Hi Martin, new subscriber here, I enjoy hearing about your creative exploration process, I like the first 2 pieces of art here in particular, have not seen imagery executed quite this way before. Will be interested to see what else you make in the future.
Most kind, Juliet! And thank you for mentioning the Edinburgh exhibition. I’ve looked it up and found several detailed articles that I’ll thoroughly enjoy.
It was Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage. Time to go down more of a rabbit hole!
I am amazed! I especially like the ice bear it resonates with me, reminding me of the ice bear enclosure in the zoo Berlin. So much so that I wanted to ask you If you would traid it for tea ;) (annetheteahead)
Really that's an amazing creative ability, appreciations. உங்கள் கலைத்திறன் மிகவும் சிறப்பு. (Don't get confused with unknown linguistic morphemes this is the language known as Tamil, which is far older than sumer, I said in my mother tongue, it says "your artistic ability is great"
Collage art is a conversation between you and the materials, you and the community, you and history. We are all leaving a comment to the universe. Maybe it is only leaves blowing in the wind, but they are signs of proof of life. That is enough. Keep going.
You're among the artists and illustrators on Substack who have been most pivotal in inspiring my exploration. I feel your style as having a collage-esque element to it. I'm reminded of cutouts and collage and building blocks that come together and form beautiful, minimal bursts of colour, joy, and enthusiasm.
So maybe not so far away from collage after all, just forging your own path of wonder. I'm thankful for what you do.
My earlier digital work was very cutoutlike, actually, because it took me ages to be able to actually draw digitally and I would sort of paint with big brushes and then erase. And they very much looked like they’d been cut out with scissors. I guess some of that must have stayed with me, without me realising it.
That's a great little insight—how exploration takes us in directions we're not sure of, which then become a part of what we do moving forward. I love it!
Thank you so much, Priyan! I really appreciate your kind words.
I'm basically taking images and placing them together to create a brand new scene. Cutting images out, removing backgrounds, post-processing some of the images with different effects, blending things together to give a more layered feel.
Quite a lot of it can be done in Canva, which I already use. That's how I stumbled upon some of the techniques in the first place, when I was working on other stuff. It's been eye-opening, for sure.
Hi Martin, new subscriber here, I enjoy hearing about your creative exploration process, I like the first 2 pieces of art here in particular, have not seen imagery executed quite this way before. Will be interested to see what else you make in the future.
Many thanks, Dave. It's a new tentacle in my Octogai! :)
I really like these pictures, Escapes in particular.
I always enjoy looking at and making collages. There was an excellent exhibition on the history of collages in Edinburgh a few years ago.
Most kind, Juliet! And thank you for mentioning the Edinburgh exhibition. I’ve looked it up and found several detailed articles that I’ll thoroughly enjoy.
It was Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage. Time to go down more of a rabbit hole!
I'm glad you found all those articles, yes, Cut and Paste, I remember now. Excellent exhibition.
I am amazed! I especially like the ice bear it resonates with me, reminding me of the ice bear enclosure in the zoo Berlin. So much so that I wanted to ask you If you would traid it for tea ;) (annetheteahead)
Thank you, Anne. Yes, the bear is so evocative.
Tea is the correct answer. 😆 Check your email!
Really that's an amazing creative ability, appreciations. உங்கள் கலைத்திறன் மிகவும் சிறப்பு. (Don't get confused with unknown linguistic morphemes this is the language known as Tamil, which is far older than sumer, I said in my mother tongue, it says "your artistic ability is great"
That's a real honour, Priyan. For you to share this in your mother tongue is even more of a gift, thank you.
I really love these Martin! So glad you found collage and are contributing so many pieces to the world:)
Yayyyy, thanks Andrea! 🥳 Funny to think how much has happened since these early days, and I’m not even 18-months in on making collage. Kinda 🤯 to me!
Collage art is a conversation between you and the materials, you and the community, you and history. We are all leaving a comment to the universe. Maybe it is only leaves blowing in the wind, but they are signs of proof of life. That is enough. Keep going.
With leaves being one of my favourite things, especially through tea leaves, your example is close to me. Thank you.
That bear is top notch!
It certainly seems one of the more popular pieces—thank you. Agreed, the bear really makes it!
I am loving seeing this creative exploration. I have never been any good at collage art myself. Not sure why, but I love a lot of it.
You're among the artists and illustrators on Substack who have been most pivotal in inspiring my exploration. I feel your style as having a collage-esque element to it. I'm reminded of cutouts and collage and building blocks that come together and form beautiful, minimal bursts of colour, joy, and enthusiasm.
So maybe not so far away from collage after all, just forging your own path of wonder. I'm thankful for what you do.
Oh, thank you Martin. That’s so nice to hear.
My earlier digital work was very cutoutlike, actually, because it took me ages to be able to actually draw digitally and I would sort of paint with big brushes and then erase. And they very much looked like they’d been cut out with scissors. I guess some of that must have stayed with me, without me realising it.
That's a great little insight—how exploration takes us in directions we're not sure of, which then become a part of what we do moving forward. I love it!
How you doing such an amazing art work's,
Thank you so much, Priyan! I really appreciate your kind words.
I'm basically taking images and placing them together to create a brand new scene. Cutting images out, removing backgrounds, post-processing some of the images with different effects, blending things together to give a more layered feel.
Quite a lot of it can be done in Canva, which I already use. That's how I stumbled upon some of the techniques in the first place, when I was working on other stuff. It's been eye-opening, for sure.