In 2018, I started taking my art a little more seriously and entered some art shows. While my collages from "The Wall Project" gained some attention, people seemed to be more drawn to my separate collages with words in the background. To be honest, they are more fun for me too.
My work (in the middle) at The Be Square Show in 2018.
"Decaying in an Alley" Can you find the title?
While I was working on the pieces for The Be Square Show, my cousin Lisa saw my posts on Instagram. She liked the art so much that I eventually sent her some of the original pieces. (By pieces, I mean actual pieces that were meant to be cut out.)
Lisa said that I should try to get my work to New York, which to me seemed pretty impossible as a virtually brand new artist from Canada with no connections and no way to actually get to New York.
Around Christmas time, I entered a contest on the CBC website. They wanted to know something good that happened in 2018. The winner would get a CBC prize pack that included David Suzuki socks, among other things. I had to enter. I submitted the video about how my blog turned two and all that it had accomplished. I looked at the other entries and there were so many heartfelt stories about overcoming sickness and loss that I knew I would not win. One entry stood out because it was art related. A woman had submitted a sketchbook to something called The Brooklyn Art Library. My first thought was "Brooklyn, New York? How did a Canadian get to do that?" So I looked it up at the above link and it turns out anybody can do it if they purchase a sketchbook-- so I did. Once I fill it in and send it back, it will be on display in a library of sketchbooks and people can sign it out! I also paid extra for the book to be digitized. So the people at the library will scan it and it will live on the internet forever! (Unless they decide not to continue The Sketchbook Project for some reason.)
My book arrived on Christmas Eve and I have until March 30 to get it back in the mail.
I was eager to start, but I wish I had taken my time to think about it a bit more. I wanted to do a combination of old and new collages but I didn't do it in chronological order, which kind of bothers me. Oh well. The book came with a list of themes to choose from and I picked "The Things I Have Left Behind" because I could use old items I didn't need anymore and this book is basically something I am leaving behind somewhere.
I have been struggling with it because it is so small (5x7) and hard to glue in. So I have resorted to printing my work on sticker paper and buying my artwork on stickers.
I want to write "I'm Real" on it but I don't want to wreck it.
Most of the people I have created for this book are composite images I created by stealing faces and other parts on the internet.
This one got banned on my Society6 account and I don't know why. Maybe someone recognized the man's face. Usually I am pretty good at changing things but this time, I liked it the way it was. So, hello to this guy if he sees his face some time in the future. (I put together the outfit,)
I like putting everything together and creating a digital image of a person, but making the background is my favourite because there's so much to read and it's usually random.
Right now this looks like garbage that a two year old pasted together, but when it's done, I'm hoping it will be something similar to this one below. (Shout out to my mom for scavenging for library cards!)
This one was mostly made out of the packaging for old buttons.
I have about 20 pages left to fill in and I'm hoping to do something with all of my old bus transfers haha. Knowing that one day a project like this would come up, I would take bus transfers even if I was going straight home or wouldn't be needing the bus for several hours. AKA I hoard bus transfers for crafts.
I have many. Here's what they looked like when I used the paper cutter to make them the same size. (Ooh!)
The colour is a bit off from the scanner, but you get the idea. Anyway, I think I will wrap up this blog post before you die of boredom.
I will post more when the book is closer to being done and when I mail it etc. Once they receive it, I will be notified with a link to the digital version! :)
