Embroidered Collage

Each image that I created for the altered calendar round robin is now collected into a gallery page.  Well, except for June, which my camera ate.  I enjoyed going over the pictures again as I resized each image, looking for trends, trying to see evidence of growth, and just remembering.

I primarily worked in spreads, instead of single pages, either having the two sides form one image or having them be related.  This appealed to my sense of visual presentation.  One of my favorite parts was working off of the calendar's image, incorporating it into the collage spread and using it as inspiration at the same time.

I think I did my best work in the summer - July through September.  My pages are layered and interesting, at least in my opinion, yet more unified than they had been earlier in the year.  I was pushing myself more then, trying for the best results.  The experience just felt like a long haul by the time I reached the last quarter so maybe that's why the pages, while I'm still pleased with them, just don't appeal to me as much overall.  Or maybe it's because many of the later pages are constructed from earlier works that I either wasn't going to finish or didn't have a home for.  I do still adore my peacock page.

It was a grand and worthwhile experience.  I did work I wouldn't have done otherwise.  But I would never have been able to do another one this year.  I still feel a bit burned out by it.  Maybe I'll do something similar again, maybe not, but I'll always have my own calendar come home to flip through and consider, what if...

Sharon Wisely used autumn colors and metal to great effect in her pages.  My favorite page actually faces this one, but it is so 3-d that I couldn't scan it, so I'm showing off my second favorite.  For all that I like layers and complexity I am fascinated by art that makes "simple" work as a concept.  There's not a lot to this page, but it is beautiful to me.  Her blog is paper thoughts and she also runs a store.

I had seen Ruth Rae's use of gauzy fabrics to trap collage elements in some of the other calendars and was thrilled she continued the technique in mine.  She worked four pages similar to that shown above, almost a mini series in my calendar and in two more pages she covered the entire page with a trapped gauze collage.  The half-hidden elements are intriguing and an idea I might like to explore sometime.  She blogs at my creative soul and recently posted an entry on her newly returned calendar, which is also HUGE, and took the time to photograph everyone's spreads!

Marci Glenn documented a trip to San Francisco, where she goes twice a year.  One spread was a descriptive journal entry, describing places noted in other parts of her spreads.  It was a neat glimpse of a place that I haven't been.  She keeps a picture trail of her mixed media artwork.

Since Dawn Supina was always the person mailing to me, I've seen all her pages throughout the year.  She piles on the various elements when she collages, creating a distinctive mix of commercial items and ephemera, often with items or fringe sticking out of the rectangles.  Dawn blogs at art of humungous proportions.

This altered calendar page by Christine Shebroe appealed to me because of the quirky interpretation of the quote.  I also really enjoyed a spread she did about her dream of visiting Italy.  Christine blogs at artista di carta.

There are so many layers on this page, partially obscuring and partially translucent.    Lorraine George mixed text and mulberry paper and painting - I love the way the circles interact with the birds and resonate with the quote - and then added some great 3-d elements.  The extra little touches, like the metal mesh and just the top of a raffle ticket, really add to the piece.  Lorraine kept her page consistently in pink, but they way they were done varied enough that it didn't really strike me until the second go through.  The first time I just registered them as a coherent whole.  Lorraine blogs at Just Me.

Cece Grimes made her calendar pages very personal.  She used copies and printouts of telegraphs and photos found in her father's house.  The rectangular bit with the girl and the clock hand on it is actually a tag, and the story is on its reverse side.  One page even had a pocket with some nice copies for me to use in my art.  I don't believe Cece blogs, though I could be wrong, but if you do a search for her name you can find her art posted in various places from swaps and such.

Deep browns connected spreads with different themes in Jennifer Rowland's pages.  I was very taken by the creative use of commercial collage elements in this page - and I couldn't resist the use of machine stitching to add detail.  The facing page continues to relate to the bird theme of this one.  Jennifer doesn't seem to have an active blog or picture gallery at the moment.

February

I was most fascinated by the layering on the background of this page by Sue, known as fiverdog.  embedded into the blue were text and symbols relating to the whole and it looks like it began with prnted text, maybe, underneath the other layers of paint and ink.  There's a bit of a glow to the page, when seen in person and I think the touch of a teal wire tied around the focal picture is perfect.  Sue also did a spread with a fantastic fold out booklet in rich burgundies and browns.  You can see more of her artwork on her picturetrail, which is an astounding collection of altered pages and includes an album with all of her work for this altered calendar round robin.  She blogs at Art-e-cats.

March

This is the left side of a spread by Liz Smith.  In between the two pages of the spread she put a pocket with a fantastic little book on one side and assorted travel ephemera on the other side.  Both were extra fun to look at when my calendar came home.  She made good use of multiple maps and other pages for the backgrounds on this spread. They blended together nicely into a coherent whole with the treatment she applied afterward.  Liz keeps a blog, aLteRaTIonS, and a picturetrail which also includes all of her calendar pages for the year.

April

I love how Caren incorporates her very realistic watercolor painting into collage with torn strips and pieces of other papers.  Each page she did was distinctly differet, but they were very much her style.  This is my favorite.  It just makes me happy for some reason.  Caren has a picturetrail as rosemoon and it includes other calendar pages and a live journal as dunesza called wanderings according to moon.

I had never imagined it would grow this much!  Last January this stack of papers began as a simple and regular desk calendar, only about an inch and a half thick.  The pages I created to start it out were pretty flat, but there were 11 people following me in this round robin and it exploded out of the binding somewhere along the way with all the interesting build-ups on the pages.  I've carefully flipped through the pages once so far, marvelling at the different styles and ideas that the participating artists put into it.

In future blog entries I'd like to share a page from each artist with you and acknowledge their contribution.  I'm also in the process of modifying the images of the pages I did so that they will be in a gallery of their own.  I had started one in January, but stopped updating it, so most of the pages are buried in my blog.  And I have some comments on what I learned during the progress of this collaborative project.

I completed my third spread for the December calendar, stepping back to simple collage and altering techniques and a pleasing pattern.   I won't be mailing until after Christmas, so as to avoid the post office and so the package doesn't get lost in the madness.