I actually saw one of these respirators on a woman at the grocery store.  I will just wear the mask that a friend made me, thank you.  I actually have three now.  Thank you Elsa, Jan, and Julia.  I have seen some pretty amazing masks on Facebook.  I love it that so many people are making them.  It is kind of like rolling bandages during the war.

Vain

Vain

What is it that when you randomly create a collage something evolves that tells a story?  What is her upward path?  Does she have a fish on her line?  Is she concerned that the blemish takes away from her looks?  Did she get a letter from a secret or not so secret admirer?  What do you think?

Tea for Two

Tea for Two

Tea for Two is one of my favorites so far in my junk journal. The grey part came from a friend.  I added endure, some graphite, paint, transfer paper writing, and the focal point.  I think the smiley face came from The Netherlands.

Someone Is Watching

Someone Is Watching

Sometimes I surprise myself.  I lay ephemera and paint down and put it together and then set it aside. When I come back I see things that I did not either intend or see before.  I love how the skull is peeking out.  Is it death waiting?  Maybe, maybe not.  But the skull might just represent that.

Contemplation

Contemplation

I like the simplicity of this one.  Some of the background might have come from the UK.  I like the abstractness of this piece.

Geisha

Geisha

The part that is funny for me now is that I do not remember who envelope pieces are from.  The sender might remember if and when they look at the collages either online or in the book.  That is part of the fun.  This junk book is getting fatter by the day.

Dynamic Ladybug

The collages in this junk journal could be considered a collaboration in a way.  They are a secretive collaboration because the person who sent me the snail mail had no idea that I would be using something of theirs in a collage.  In this case, Terry Garrett who lives in New Mexico is my collaborator.  See the circle on the left.  That is a Terry art sticker from Moo.  Thanks Terry!

Lift

As per my usual way of collaging I start not knowing where it is heading.  I just do something to the white page.  In this case I started with the dotted blue paper.  I then used the small gelli plate to add some paint.  I had some small figures that did not go into the recycle bin.  Still no idea where the collage is heading.  Next I added the words lost angeles, the weight lifter, and finally the stamp.  I pulled it all together with some white transfer scribbling and some graphite pencil words and lines.  That is it!  Now you might ask what does it all mean.  I have a thought but what is yours?

Discover Reading

Discover Reading

Are you having trouble concentrating?  I am.  I try to pick up a book and I find that my mind wanders.  I use to read all the time but all I seem to manage now is scanning the newspaper and reading CNN reports.  What is this all about?  Is the virus news having an effect on me.  Times are unsettling.