Faces and Places Collages

After doing so many collages that are composed of faces and maps or ephemera from certain cities or countries, I thought I would continue with that theme and call the series Faces and Places. This is Paris #1, and it's on my ETSY shop at http://chrisenc.etsy.com.

Lots of new collages on ETSY

I've been working on lots of new collages. This is one and there are several more on my ETSY shop at http://chrisenc.etsy.com.

Self Portrait Challenge - Bathrooms!

As I was reading Michelle Caplan's fabulous blog, I realized that I also have a self-portrait image...one I could use for this month's Self-Portrait Challenge theme of bathrooms!

Girls do funny things on "girl's weekend" trips to NYC, and I guess I was no exception! This was taken at Bar 89 in Soho, which is probably something all New Yorkers know about, but being from Massachusetts, well...

This Unisex bathroom had clear glass doors, then when you close them, they turn opaque. So after shopping for knockoffs all day, then enjoying several drinks at Bar 89, we discovered this bathroom and took lots of silly pictures. This is me trying to figure out if I could see outside the door.

Yes, I can hear all the New Yorker's laughing now.

Fossil collage

This digital collage is composed of layers of rust images along with fossil images and text. I like the textures and blend of colors. Over the weekend I'm going to try printing this on some sort of highly textured background and see how it looks.

"Another Saturday" Mixed Media Collage

Here is the mixed media collage that uses the same technique for the writing on the face as the digital collage I posted yesterday. The background is various color washes on thick watercolor paper, covered with japanese paper, then a transparency layer with the face.

Botanical Collage

Another digital collage. Actually I made a real collage similar to this one over the weekend and will post it soon. Call me lazy, but it's in the studio and I'm too tired to go get it.

Part of the process was the same for the digital collage here, and the traditional one, and that is the layers with the face and text. In Photoshop there is a background white layer, a layer over that with text, a layer over that with a light color that I partially erased, and then the top layer of the face. For the face I used the levels adjustment to make it really contrast, then used a halftone filter to make it contrast more. All the layers except for the face were set on normal, but the face layer was set on overlay.

Further changes were made after that, but that's how I got the face and text looking the way it is.

I'll try to get off my bum tomorrow night and post the other one. After working all day at my "real" job, then carting the kids around, it's surprising to even bang this little collage out, but it seems to be an obsession!

A Day at the Park Digital Collage

Just playing with Photoshop while watching tv. Combined some photos I took at Endicott Park in Danvers with a public domain photo of this pretty girl. Looks like she enjoyed a nice day at the park.

Black and Red Collage

Eye See You - Mixed Media Collage

I really like how this turned out. I used interfacing from Joanne's Fabrics as the substrate for this collage. I added bits of tissue paper and some pages from an old book found at a flea market. Then I went over it with acrylics in buff titan, and some other warm colors. Once that all dried I covered it all with InkAid so that I could print a digital collage over it. (Yes, I guess I got carried away with the eye digital collage from my previous post). Anyway, I couldn't have done it without inspiration from the Mary Taylor workshop I took on incorporating digital and traditional techniques. I highly recommend it.

This piece is up for sale on etsy now.

Brown Eyed Girl Digital Collage

Been a while since I've posted or had time to play. Full time work can be such a distraction from art! I wish I had more time to create.

IF: Wired (Digital Collage)

For Illustration Friday this week the theme is Wired. So many ways to be wired...too much time spent partying in the 80s is what first comes to mind...BUT this take on it is different than that! What I'm thinking is that sometimes we are chained, wired, or maybe even hard-wired to remain silent, or behind the scenes, or to let others do the talking for us. Maybe that's why I let the art do the talking instead?

Free ATC Digital Collage Background Design

I am going absolutely nuts without my printer. Tomorrow I am going to the Apple store to get a new IMac so I can get back to a normal computer/printer setup. In the meantime I keep playing with strictly digital collages, and here is one for you, if you are lucky enough to have a working printer! It is slightly larger than ATC size at 200 dpi. Enjoy! Link or credit me if you wish.

A Digital Collage to pass the time

So I've created this digital collage on my laptop because my main PC died...the one attached to my scanner and printer...which leaves me with not many options to incorporate mixed media. I guess it's time to buy a new computer, and I think it just might be a Mac this time.

Bird Collage

Just a little birdy collage. Inspired by reading a book called "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin where (among many other things) she discusses the complexity of birdsong and animal language. I found it fascinating.

Jeans Top Collage

Available on ETSY as a pigment transfer onto watercolor, or as a blank card.

Magenta Rose Collage

This collage started with acrylic on paper, which I scanned into Photoshop and combined with the images of the woman (flea market find), the rose (copyright free image found online). The background writing was a real find...while we were in Italy last year we stayed near Villa Ferdinanda in Tuscany, where there was a wedding one night. The next day we visited the Villa and the wedding programs, with menus, were scattered all about. I thought it was a cool memento from the trip.

The gates of a new beginning...digital collage

Holy cow. I just returned from a phenomenal 2-day digital printmaking class. We learned to transfer to frescoes, collage between acrylic gel medium then cover with inkaid and print, scrape modeling paste onto non-woven spun bond polyester then cover with inkaid and print, and other cool processes. Mary Taylor is a great teacher if anyone has a chance to take a workshop with her. Anyway I feel like a door has opened...new ideas are flooding in...and I can't wait til tomorrow to begin new collages.

Why...A broken-hearted collage

This collage started off with two altered playing cards. You guessed it...the Queen and Ace of hearts. I covered them with some old book pages and acrylic glazes, then scanned them both into Photoshop, where I combined them. Then I added more layers of found images and text.

Illustration Friday - Red

I always liked this digital collage, but when I switched over to the new version of Blogger it got lost from my archives. So here it is again...something very red for Illustration Friday.

Illustration Friday, Superheroes

I've been wanting to submit something for Illustration Friday for a while now. This week's theme, Superheroes, reminded me of all the women who've gone before us: in science, in politics, in art, in education, and in the HOME. Women who stood up to oppression and resistance, women who defied the odds, women to held on to traditon while etching a better future for themselves, women who paved the way for us to be the women we are today.