Marking the day

by Jo Reimer

Two and Six
Collage on cradled canvas
5 x 5 x 1.25"

Today, September 26, is my birthday. These little collages seem to be a good way to mark a special day, don't you think?

Seven and Four
Collage on cradled canvas
5 x 5 x 1.25

Having several numbers as collages gives me lots of ideas of how they could be used, especially as sort of a calendar to mark the days.

Available Work, including the above pieces

 

Making New Friends

by Jo Reimer

back row: Randall, Celeste
front: Jo, Cathleen, Annie, Carol

Last week Randall Tipton and Carol Marine invited a few Oregon artists for brunch and to meet one another. Carol and her family recently moved to Eugene, OR after their Texas home was leveled by fire.

What a fun time we had getting acquainted.  By the time a couple of hours had passed you'd have thought we'd been friends for ages.

Celeste Bergin lives in Portland and loves to paint en plein aire.
Cathleen Rehfeld lives in Hood River and also paints plein aire and teaches at  the Columbia Center for the arts.
Annie Salness is a studio artist who lives just a few blocks from me but our paths hadn't crossed.

Click on each name above to access their blogs and treat yourself to seeing some mighty fine art.

What's Going On?

by Jo Reimer

What's Going On?

 This piece is 30" x 10", collage on canvas.

Strips of words, painted papers and a few appropriated images from current publications show the chaos of society... the layers of conversation, opinions, stress, and moments of calm which reflect today's life. 

I used acrylic medium to adhere the papers to canvas which had been coated with heavy gel medium. I went back in with a tacking iron to make sure all was firmly glued in place.

Available Work

Summer Day, a painting

by Jo Reimer

Summer Day
acrylic, ink, paper, 12 x 12 panel

I've been having a grand time taking half-done paintings and seeing how I can resurrect them. Like this one.  I loved the hot colors but simply couldn't seem to figure out how to make anything of it.  Finally I simply started playing, adding and subtracting elements. This is the result. It looks great in a simple black frame.

Available Paintings

Numbers and Strips, a collage series

by Jo Reimer

NUMBERS, a series
Collage
5" x 5" x 1.25"

As summer winds down I realize that it's time to return to blogging. Taking nearly three months off was good for me but since I enjoy writing and have actually made some art I figure it's time for some show and tell.

Working with the idea of strips, bands, stripes, slices led me to experimenting on a smaller scale, working on 5" x 5" cradled canvases. I discovered some things that might interest the collage artists among you.

Canvas isn't the best surface for collage. Save canvas for paint. Because it's a rough surface, even gessoed, the papers don't adhere well unless I really slather on the gel medium. Thin acrylic medium doesn't work at all. The solution was to glue thin paper, sort of an underpainting, to the canvas, working it into the fibers of the canvas. Then I could glue my strips of paper to the new surface using just about any permanent glue. It would be better to use a wood panel or gessobord, stiff paper, or simply a block of birch as a substrate.

As I worked with small strips of paper, applying glue to each little strip, and then carefully placing it, messing up my manicure and frustrating me with the time it took, I thought of a better way. 

• Using my old Xyron 850 adhesive laminating machine with it's 8" wide double sided adhesive I fed sheets of my collage papers through the machine. The results gave me paper with a peel-and-stick backing. Now I can cut the strips however wide I need them to be, peel off the protective backing and stick them in place. Easy-peasy.
• Another kind of adhesive backing is a product called Gudy-O, available through Talas, but the Gudy-O isn't as easy to manage as the Xyron, though it's still available. This particular Xyron machine is no longer made but a similar product is the Xyron 900.
• Perhpas some of the iron-on interfacings intended for fabric could be used for collage.  If you try the fusible interfacing let me know how it works with paper. If I try it I'll report my findings.

Ever A Good Thing
Collage
5" x 5" x 1.25"

 

Available Work