collage technique

The collages on display on this website are the end product of a series of experiments which began ten years ago when I moved permanently to the Atlin area in Northern British Columbia. The modified post-impressionist technique which I had employed for years in an attempt to try and capture the atmospheric light effects of the North no longer seemed adequate to paint areas like the northern Yukon. The landscape of the North, and in particular the landforms of the northern Yukon and parts of Alaska, are defined by broader, flatter, and more expansive landforms. The collage experiments have become an attempt to define and understand that difference. Collage allowed me to explore and develop a broader, more stylized painting technique which still captures the distinct light which defines the northern landscape. As is quite often the case in experimenting with visual art-forms, the collages themselves have evolved from being merely studies and are now works all unto themselves.

The collage paper is prepared with an acrylic primer and then set aside while the color for the actual painting is mixed and fine tuned over a two day process. The prepared paper is then painted and set aside for a week to dry. On the day when the collage is to be assembled the pieces of paper are spread out on the table and slowly cut and pulled together until I l feel the particular composition from nature, which I am trying to capture, is defined in the simplest possible manner. Particular attention is paid to accurately interpreting the natural forms and light which drew me to the ensemble in the first place. Each of the collages takes about four to five days to complete.

One of the byproducts of these explorations has been that the larger canvasses have begun to resemble tapestries as I have adopted a more decorative approach to interpreting nature. Early in my painting career, I went to Europe to see the great Museums and was most moved by an exhibition of medieval tapestries which I saw in Paris. I feel that perhaps I have now come full circle and that the collage experiments have enabled me to discover a technical approach to painting which will serve me well in my efforts to try and capture on canvass that haunting beauty which defines this part of the world.