New In The Studio - July 2019

Spent the July 4th holiday week at a swell mountain retreat location in New Mexico, and spent a few wonderful mornings and afternoons making collages. I brought a nice stack of vintage 1950s magazines, some 5 x 7 inch paper, some glue sticks and some handy-dandy x-acto knives, and went to town.

Over the course of a few days, I managed to produce about a dozen new collages, which I'm pretty excited about. The bold colors, graphics, typography and halftones play well with my screen printing and painting style, and these collages are a nice extension of my creative process. I think I'll shift gears slightly and have these collages as the basis for my next "5 X 7" book release.

Much of my collage source material comes from magazines and periodicals from the 1950s and 1960s, since most of the paper stock and printing inks are relatively the same. The paper stock has yellowed nicely over the decades, while the primary ink colors retained their boldness and vibrancy. It's actually rare I use x-acto knives to cut out images and text. I usually tear out each piece of paper desired to retain the jagged edges. I find irregular edges of paper much more interesting than straight edges.

I still enjoy working within the limited space of 35 square inches, as the space poses interesting and creative challenges. Five by seven inches is also the perfect post card size (for me, anyway).

It's been an amazing time taking in some fresh air, the sight of mountains and trees, and having the ability to decompress from city life and deadlines for a few days, to come home refreshed and tackle the daily grind. Looking forward to coming back out to NM soon for an additional taste of laid-back mountain life. I'm sure I'll even have more work to show for it.

Hope y'all had a great July 4th holiday with friends and loved ones. This year's celebration is definitely one for the books.

Until next time. -J