Why Not Madame, 5

The glory of creating this collage on canvas is the texture! This 9x12x1" collage was created by using acrylic paint as the base coat on a gessoed canvas. From there, I developed the composition using fine art clippings I had from a calendar published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It features two pieces: one by Vincent Van Gogh entitled "Portrait of Madame Ginoux", (Arles, France, 1888-89) and the other "I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold" by Charles Demuth (Lancaster, PA, 1928).

These two pieces are wildly different in their approach, material and style. However, I quite like the way they reside together in this piece. That, for me, is part of the excitement of creating mixed media art. The rules of composition, color scheme and theme are blended with the intention of keeping some of them, and breaking some of them. Juxtaposition is a glorious tool.

I added some wonderful textured art paper with a beautiful scroll work pattern to give it sculptural depth, but also to balance the composition and tie the color scheme together.

I hope you let this piece spark your imagination and allow yourself to wonder 'why not, Madame, 5.'

Close up of the texture: