Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 235 (Santa Rosa)

This is a fairly recent collage, Untitled Collage No. 235 (Santa Rosa)—a diminutive piece, measuring only 6.7 x 6.0cm (2.6 x 2.4 inches). September 10, 2021. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, collage. Matted to 8 x 10 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at: https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Recent work—Untitled Collage No. 223 (Santa Rosa)

Some newish work: This is Untitled Collage No. 223 (Santa Rosa), completed last summer—August 18, 2020, to be exact. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 20.4 x 25.5cm (8.0 x 10.0 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 collage work, visit my website. https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site 

Art I'm Making: Recent Collages

A couple of recent collages. I've been lazy about posting recent ones, mainly because I'm making them at a far slower pace than in the past. I feel like I've done what there is to do with this particular mode of working, but I'll probably keep at it sporadically. Right now, my attention is turned to trying to figure out the subtleties of the cyanotype process.

Above is Untitled Collage No. 207 (Santa Rosa). September 19, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, fragment of a doodling robot drawing in archival marker, collage. Image size: 11.5 x 12.2cm (4.5 x 4.8 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Below is Untitled Collage No. 208 (Santa Rosa). October 4, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, rice paper, antique silver leaf, collage. Image size: 11.5 x 11.7cm (4.5 x 4.7 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This one really needs to be seen in person to get the full effect. The antique silver leaf is the large triangular bit behind the rice paper. It's actually inserted into a pocket in the rice paper, floating loose but held in place by the rice paper.

For more, visit http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 206 (Santa Rosa)

Another recent collage, mostly in blues.

This is Untitled Collage No. 206 (Santa Rosa). August 6, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 19.6 x 17.4cm (7.7 x 6.9 inches). Matted to 16 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more, visit http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 205 (Santa Rosa)

A recent collage, mostly in blues.

This in Untitled Collage No. 205 (Santa Rosa). August 6, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 12.5 x 12.1cm (4.9 x 4.8 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

This piece is in the Art Trails preview show now on at The Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

For more, visit http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site or, even better, come visit my studio during the Art Trails open studios event. October 13 and 14 and October 20 and 21. This year I'm Studio 40, at 973 Stone Castle Lane, in Santa Rosa, California.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 204 (Santa Rosa)

A recent collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 204 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, fragment of a doodling robot drawing in archival marker, collage. August 5, 2018. Image size: 13.3 x 13.1cm (5.2 x 5.2 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. One of a number of recent pieces I've done using mostly blue monotypes.

For more of my collage work, visit my website at http://http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site/

2018 will be my fifth year participating in ArtTrails, Sonoma County's autumn open studio event. This year, I will be Studio 40. Studios around the county will be open from 10:00AM to 5:00PM on October 13-14 and October 20-21. Come by and see my art in person. In addition to new collages, I'll be showing photography and printmaking.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 203 (Santa Rosa) and Untitled Collage No. 202 (Santa Rosa)

A newer collage—one of several I've finished in the past three weeks in a spate of activity following a period of too many distractions (What I need is a year-long artist's residency that would allow me to do nothing but work, instead of having to work. All expenses paid, with a stipend, of course. Oh yes, and somewhere like Paris.)

This is Untitled Collage No. 203 (Santa Rosa), August 4, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. 11.3 x 11.4cm (4.5 x 4.5 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

Having just posted the above, I notice that I never put up the piece that preceded this one. Below is Untitled Collage No. 202 (Santa Rosa). May 13, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. 15.9 x 12.2cm (6.3 x 4.8 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, see my collage (and photography) website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 201 (Santa Rosa)

A recent collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 201 (Santa Rosa), April 16, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, graphite, collage. Image size: 37.4 x 27.7cm (14.7 x 10.9 inches). 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, see my collage (and photography) website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 200 (Santa Rosa)

My most recent collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 200 (Santa Rosa). April 15, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, graphite, collage. Image size 13.0 x 13.1cm (5.1 x 5.2 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mate. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my collage (and other) work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 198 (Santa Rosa)

The first successful collage I've done in too many weeks. Sometimes they are a struggle. I'm now quite pleased with this—a much-simplified remnant of a larger piece that stubbornly refused to come alive.

