These Crowded Streets

These Crowded Streets by collage artist Megan Coyle
“These Crowded Streets.”
Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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Another scene inspired by one of my trips to NYC. I’ve enjoyed working on different angles of figures – by doing so, you can come up with some interesting narrative images. This was a piece that I revisited to edit and add more detail to it. Sometimes, when working on a collage, I can have a tough time getting into the piece. Although by setting it aside for a little bit of time, I can return to it later on with renewed energy and fresh eyes.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I somehow managed to hurt my foot the other day so I’m doing my best to rest up so I can move around like normal soon.

Windy City Walks

Windy City Walks by collage artist Megan Coyle
Windy City Walks by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Windy City Walks.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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This piece is pretty thick in some areas from layering lots of magazine cut-outs in order to get the figure looking right. It’s funny how that happens with some of my collages – if I have to focus a lot of energy and time on one area, the collage will feel heavier in that area when I lift the piece up.

In other news, Carly from MommyGarten.com mentioned me on her site in an article, “Art & Work of Creative Parenting: Field Trip Friday.” She discusses using collage as an art project for your child.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I’m taking care of quite a few errands, working on a new collage for my show in July, and of course, having some fun.

Stroll in the Park

Stroll in the Park by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Stroll in the Park” Collage on paper. 24″x18″
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I’m excited to say that I’ve finished my series of collages for my show in May. I have yet to post all of them, thus I’ll go ahead and do that within the next couple of weeks. The past few days I’ve spent a lot of time editing this series as well as touching up frames. Now I just need to do a couple more figurative pieces for my show in July, and then I can take a breather on all these people collages. As much as I like collaging people, I’m getting a bit burnt out from the subject matter. Thus I’m moving on to animals next.

Anyway, I’m off to do some late night sketching. I had an interesting day – spent a good chunk of time trying to get my internet working again (it was down practically the entire day). I always forget how much I rely on the internet until it’s not working like it should. But isn’t that the truth with so many things?

Bar and Bakery

Bar and Bakery by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Bar and Bakery.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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I think I’ll revisit this collage in a few days to sharpen up a few details. For the most part it’s complete. I’m actually just about finished with this series for the show in May, and I’m beginning to go back through my work to clean things up.

Then it looks like I’ll just have to work on a couple more figurative pieces for my show in July, and then I can finally change gears by working on animal collages. I’d also like to get started on making a weekly mini collage to add to my Etsy shop again, and possibly introduce another art project to my blog.

Orange Stand

Orange Stand by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Orange Stand.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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I had a lot of fun working on the wall in the background – I got to get a little carried away with texture. Perhaps I should experiment more with a lot of texture for an entire collage as opposed to just a section of it.

In other news, an article I wrote about my collage work was recently published on Bourgeon Online, “Megan Coyle on her Collage Portraiture.” Bourgeon Online is an online publication that focuses on the arts in the Washington, D.C. area. Another local publication, Local Kicks, also published an article regarding my upcoming solo exhibition in May, “Going Green with Art: Meg Coyle Makes Art from Recycled Magazines.”

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend – I’m looking forward to enjoying the cool spring weather.

Hide and Seek on the Subway

Hide and Seek on the Subway by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Hide and Seek on the Subway.”
Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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Another piece inspired by one of my trips to NYC. Whenever I’m on the subway and there are several platforms, it seems like strangers are off playing hide and seek when you can only see part of them from behind those large beams.

Things have been pretty busy over here – I’m still working away on artwork for my show next month. Gallery meetings, press releases, etc. It’ll be nice when everything has been taken care of and I’ve met all my deadlines. Aside from my exhibition work, I’ve also gotten started with researching MFA programs and trying to figure out which schools to apply to.

This weekend we had gorgeous weather in the area. I had a chance to walk around D.C. and take pictures of the sights. I have a feeling Bosty will have some future pictures to star in. Anyway, I’m off to do a little more artwork for the day.

Couple by the Potomac

Couple by the Potomac by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Couple by the Potomac”
Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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I’m really getting into exploring different angles with my people collages – before I was pretty attached to the basic portrait composition where I focused in on the face of the sitter. Here the background has a pretty strong role and the figures are much smaller.

And now I’m off for a day filled with errands while escaping my warm apartment (they haven’t turned the air-conditioning on yet).

Penguin Feeding Time

Penguin Feeding Time by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Penguin Feeding Time.”
Collage on paper. 24″x18″
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And it’s finished (at the moment). Sometimes I like revisiting previous collages to do a little bit of editing/touching up here and there.

I’ve always liked penguins so naturally I wanted to squeeze one in to one of my people collages. I like how penguins look like miniature people in a way – and they always look so dressed up like they’re wearing suites.Although I like making portraits/people collages the best, I am looking forward to working on some animal collages for my show in August. It will be a nice way to change gears a bit. I’d also like to work more on still life and landscape work since I haven’t had much time these days to really delve into those areas.

It’s crazy how quickly this weekend is going by – and now I’m off to take care of a few errands before enjoying the nice weather.

Reading Room

Reading Room by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Reading Room.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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Another day, another collage.

With this particular collage, I was interested in making the piece look like the viewer’s walked into the same room where the sitter is. Perhaps they interrupted them while they were in the middle of a book? I like making narrative scenes, partially because they’re fun to make, mainly because different viewers can come up with so many different storylines or ideas of what’s going on in a scene.

Anyway, this week I’m going to try to finish another figurative piece and hopefully get started on a few more mini collages.

The Cafe

“The Cafe.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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And it’s finished – another cafe/restaurant portrait with a yellow background:

This afternoon I installed my show at Arlington Central Library’s East Gallery space. I’ll post a few pictures of the exhibit when I upload the pictures from my camera. Luckily I didn’t need to nail holes in the wall when installing this show – which is always a challenge for me. I typically find myself trying to cover up mistakes I’ve made from hammering by hiding holes in the wall with the frames of the hanging artwork. So it was nice that the library used metal rods for their artwork which made the installation fairly easy and straight forward to do.I also received a pleasant surprise today – a letter from the Washington Art Association regarding the portfolio I submitted to them for a work on paper show. They’re interested in the piece I did, “The Commuters,” and would like to see a series of work that looks like that particular collage. So it was nice not to receive a generic rejection letter – and instead receive a somewhat lengthy letter wanting me to resubmit more work.

Anyway, I’m off to do some late night studio work. I hope everyone had a happy first day of March! (and Monday too of course)