February went so fast!

 It has been a busy month and an emotional one. I am still grieving the loss of my friend Matt French. Februllage happened- the challenge of making a collage each day of February using the prompts given. I completed the challenge. Here are the first seven.

 

The first prompt was fish.

 

Prompt #2 was Smile

Henry tried to hide his displeasure.

 

Prompt #3 was Mushroom

Malcolm liked his new neighborhood. 

 

Prompt #4 was bridge

Bridge to oblivion.

 

Prompt # 5 was cloth

Nathan knew Lucas was a man of the cloth

prompt #6 was cactus.

Prompt # 7 was Exit.

Ivan realized he forgot to lock the back door.

Hello February

 The start to the new year has been challenging. I found out a couple of weeks ago that my dear friend Matt French passed. I met Matt through Luis martin's CollageDream group.  That is how I met him. Matt had health challenges- he was only 55 and had 3 or more strokes in the past- had to have one of his arms amputated and a surgery caused him to be mute.  Despite all that this man had such a wonderful attitude and was so loving. He was also a terrific artist-  I have not cried this much in a long time- his art is all over my studio. I can not believe how intense my heartache is. I am afraid this is the start- we are of the age. Matt and I bonded deep quickly- we did several collaborations together. Some I have posted here in this blog and I also posted them on my instagram, terrygarrett763.

I went to my journal for comfort and to remember Matt French. This is in a journal I made with foldouts here and there- this one is 22 inches long. On the left is a self portrait painting Matt did. This has Matt's and my personal iconagraphical imagery. Matt listed his to me when we did our last collaboration. They included: pears, apples, butterflies, roses, keys, bees and skulls. Mine you have seen- chairs, houses, clocks, windows and birds. They have special meaning-they are our personal vocabulary. My heart still aches but I felt so close to you Matt- doing this spread- You are forever in my heart.

 

Happy New Year!

 Hello 2023.  I am hoping this new year is full of good health and love for you all.  Thank you for your reading this blog. As I have mentioned- I mostly post on instagram now- it is fast and easy for me. I came across a luminaria I had started at least 10 years ago maybe before that even. I think this was a project from the magazine Cloth, Paper Scissors. That magazine stopped publishing.  I got all motivated and made a few- These can be lit up with battery candles. These are all analog collages- meaning hand cut and glued to the background paper.

Here is the first one- each one I will show the front side and then the back side.

This is the front side.

 

This is the back side.

This is a view from above.

This is the front of the second luminaria.

This is the back side of the second one.

This is the front side of the third one. This one has a title:

The Temptation of Adam

Here is the back side of the third one. It also has a title:

Icarus Hesitates

This is the front of luminaria number 4.

This is the back side of number 4.

Here is the front side of the last one I made.

You are where you are suppose to be,

Here is the back side of the last one.

Friends can help us find the lost keys

to our personal happiness.

2022 Wind down!

 Well I see I missed a November post. I have been busy with collaborations and collage and journaling.

The gallery I was with for 2 years, Ricochet Gallery is now closed. I miss that. Michael and his husband Mark owned it- Michael's cancer came back had to have surgery so they needed to close. They created such a wonderful community. I might look for another gallery in the new year. I will share a few things for this end of the year post. The first two images are digital collages I did a couple of weeks ago.

Atlantis Rising

Luis's Flowers

The next few photos are of my part of a book collaboration I did with Matt French.

We worked digitally on this. This was about your our personal iconigraphical images. I often use certain things a lot as they have special meaning for me. These include chairs, houses, doors, windows, clocks to name a few. This first photo defines the collaboration. There is a video that shows the completed book on my instagram page. @terrygarrett763 I have a private account-just request there to follow me and I will let you in. I tend to post there a lot more than here. I did not do titles for these collages.

The last two here are the front and inside of the holiday card I did. The front

is a table top collage- meaning I put black paper on my work table and arranges these elements

then photographed the arrangement- then I altered it in the computer. The last one is the

inside of the card. Happy Solstice and Happy New year!

Last full week of October!

 I have been busy in the studio. I Have done a couple more accordion book collaborations. I posted those on my instagram terrygarrett763.  I taught a gel plate session for the artist/owners of Remarque Printworkshop. It was a fun day. I also took another class there- Collographs- I love those as it is sort of collaging onto a cardboard base and then inking and printing it.

For this post I will share a couple of collages that have a base of a gel plate image transfer that I scanned and added digital elements. Then some pieces for Halloween and for Day of the Dead.

I have a circle shaped gel plate and used that for this image transfer. I added

some other elements digitally. Title: Theo Could Not Escape From The Memory Of Her.

 

 There was a horror movie quite a while back that featured an Asian family that was terrorized by

a ghost.  This reminds me of that. Like the other one- A gel plate image transfer with added

digital elements. Title: She Knew He Was Watching Her.

This collage is a digital and analog combination.

Remembering Little Me

This collage is digital.  Looking Inside A Dream.

Another digital collage. Two Ravens Watching.

September went so fast

 Greetings- here it is the last week of September. I am amazed how fast time is going. So glad to be done with the 90+ degree days- there are some hints of fall color here and there.

 In this post I will share some new collages. These 6 are now framed and ready for the October group show at Ricochet Gallery here in Albuquerque. I have also been busy with a few collaborations.

If I Cut You Off Chances Are You Handed Me The Scissors

analog collage on gel plate print.

 

Big Trouble At The Homestead

analog collage on a printed out reverse of the gel plate print background in the above collage.

The Ascension of Icarus
analog collage on gel plate print

Percy Remained Hopeful

analog collage on reverse printed gel plate print 

 

Jacob Rowed Not So Merrily Down The Stream

analog collage on gel plate print

 

 Adrift On The Sea of Change

analog collage on gel plate print

 

Sweet Brian With His Bird Friends

analog collage on digital background

My dear friend Brian Kasstle recently visited us. When he returned home he posted a 

black & white photo of him with his canary. I just had to make a collage of that for him.

 

July slipped away...can't believe how fast time time goes!

 Here it is past mid-August already.  I have been very busy in the studio. I have worked on some artist books and new collages and I have completed some collaborations. Here are five collages.

This first collage has a monotype background. The yearbook photos I colored in the computer and printed them out on tissue paper.

Nathan Had No Intention of Going to the Reunion

Emergence

This is a mixed media collage using both analog and digital elements.

Ned Dreamed of Having Wings Like the Summer Butterflies

This mixed media collage is both digital and analog.

The Current Between Us

digital collage

One Man Watching

digital collage