The style of my artwork is collage, the combining of a variety of materials, art-making media, and textures which are composed and blended into an image. I use photographs, paint, paper textures, ink, text work, and a variety of design elements, and vintage ephemera. I am mostly self-taught and collage provides great freedom to learn and explore new ideas and techniques. My favorite visual resources are flowers, seashells, papers, wax, glass, clouds, and water. My process consists of photography, traditional art-making, and graphic design.
In recent years some of the great art museums of the world have made available their enormous catalogues of artwork, in the form of high-resolution, free-for-use, Public Domain assets. I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to incorporate, and create with, such artwork; particularly the art of the early Church painters and Iconographers. I strive to honor their work in a way that is respectful to the tradition. I have used images from the Metropolitan Museum, the National Gallery, the Chicago Art Institute, and others. In addition to my own photography and materials, I use images from Unsplash, Rawpixels, and Wikimedia Commons; as well as design assets and vintage ephemera from Design Cuts and Tom Chalky Designs.
Two of my favorite teachers are Sebastian Michaels and the French artist Laly Mille. Sebastian teaches Photoshop, among many other things, for photo artists; he unlocks for his students the tremendous potential of this software. His teaching style is highly detailed and always inspiring and encouraging. Laly Mille is a wonderful collage artist, who teaches a variety of classes and techniques, including art journalling.
Laly Mille: https://www.lalymille.com/
Tom Chalky: https://tomchalky.com/
Signature Shell
I collect sea shells and sea glass. About two years ago, I decided to forego signing my work with my name and instead started using this shell as my signature. I usually put it in a bottom corner of an image, but sometimes it finds its way to other places within the frame. Some of my older work still has my original signature.