Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 317 (Santa Rosa)

Happy New Year to all! Here's a collage from last summer. This is Untitled Collage No. 317 (Santa Rosa). July 17, 2025. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype. Image size 37.6cm x 23.4cm (14.8in x 9.2in). Matted to 24x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website. 

In person, my work can be seen at Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. Or, you can visit me during Art Trails, Sonoma County's premier juried open studios event, usually the middle two weeks in October. Studio visits by appointment. 

Art I'm Making: Art Trails 2025

Today, Sunday, October 19* is the last day of the Art Trails 2025 open studios event. The weather's fine. A great day for visits to local artists. 

Here's a recent collage: Untitled Collage No. 313 (Santa Rosa). June 9, 2025. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, fabric (book cover fragment), collage. Image size 27.0cm x 18.8cm (10.6in x 7.4in). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

Today is your chance to come see this and other work in person, but, for more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

Elsewhere, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay or in my studio by appointment. Sadly, however, Calabi Gallery is closing (although it will maintain an online presence)– a great loss for Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. Note also that the Ren Brown collection is closed through the end of next week as Ren is in Japan at the moment.

*Originally published on Facebook a couple of days ago

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 311 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from early this year. This is Untitled Collage No. 311 (Santa Rosa). Completed February 26, 2025. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 12.7cm x 25.4cm (5.0in x 10.0in). Matted to 11in x 14in. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay or in my studio by appointment. Sadly, however, Calabi Gallery is closing (although it will maintain an online presence)– a great loss for Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 304 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last autumn. This is Untitled Collage No. 304 (Santa Rosa). Completed September 18, 2024. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 27.6cm x 16.6cm (10.9 x 6.5 inches). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. Click on the image for a larger view.

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay or by appointment. 

Art I'm Making: New Tools

A new ink stick, from Kobaien, in Japan, and a new ink stone have just arrived. I'm looking forward to exploring in black and white. I haven't worked in ink on paper in many years, but it's a medium I've enjoyed since encountering it on my first visit to Japan (as an exchange student in high school). 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 302 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last summer. This is Untitled Collage No. 302 (Santa Rosa). Completed August 14, 2024. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, bark cloth fragment, collage. Image size: 32.2cm x 16.8cm (12.7 x 6.6 inches). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay or by appointment.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 301 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last year. This is Untitled Collage No. 301 (Santa Rosa). August 5, 2024. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper (letter fragment), collage. Image size: 26.4cm x 14.7cm (10.4 x 5.8 inches). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

This one is a bit unusual for me as it uses a piece of found paper. Most often my work is made entirely from monotypes I've made myself. In this case, however, the colors of the pair of stamps perfectly complemented the colors in the monotypes. Postage stamps are perhaps the quintessential cliché in collage, but I think it works in this case. 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay or by appointment.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 299 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last summer. This is Untitled Collage No. 299 (Santa Rosa), completed July 1, 2024. Image size 34.9cm x 24.8cm (13.7 x 9.8 inches). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay or by appointment.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No 297 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from the spring of last year. This is Untitled Collage No. 297 (Santa Rosa), completed May 29, 2024. Image size 21.7cm x 15.1cm (8.5 x 5.9 inches). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website.

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay.

Art I'm Making: "Curious Boy" (c. 1975)

Over the last two days, I finally got around to cleaning up my photographic darkroom (which has morphed into a wine cellar) and I think I've now got it to a state that will allow the wine and the photo equipment to co-exist. I'm looking forward to putting the equipment to use again.

While cleaning and straightening, I found the negative for this photo, which I remember having titled "Curious Boy." I made this photograph when I was 15. I vaguely recall winning an honorable mention for it in a contest. The image was made on a bus in Dayton, Ohio, c. 1975. It's on Kodak Plus-X film. At the time, I would have been using a Yashica TL-Electro. Two years later, I had graduated to an Olympus OM-2, a camera that I still have and use occasionally. 

