More Collage

I guess you're supposed to call it "mixed media" now. But I like how the French "collage" rolls off the tongue. Well, maybe collage is something more specific than mixed media. Whatever word you want to use, I have some more work to show. In Tuesday's post I mentioned how I like working this way because I can always fiddle around with the piece if I am less than satisfied with it. I also said I wait for my stuff to grow on me if I'm a little ambivalent about it, but it never does. A case in point--I knew the cat collage needed something--so I added the outline of a Gingko leaf and now I'm happy.

It's been a couple years(?) since I painted this little bird. I went through a phase of painting gesso over muslin and organza and then painting on it with watercolor. I incorporated a couple of these into fiber pieces (hand-sewing through gesso-ed muslin can be an ordeal) but I decided to use this one in a collage with hand-made paper and keep it pretty simple. Again the substrate is a painting I wasn't thrilled about.

Sorry about the slightly kitty-wumpus angle and perspective on the photos depicting the entire piece. I have been using this itty-bitty Canon camera and you have to shoot through this screen so you hold the camera away from your face. I miss my big clunky Canon a lot--it suddenly went dark ("coded," I guess) while I was taking photos in the Smokies. Made me so mad! It was the beginning of the trip and I had to use my phone the rest of the trip. I was at the John C. Campbell Folk School so I needed to be able to take good pictures. I want to get this camera fixed but there's nowhere local except Best Buy. A couple of people told me they won't know what to do, but I'll go over there anyway and see. The point of all this is that I can't take good pictures with this shabby little thing. Shreed loves it--I think because it's so small. So for traveling and such it's good.

I want to share with you a couple of sites I found in my morning trawl through the web. I love the illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger's version of The Wizard of Oz. Sadly it's out of print, but you can't pick it up on Amazon for only $500!

These birds rendered in food are just so fun and original. I never fail to be impressed with what artists come up with.