Travel Stuff

Some of the travel-themed pieces from the 2011 Project

Travel was a recurring theme last year as I did the individual pieces for the 2011 Project.  I certainly enjoy travel, but it also is not surprising considering my collage boxes are full of travel ephemera (yes, I keep boxes of treasure just waiting to be used in art).  In September I am showing over 30 pieces of new work, all of it travel themed.  It is all part of site specific installation called Imagining Val Travel (it opens September 16, click here for details).

Beach Day

Beach Day, mixed media on canvas, 10”x10”

I still keep coming up with ideas I wish I had thought of for the 2011 Project.  This is one of those examples.  I did use some sandpaper in one of the pieces, but I hadn’t thought of encrusting the edges of the canvas in sand as I did with this piece for my upcoming installation.

I added the sand and some sandpaper because I knew that Beach Day needed more than vintage postcards of beach scenes.  The cards have beach scenes from Florida to California with a heavy dose of Cape Cod including Kalmus Beach.  Kalmus is a beach I grew up near in Hyannis, named for Herbert Kalmus who donated the land.  He was also the inventor of Technicolor.  While a motion picture film process, where would the sky in old postcards be without the influence of Technicolor?  Beach Day itself refers to a certain type of summer day, when the weather is just right, and it’s a perfect time to go to the beach.  If you live near a beach, you know….

Prints of this piece are available from Society 6.

Happy Birthday!

75 and still looking fabulous.  The Golden Gate Bridge from the 2011 Project.

Fabulous Land

Fabulous Land, mixed media on canvas, 8”x8”

I can never say enough how important it is to experiment.  A little 4”x4” collage of vintage postcards for the 2011 Project has lead to an ongoing series of postcard collages.  This latest piece is made entirely with postcards from the Fabulous Land (aka California).

Put the 2011 Project on your iPhone

Put the 2011 Project on your phone.  The 2011 Project website has site has six wallpapers formatted for your iPhone.  Go here to download them all for free.

Little Eurocollages

European Collages, all approx. 2.3”x4” each, mixed media on board 1997

As I continue to organize and archive I came across these forgotten treasures.  I started making small mixed media collages long before the 2011 Project.  This series of 12 geographic, travel themed pieces were done in 1997.  Each was for a different European country.  I printed these images and used them in handmade magnets.  Nowadays printing technology has improved and become less expensive.  I see cool artists magnets at shows and craft fairs all the time.   Back in 1998, I sold about 25 of the magnets in a small shop in the Richmond.  If you have one, hang on to it — it’s a collector’s item.

As far as my current work, one could say its come full circle, as I am working on a series of travel-themed work for an installation later this year.

February 29, 2012 – Leap!

The 2011 Project had 365 parts, one for each day. This is the unofficial 366^th. Happy Leap Day!