"Love," Mixed media on board, 18"x24"
"Psychic Collage," Mixed Media on Board, 18"x24"
"Rainbow Collage," Mixed Media on Board, 18"x24"
"Angel Collage," Mixed Media on Board, 18"x24"
Untitled, Mixed Media on Board, 12"x12"
Untitled, Mixed Media on Board, 8"x12"
Untitled, Mixed Media on Board, 8"x8"
"Tiger Collage," Mixed Media on Wood, 12"x 5"
I started making collages because I like a lot of collage artists. I work around children, and they often give me gifts, like beads, erasers, and small toys. I started saving the things they gave me and putting them in a pile. I was working on a collage with magazines, and started trying to put some of these elements in the work. I liked the way they could create or add to areas of color and texture. I view the objects in the collages as trash and treasure. I also include a lot of these objects in my paintings, so the painting is a collage and a painting. The painting is made out of traditional art materials, and the found or collected objects are things that people usually throw away, (trash). I started using a lot of candy wrappers in my paintings because I liked the sparkly surface. I like using magazine pictures and other objects to tell a story, and see how they work together. I could make someone's hair out of ribbon, sequins, and bottle caps. I can make stars out of candy wrappers. I view the process as drawing with trash or discarded objects, that someone might not use in a traditional art process. I use anything from stickers, beads, barrettes, ribbon, foil, magazine pictures, and parts of cut up bracelets and toys in my work.