This is Untitled Collage No. 198 (Santa Rosa). April 2, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, graphite, archival marker (fragment of a doodling robot drawing), collage. Image size: 13.5 x 12.3cm (5.3 x 4.8 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my collage (and other) work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 197 (Santa Rosa)

My most recent collage. A small piece that once again includes a bit of hand-written music from a stack of old music given me by fellow collage artist Sherry Parker. The music has a seductive charm of its own, but here I've used it purely as an abstract design element.

This is Untitled Collage No. 197 (Santa Rosa). January 29, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, collage. Image size: 13.3 x 12.0cm (5.2 x 4.7 inches). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my collage (and other) work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 196 (Santa Rosa)

A new collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 196 (Santa Rosa). January 26, 2018. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, graphite, found paper. Image size: 16.4 x 20.3cm (6.5 x 8.0 inches). Matted to 16 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more, see my collage website at: http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

At I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 195 (Santa Rosa)

My latest collage. I was in the mood for yellow. I started out with the idea of doing something entirely in shades of yellow, but the process has a way of taking over. Collages have a way of going where they will, and this is where this one went. This is Untitled Collage No. 195 (Santa Rosa). December 20, 2017. Image size: 25.7 x 34.8cm (10.1 x 13.7 inches). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, graphite, collage. Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 194 (Santa Rosa)

After making a number of tiny collages recently, I've finished a couple of larger ones. This is Untitled Collage No. 194 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, collage. December 8, 2017. Image size: 24.9 x 32.4cm (9.8 x 12.8 inches). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

I normally don't use found paper much, but this incorporates a piece of an envelope mailed from Denmark. Postage stamps in collage are a rather tired cliché, but I hope I've used them subtly here--for their color mostly, rather than in an attempt to evoke some automatic nostalgic response or to suggest something foreign. They are simply a compositional element. Diagonals can be tricky--never stable. I rather like the way the lines slanted to one side here nevertheless seem grounded and, I hope, right.

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

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 193 (Santa Rosa)

Another collage....This is Untitled Collage No. 193 (Santa Rosa). November 30, 2017. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 19.2 x 23.6cm (7.6 x 9.3 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 collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Untitled Collage No. 192 (Santa Rosa)

A small collage, a tiny collage. It measures 3.7 x 4.5cm (1.5 x 1.8 inches). This is Untitled Collage No. 192 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Matted to 8 x 10 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Ar I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 191 (Santa Rosa)

A new collage, a small collage. This one is only 7.5 x 8.3cm or 3.0 x 3.3 inches. Untitled Collage No. 191 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. November 13, 2017.

Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 190 (Santa Rosa)

Another diminutive collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 190 (Santa Rosa). November 12, 2017. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 14.6 x 10.9cm (5.7 x 4.3 inches). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. Matted to 14 x 11 inches.

For more of my collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making : Untitled Collage No. 189 (Santa Rosa)

My latest collage—a rather large one for me, although small by the standards of most. This is Untitled Collage No. 189 (Santa Rosa). October 30, 2017. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 34.6 x 25.3cm (13.6 x 10.0 inches). Matted to 24 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This one features some venetian red papers I made recently that are suggestive of writing. These asemic scrawls were entirely unintentional, but I liked them.

For more of my collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 188 (Santa Rosa)

A new collage, the first I've made since the chaos caused by the recent fires here. For those of us who did not lose everything, life is beginning to return to normal. I feel for those still sorting through the wreckage, dealing with insurance, finding a place to live, mourning the loss of possessions and, in some cases, loved ones.

Trying to move ahead, this is Untitled Collage No. 188 (Santa Rosa). October 21, 2017. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. 20.1 x 20.8cm (7.9 x 8.1in). Matted to 16 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site