Tearing paper -

"Brunhilde Jumps for Joy"
torn paper collage by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... nimble thought can jump both sea and land ..."
- William Shakespeare

Another short, virtual walk -

"Lost Walking Walk"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

"... I dream of hiking into my old age ..."
- Marlyn Doan

Down by the gorge -

"Searching in Vain for Doctor Carl"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

"... we are like butterflies who flutter
for a day and think it's forever ..."
- Carl Sagan

Collage redux -

"May Tenth"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

"... the world's favorite season is the spring;
all things seem possible in May ..."
- Edwin Way Teale

Conceptual art document -

"Miss Vaughn Bell"

digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... all of the significant art of today stems from
Conceptual art; this includes the art of installation,
political, feminist and socially directed art ..."

- Sol Lewitt

Illustration Friday: Beneath -

"Beneath"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... relying on the government to protect your privacy
is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds ..."
- John Perry Barlow

I feel like it might be time to ... reupholster -

"No Waitin' G, #2"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage

In a sense, I'm putting the cart before the horse with today's post. This image resulted from a digital manipulation of a stressed, torn paper collage I did in the early part of last week. I'll show that piece later this week, I think, along with another digital manipulation that will connect this trio of images while making a few of you scratch your head over the connection itself ... at least with this piece. Forgive me, I don't mean to be cryptic, it'll all come together in a few days. While this version is the farthest afield, it may be my favorite. At least, it's my favorite in light of some of the very graphic, pop imagery I've been studying on FFFFOUND over the past month or so. Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.

To what purpose?

"The Purpose Driven Life"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

One of my favorite collage artists is Tammy, aka blondstrawberry. I don't believe there's a single work at her web site that didn't speak to me. Not only is each piece a superbly done visual masterpiece, her titles add volumes more information to those of us willing to sit and ponder the marriage for any length of time. As I was wandering through her body of work for a second dozen times I finally realized that here's a woman who enjoys the old fashioned, hand-written letter - putting an old school spin on hand held, I should like to point out, as regards the way such treasure is read. So, I wrote Tammy a letter, tipping in a torn paper collage to the middle of it. What you see here is the digitally manipulated result of the original that I've posted here.

Illustration Friday: Tales and Legends -

"Tales and Legends"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

..."Far, far away, across the pampas and beyond the guardian forest where colors merge with fog and dusk and gray. There, in the land of milk and cheese, resides the magic box. A wizard holds the oft sought revealer of truth, plying and turning, switching the worn, grooved buttons this way and that. Always the iconic image of an ancient one who has lost the perfection of his smile appears. Offerings are made, advice is sought and given...then, visions of what may come to be arrive with a warning: ignore your teeth, they'll go away"...

:D

Can't stay more than a minute -

"Thinking of You"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

Sorry, again, to post and run but my normal down time at the office seems to have disappeared early this year and already I'm putting in more 10-12 hour days than I'd like to at this time of the year. Before I dash, this series of work - called COLLAGE-A-DAY - was accomplished simply and quickly. I describe the process in the comments section of this post at Julie Sadler's terrific blog, Collage Clearinghouse. Have a look over there will ya? I gotta fly!

In and out -

From the COLLAGE-A-DAY Series
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

I'm still not quite back to 100% after having those darned teeth removed. This is supposed to be my first day back at work (since December 21st) but I'm not going to the office. I do have an art exhibit to hang this afternoon and it's unlikely that I can dodge that. So, I think a little more rest before that happens is what I need. Here's another old collage piece that was scanned and sharpened a bit that will have to suffice for today ... and with that, back to bed I go.

Crazy Ivan -

"Two Women"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage

In Tom Clancy's novel, "The Hunt For Red October", there comes a point where Jack Ryan asks if the Russian Captain has pulled a Crazy Ivan yet. In military gamesmanship, this refers to a sudden 90-degree turn meant to discover and discourage another submarine from being a successful shadow. As it turns out, I did a Crazy Ivan of my own last night when I spotted some scraps of torn newspaper in the recycling bin - left over while clipping out a recent article in the local papers regarding the Totem Project in downtown Syracuse. Anyway, they were begging to be tossed onto the scanner bed and then run through the usual array here at the secret visual laboratory. It was fun, relaxing and it is what it is. It also happens to be exactly what I needed at that moment.