Whimsy: Progress on the Feline/Canine Commission

 Here are snapshots of four of the six pet collage portraits (12 x 12 x 1") that I've been working on for a recent commission. "They" have been fun to work on. It's really different to start out to make a specific creature (3 feline, 3 canine) versus the images that tend to evolve in my Foundling series. Still, they develop distinct and whimsical personalities as I work! I'll post photos of the other two soon.Meanwhile, I'm moving into the work on figures for the wall installation this week... big black gessoed boards are everywhere, waiting to come to life!

New website design! http://www.janicemcdonald.com

Hooray! My long-awaited website re-do is launched. So much more of my work is now viewable online at janicemcdonald.com. Surf on over and let me know what you think. I'll be adding more work and additional detail to the descriptions over time.

Thanks to Garth Gibson at code G for your website design/development help.

Experimental figurative collage

Here are the quick experimental cut-out collages that I did for part of the commission proposal -- really needed to see if this was something I could pull off! The test, not to scale, helped me figure out how to approach the entire scene of multiple people, pets, and the tennis ball. The collages were just leaned up in the window seat at home so that I could get the ball up in the air for my photos. It's hard to see the black outline around each one. When installed, the collages will be mounted on a neutral gray wall and will stand out from the wall so that shadows will help to animate the scene, with some imagery falling behind others and appearing to be more distant. I'm just getting going on the final pieces... can't wait to start on the leaping dog I envision going after that ball! Fun to be working on something so whimsical. (Also challenging not to get too cute.)

Pets, posed and frolicking

I'm very excited about a new commission for the lobby of a veterinary hospital. I'll be creating six large, whimsical cat/dog portrait collages, similar to the figurative images in my Foundling series (Foundling 38, cat, shown above, is 7 x 5"). 

For another wall, I'll be producing a series of ten collage-created images of people and pets at play. This part of the project is quite different from anything I've done in the past -- should be challenging and a lot of fun to work on. I've done some experiments that were successful and helped me to secure the commission and feel confident that I can produce the inter-related, shaped, freeform collages that will float off the surface of the wall. Now, it's time to dive in and get to work on the final pieces! I'll post images of work in progress.