Octopus's Garden Collage

'Octopus' began as a purely abstract composition based on the curving lines and rounded forms I love so well. As it evolved, it took on the aspect of an underwater scene. The title (taken from a Beatles' song) leaped into my mind when a dinner guest remark about octopuses. I spent nearly three years refining and perfecting this collage, sometimes adding only one or two snips of paper in a week. Octopus' Garden was accepted into the Ellarslie Open juried exhibition at the Trenton City Museum in 2016, and received a top award at the Stover Mill Gallery annual juried exhibition in 2017. This piece is a perfect illustration of why I refer to my style as "painterly" collage. My brushstrokes are pieces of paper: deconstructed images of clothing and furniture from magazine photos which are de-acidified and buffered with magnesium bicarbonate. The pieces are adhered with clear acrylic medium to canvas board, essentially enveloping them in acrylic medium for protection from environmental degradation. The finished work is coated with a matte-finish UVLS polymer varnish to inhibit fading. Framing under UV-blocking glass is recommended.