Seeing the image now, I'm a little disappointed that the boy's face isn't more crisply focused, but this was done before auto-focus was a thing. It was a fleeting moment. The boy turned around. I lifted my camera and pushed the shutter button. I probably had only a second to adjust the focus if I had any time at all. 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 296 (Santa Rosa)

Here's another collage from earlier this year. This is Untitled Collage No. 296 (Santa Rosa), completed May 20, 2024. Image size 22.6cm x 10.5cm (8.9 x 4.1 inches). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This piece was recently in the 2024 Wabi Sabi show at The O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, in Mill Valley, California. 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website. 

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 290 (Santa Rosa)

Still trying to catch up with 2024, this is Untitled Collage No. 290 (Santa Rosa), the last piece I finished in 2023 (before a fallow period of several months). Dated October 7, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 41.1cm x 32.3cm (16.3in x 12.7in). Matted to 24 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium – Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website. 

 

In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. Or, you can visit me during Art Trails, Sonoma County's premier juried open studios event, which will be October 19–20 and October 26–27 this year. This year, I'll be Studio 40. Hope to see you in the studio!

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 288 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last autumn: Untitled Collage No. 288 (Santa Rosa). September 30, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 32.1cm x 41.3cm (12.6in x 16.3in). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This was in my recent show at Hammerfriar Gallery. 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website. In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 287 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last autumn. This is Untitled Collage No. 287 (Santa Rosa). September 25, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 24.6cm x 11.4cm (9.7in x 4.5in). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, see my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

 

My book Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage 2013–2023, published in February 2024 (ISBN: 979-8-218-37717-5) is available on the website.

Art I'm making: Untitled Collage No. 286 (Santa Rosa)

Here's another fairly recent collage – although I remain way behind in posting work I did in 2023. This is Untitled Collage No. 286 (Santa Rosa), completed September 13, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 17.2cm x 21.4cm (6.6in x 8.4in). Matted to 16 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view.

 

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/. In addition, my recent book 'Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage – 2013–2024' is available on the website.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 284

Here's another fairly recent collage. This is the last in a string of pieces I did over this past summer that incorporate bits of a couple of sheets of pseudo-calligraphy I had made earlier in the year. This is Untitled Collage No. 284 (Santa Rosa). August 1, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 19.4cm x 10.5cm (7.5in x 4.1in). Matted to 14 x 11 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, see my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

If you're in the Northern California area, some of my work will appear in "Paper's Edge" a show of collage and mixed media work at Hammerfriar Gallery, in Healdsburg, CA, from February 24 (opening reception 3-6PM) through May 11. I'll be doing a live demonstration of my collage process at the gallery on Saturday, April 13. See you there!

 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Colage No. 283 (Santa Rosa)

Still catching up on posting recent work. This one, a small piece measuring 9.7cm x 12.3cm (3.8 x 4.8 inches), completed July 13, 2023, is Untitled Collage No. 283 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Matted to 11in x 14in. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 278 (Santa Rosa)

In the early part of this year, I made seven or eight collages using my usual handmade monotypes but also several sheets I had made by just painting with black paint on paper, mimicking calligraphy, although this was asemic writing – that is, gibberish; I was simply using the brush as if writing characters, drawing on my informal study of Japanese calligraphy (I lived in Japan 19 years). Here's another in that group of collages.

This is Untitled Collage No. 278 (Santa Rosa). Completed March 22, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 12.4cm x 10.7cm (8.4in x 4.2in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 277 (Santa Rosa)

There was a lot going on for me in the first part of 2023. I completed a collage in early December of 2022 but didn't complete another until March of this year. This is Untitled Collage No. 277 (Santa Rosa). It is the first of about eight pieces I did in the first half of the year using papers I made drawing on my experience with calligraphy. Completed March 21, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, collage. Image size: 15.3cm x 12.4cm (6.0in x 4.9in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This piece recently sold to a private collector.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at: http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 274 (Santa Rosa)

A collage from around this time last year. This is Untitled Collage No. 274 (Santa Rosa). October 16, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 32.2cm x 41.4cm (12.7in x 16.3in). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

 

Better yet, if you're in Northern California or you're planning a visit soon, stop by my studio during this year's Art Trails open studio event and see my work in person. More than 130 artists all over Sonoma County will be opening their studios to the public on two weekends – September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8.