collages | Altered Bits Blog

i’ve been all kinds of collage crazy lately. playing with paper and paint is always such a grounding and relaxing thing for me. that, and the last six pieces i’ve completed were assemblages so it felt time to get a little dirty again.

it’s no surprise that the first four were anatomical in theme. i just couldn’t help it when i found a 1930s medical book with the most fantastically fun illustrations. i just had to use them!

i’ve been trying to play with color a bit more than i typically do to gear up for a fantastically divine collaboration i’m doing with my sweet friend jill zaheer of jazworks. she is such an amazingly bright and colorful artist that i felt i should break out of my monochromatic shell a teeny tiny bit and show her some color. of course these collages have absolutely nothing to do with our collab (i don’t think miss jilly likes anatomical illustrations as much as i do), but i wanted to just “play” a bit for fun. we both will have plenty to share on that front another day though as we progress with our joint creations.

this first guy is not colorful at all, except for the little splash of “alicia red”. he’s pretty tough, this guy. look at those muscles! (not terribly manly though.)

i call this guy “enlightened”. for some reason i’ve felt secretly drawn to blue lately. i have no idea why and keep telling myself i need to re-investigate the psychology of colors, but i keep forgetting. i wish my photography skills were better so you could see all of the cracks and texture in the brown… and that the lines didn’t look pink. i hate pink.

okay, i guess this guy isn’t terribly bright or colorful either. i accidentally ripped his head off (so unkind of me!) but liked it so replaced it all askew. he’s broken. i think he likes it though. crap photography again, huh!

red and blue, woots! two whole colors in one piece. i’m proud. 🙂 i have no idea why there is a hazy white “glow” around the heart because it’s not really there in person. looks all haunted. or reflecty. (yes, i know that is not a word.)

after the anatomical collages, i think i went a little crazy for a minute. the short background story: we have been house hunting on and off for the past six months and dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of a little old 1880s to 1939 farmhouse with 4-5+ bedrooms and on 5+ acres. i have “house on the brain” syndrome. it’s not that we don’t love our little old house but we need more space. three bedrooms is just not enough when you cram an artist/web designer/doll part hoarder, a studious smarty-pants kid with 9,638,821,143 books and almost as many toys, and a musician/electronics genius/instrument builder under the same roof . i think that is what happened here, while in the zone. i don’t think when i create. i just do… whatever i do.

okay, here is the color. i do like the cloud print paper in the background though.

as if one house were not enough, i created a second one. kind of a “creative visualization thing” because the first one didn’t look much bigger than our house and the yard was too barren. kinda silly, but it was fun. if this were sunny, had lots of windows and black and white tiled kitchen floors and an old fashion double-stove and was on 5+ acres i would live in it for sure. plenty quirky for this girl!

after those, like literally maybe 20 minutes after those were completed, i had to create two more to feel balanced out. 3+5=18, i think. this is really a rich, deep black though you can’t tell here. ah well.

and last but not least (actually, yeah, least — i am not thrilled with this one). i called this “sometimes i feel like this”. when i’m upset or something pisses me off or makes me sad, i create. it just so happened that i was not in a good mood when i created this. no wonder i think it’s hideous. hah.

kind of ugly now that i look at it on-screen. i think i shall collage over it. mmmm, extra texture! (i’m almost done with the next 2, larger ones.)

as mentioned in a previous post, it was a HUGE honor and pleasure to get to have the artist spotlight for the very first print zine be miss lisa jurist of mudhound studio whom i have admired for several years.

in addition to being in the zine, i have featured the interview on the altered bits website in the artist interviews section. so, if you haven’t yet seen it and wish to get a glimpse into the art and life of lisa, go give it a read.