New Opportunities = New Blog Posts!




Hearts Afire (photographed in my bathroom!)

  I started Collagitation blog in 2010, to observe my 60th birthday year with a collage-a-day project. Although I only made it through about 8 months before exhaustion did me in, I produced what was, for me, an astounding number of artworks. All of which are here on the blog. My posting has fallen way off since then, as has my productivity, except for the book illustrations in 2012 (see post from October, 2012.)


Happily, honest effort is never wasted, and in 2011, my collages got me juried into the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. I posted some of them on my member page on the AAP website, where they were seen by the co-manager of the Backstage Bar at Theater Square. In April she emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in exhibiting my work there in October 2013. YES!!

Backstage Bar is petite establishment at the back of the Cabaret Theater in Pittsburgh’s “cultural district.” It also opens onto Katz Plaza, the heart of the district (and which, by the way, has granite eyeball seats designed by the late Louise Bourgois, visible in the link.) Backstage Bar caters especially to before- and/or after-performance patrons, not only from the Cabaret Theater itself, but also the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in season, the Civic Light Opera during the summer, as well as a variety of musical and dramatic performances taking place in the many venues within walking distance. (You can check all these out using the sidebar links from either of the sites above.) In other words, it is a fun venue with a cultural twist, situated in a fun part of town, a wonderful spot to enjoy a drink or meal with friends, as I did recently, at the al fresco tables on the plaza. And perfect for getting the work of local artists, which they consistently display, before the eyes of people who appreciate art in many forms. What an opportunity!

The catch is that my detailed collages, designed on a small scale so I could work them up as quickly as possible, and framed behind glass, are not the ideal works to display on a 30-foot long wall above a row of bistro tables. Thus, I was asked to exhibit larger work, which I assured them would be no problem! I estimate I will need a minimum of 12-15 pieces, ranging in size from 12 x 16 to 24 x 36 inches, to do justice to the space. I have all the way to October, so NO WORRIES, right??? I plan on doing mostly paintings, some of them based on my collage designs, although I may do a few large collages as well. Time to dust off those tubes of acrylics...

I started in April, 6 months out, on a schedule of at least 2 paintings a month, to reach 12 pieces by the end of September. Presently, I am (sort of) one painting behind. However, the more I paint, the faster and (I hope) better I am getting, and I have some tricks up my sleeve for when I get really desperate. It took me a few weeks to get over that feeling of panic every time I started to work, not having painted on any large scale in decades. Now, I am enjoying the heck out of it and can’t wait to get to work each evening when I get home from my day job! Hearts Afire, above, is the first acrylic painting to be completed (12 x 16"). It is based on an ATC I made years ago.

So, Dear Reader, you are welcome to follow along on my latest adventure, Will She Finish Enough Paintings for the Show or Will She Have to Leave Town in Disgrace Come October?!?