Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 262 (Benicia)

I spent the entire months of June and July 2022 studio-sitting at the home of a friend in Benicia, California. That allowed me a great deal of freedom from distractions in a space ideally suited to getting work done. During my eight-week stay, I completed 13 new collages. This is the last of those. Untitled Collage No. 262 (Benicia), July 28, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 30.4 x 39.9cm (12.0 x 15.7 inches). 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 collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 261 (Benicia)

Still posting work that I did during my summer sojourn last year in Benicia, CA. This is Untitled Collage No. 261 (Benicia). July 25, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image sie: 17.6 x 17.4cm (6.9 x 6.8 inches). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Singed 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: https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 260 (Benicia)

A fairly recent collage, produced during my summer stay in Benicia, CA. This is Untitled Collage No. 260 (Benicia). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 19.8 x 10.9cm (7.8 x 4.3 inches). 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 https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com//collage-site/

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 253 (Benicia)

A medium-sized collage done during my stay this summer in Benicia, California. This is Untitled Collage No. 253 (Benicia). June 19, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 16.9 x 13.9cm (6.7 x 7.5 inches). 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 collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 251 (Benicia)

A fairly recent collage—this one from my summer stay in Benicia, California. This is Untitled Collage No. 251 (Benicia). June 9, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper (fragments from Carol Dalton), collage. Image size 21.7 x 21.6cm (8.5 x 8.5 inches). 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 collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Places I'm Visiting: A Sojourn in Benicia

Yesterday I ended a two-month sabbatical of sorts from everyday life. I stayed at the studio/home of artist friend Mark Eanes for the entirety of June and July while he was away traveling. The space is in Benicia, overlooking the Carquinez Strait, offering a view of the oil tankers, bulk carriers, and car carriers coming in from all over the world to load and unload oil, grain, and cars--especially cars.

It was a pleasure waking up to find a new car carrier had slipped silently into port while I slept and to watch it disgorge hundreds of cars the following day. The work of parking the cars and then loading them on transport vehicles for delivery to dealers went on 24 hours a day, but distantly. The muffled, punctuated clatter was soothing. 

 

My only obligation aside from my day job as a translator was to water the plants indoors and on the breezy balcony outside. The situation afforded me much more time to work making art than I usually enjoy. I finished 14 new pieces in the two months of my stay. I will begin posting these before long, but I have several I finished before the Benicia interlude that I'll need to post first. I'm way behind....