Winter white

The assignment for this week's collage class was white.

To challenge us to focus on composition, Catherine asked us to work within this single color family.

 

Here's my finished piece:

(11x14 canvas board)

Wallpaper sample, magazine pages, book images, tape transfer, handmade paper, mesh bag, cookie package, cheesecloth, fibers, bubble print on vellum, acrylic wash, matte medium, oil pastel, acrylic ink splashes.

The choice of color couldn't have been better, since 48 hours later we were struck with a blizzard that dumped more than two feet of snow on the region. Since I still had all my white materials in a bag, I spent some of last night's stormy hours being inspired by the whiteness.

There's been a lot of talk in the news comparing this storm to the locally infamous "blizzard of '78."  
When I stumbled upon an image of a late 70s Cadillac it seemed only appropriate to bury it in a snowbank.

I was 11 years old during that storm, and remember the joy of a whole week off from school, and towering snow drifts full of the tunnels we dug.  Somehow this storm wasn't as much fun for me.

Nonetheless, as the storm raged on I was still in the mood for white. I started tearing strips from the magazine pages I had collected for class.  Funny how I considered these pages to be whitish when I ripped them from Architectural Digest, and how totally UN-white they looked when I laid them down next to each other.  The sky was so gray I ended up washing over it with gesso, though that only served to emphasize the non-whiteness of the other papers. 

 I didn't set out to create something so beachy, but the green/blue horizon and the sand-colored foreground must be my subconscious' way of escaping the blizzard.

We are finally done digging out.
My toes have thawed, and I'm back in the studio, eager for color.  Any color.
I've had enough of this for a while.

I hope my fellow New Englanders are safe and sound!