There has been an interest in my process of collage. Essentially, when a photo grabs me i often find in it countenances. Then i have some fun with body shapes and sizes, and design clothes in a whimsical, imaginative style. Most collages are couples, some of them i theme with ancient mythology, some are simply my take on couplehood–not necessarily romantic in nature, for in my life some of my best friends are male, and cherish these, as my brothers. –Bree

groundhog predicts early Spring like a fact, i canvas the sky for a change.

canvases have been arriving in fine quality. i have stuck with one company in particular, simply because the quality was great on first two canvases, and i dont want to take any chances–there was a company i ordered from provided disgraceful quality and service, alas. the BBB came to my aid! go BBB!

i will post here the nine i have available. the backdrop is some pretty fancy wallpaper, eh? in this quaint old hotel in this quiet farm town, Pleasureville, KY.

you know what else is really quaint?
there are no overhead lights in the place. so, i do apologize about the lighting!

i am only ever going to produce two canvases of any drawing i make. the sizes available widely range. this is the only ‘Turtle’ for sale, because i already sold one to the people who commissioned a copy.  and one ‘Echo’ has been sold, so this is also the last.

contact me for pricing. generally 45-145, the price i make depends on the size/therefore the cost to me, to produce the canvas. my work is meant to be accessible, and is priced accordingly. greenpandapress@gmail.com

i am also making 10 copies of each of my drawings as prints on fine paper. if you see any drawing or collage you like, prints are $25, and deals are made if ordering multiple.

Chris Brooke, editor of Henry County Local wrote a thoughtful article about my project here.

i am glad he took interest in the project, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. it is not all the time that you are glad you sat for an interview…

speaking of, i drew this turkey vulture on Monday. i was thinking about a trip i took to the southern tip of TX. i have been playing with a lot of pastels lately, seduced by the soft plays of texture. turkey vultures are gentle creatures–when you walk past them, they may give a glance at you, but most likely they wont start at all. once i picked up a small bone one of them dropped. i am a bone collector. turkey and black vultures are so common in Pleasureville, KY, i almost forget what magnificent creatures they are.

Here is the Japanese screen of a hawk which i used as a kind of stimuli for my drawing.

 

when i worked at a healthy grocery chain as a chef one of my jobs was to keep up with the culls–food that made it to the back sanctum, to be cooked and sold, or donated to churches and hot food lines, or, if not so rescued, composted.

i would take a bunch of challah burger buns, and a case of too-ripe tomatoes, with milk that had two days left on it to sell, and so forth, and create a tomato-basil-mozzarella bread pudding.

right now, the text for Do Well of Must  (the book for my grant project) is complete. i am culling thru hundreds of drawings for which to include in the book. i must show my progress, which means i need to feature early roughs. in my culling, i came across portraits i made of my best friend Stephanie King, who shot herself dead with a gun in March of 2014.

King befriended me, having read my memoirs. we were attached at the hip. she wanted to write, so i asked her to write something, didnt matter what–and show it to me. what she handed over was some of the most raw, poignant, poetic prose i have read. i had a visceral reaction to it. her grammar was on a sixth-grade level, at best. as an editor, i decided to leave the grammar alone. there are writers who strive for the dialect she naturally inclined towards. she was going to go to school to learn how to write….alas.

here are some portraits i made of my good friend, who never had a bad word to say about anyone. i believe her capacity for love and joy was an equal match for her endurance of pain, but in a moment one can have a snap in judgement. she will be recalled for the love she gave.

today i drew a Chinese-inspired turtle for commission for my aunt and uncle. tho the turtle is tenacious and strong, their love is sweet, so i pictured her among wild strawberries.

anyone may hire me to draw–i just need to talk to you a little bit, to know what you are after. then i will get creative.

i will keep in mind the turtle, guardian of the earth, what kind of guest am i, today?

i finished the text to Do Well of Must, and give myself til the end of January to select the drawings to go in it.

meanwhile, i was talking to a friend who is a dealer and collector of small press books, music, outsider art, and such. i asked him about signatures. since i dont like my handwriting i dont sign my work. for maybe three days, i signed what i drew with a cursive font-type from Microsoft. otherwise, i have written poems or letters to give the work provenance, if asked for such.

the dealer said get a signature, even if it is a stamp, so i will heed him. he also suggested 10 and 2 — that is, to produce 2 canvases of any drawing, and ten fine paper prints. this means i really need a ledger, to record each drawing that goes out. it also means im not likely to keep any for myself. but that is not new, i have few Green Panda Press titles in my possession. people do ask why the art is not signed….so now, to find myself a good notebook and stamp.

i have nearly finished the text for Do Well of Must. it explains where i come from and how i began to draw, an explanation of the mediums i use, how i define a feminist artist and my goals as a female artist, plus my future goals and intentions as a resident of Henry County, Kentucky.

the challenging part will be choosing art to insert between the text. book design is one of my favorite activities, but i have yet to design such a book as this. may take a couple of weeks. in the meantime i have finished work on ‘A Bouquet of Flowers: Green Panda Anthologese 2016’…the first major hand-made anthology i have made in some time. i find it is useful to juggle a few projects at once, to make progress on each in increment, because a project does not come to fruit but on its own time.

(here again is my grant project, in detail)

editor Chris Brooke from Henry County Local visited my home the other day to hear about the project. i look forward to what he might write about it. he told me the businesses and orgs of Henry are hungry for culture; i intend to use them as they exist to be used—to bring about more culture. i will post here what he writes when it comes out.

when the book is complete i need to make PR materials to send to bookstores and libraries. once mailed, i will follow up by phone or email and start soliciting participation.

but for now im jes sitting in my house of rising sun, bookin’ it.

tomorrow the grant check is sent, and so the project begins. i am summoning up my female energy and male potential. first off, create the book Do Well of Must. then i shall proceed to solicit bookstores and libraries to sell the book with my art on display. should be interesting…curious to see whether my nude studies and erotic art will make venues hesitant to participate in the final event. they must agree to hang whichever piece i send. check out the gallery, if you like. you will see a wide variety of style and subject matter. i draw what comes for me.

have this collection i called Celestials. with a new calendar year in the loom, i thought id share these drawings. perhaps they would make a nice calendar?

i drew Celestials over the course of a few days, last February 12-16. found them while organizing my art by date and theme, so that i have my drawings in good order while i make the book Do Well of Must (Green Panda Press 2016). the book will track my progress as a self-taught feminist artist, and is part of my Artist Enrichment grant project.

 

 

i made this collage from a photograph i took when walking my usual farm roads, Cemetery to MacGruder. the photograph was a wooden fence post with some ivy growing on it, and some grass beneath, and some shadows to play with.

i did not save the photo! i cant even find it.

once again, i learn the hard way. of course it would be useful and informative to save the photograph which was the source of my collage. it would help the viewer to see what i made something out of.

i do have the photos for most of my collages, but now i will be sure to save them, side by side in a sensibly named folder.