Mixed Media Collage
The Process

Currently I enjoy working with acrylic paint and a number of other media to achieve layer upon layer of texture in my paintings.  Often I begin with canvas or duck cloth that I cut, tear and re-sew.  I stitch the fabric in different places both by machine and by hand.  This provides a base for mark making and symbols using paint, charcoal, pencil, ink and oil sticks.  The seams and stitch lines also provide marks on the surface that can be highlighted with paint.

After working on providing a richly textured base, I choose some photo imagery, either from my own photography or from classic imagery of the Ages.  I derive a great deal of inspiration from my travels.  I take many photographs of the places I visit, as well as pictures of everyday items I see in my own environment.  Frequently these images become a starting point for a painting.  I will print a photo with archival ink and work it into the stitched canvas using acrylic medium as glue.  I make it “one” with the canvas by using my hands and fingers, pushing it into the fabric.  (I learned this very freeing method of working from Florida artist Fran Skiles, whose art continues to inspire me.)

I continue to build up layers on the piece with various materials.  Then the challenge is to make order out of

the chaos.  I mix the paint in a range of colors that suit the work in progress.  I apply both complex neutrals and pure spectrum colors with brushes or other tools.  I use the paint to bring the design elements together into a unified, pleasing composition.

The beginning part of the process is visceral—there is a joy in actively playing and experimenting with the materials.  The development of the work into a finished composition, however, requires both intuitive and analytical responses as the piece speaks to me.  My goal for a finished work of art is to provide the viewer with a sense of mystery and ambivalence, where reality is momentarily suspended, evoking the viewer’s own feelings and experiences.