Hibiscus

'Hibiscus' collage by Paul Vallance

Aquarium

'Aquarium' collage by Paul vallance

The National Parks of Great Britain re-imagined

Northern lights

'Northern lights' collage by Paul Vallance

Fully fledged

'Fully fledged' collage by Paul Vallance

For this collage I've combined a photo of a bird of prey and a male nude by Peter Maria Schafer.  taken from his 1989 monograph 'blue up'.
I think the bird is a sparrow hawk but can't be certain.

Outback cat

'Outback cat' collage by Paul Vallance

Jean and Tommy

'Jean and Tommy' collage by Paul Vallance

This photograph of a girl and large cat comes from a book on the photography of Rose and Emma Windmill. It was taken in Geelong, Victoria, Australia in 1918 by Emma Windmill. The sitters must have both sat quite still as photographs then had quite long exposures. The parrots have flown in from another book on jungle flora and fauna.

Absence

'Absence' collage by Paul Vallance

White blood cell

'White blood cell' collage by Paul Vallance.

Photograph of woman at work by Lewis W. Hine circa 1225, with background scanning electron microscope image of white blood cell surrounded by bacteria from 'Inside the body: fantastic images from beneath the skin'.

Candy

'Candy' collage by Paul Vallance

For this collage I've used a photograph 'Candy worker' taken circa 1925 by the great American documentary photographer Lewis Hine. I love this image. I found it in a book 'Women at work' which features 153 of Hines photographs of women doing humdrum work-typists, telephonists, mill and garment workers and the like. In most of the photographs the faces of the women aren't visible, their heads are downcast watching over machinery. The 'candy worker' is different, she returns the cameras gaze. It's a haunting image. The expression on her face seems a bit forlorn, and what was she thinking? 'Why the heck does this guy want to take a photograph of me'?
I find old photographs strangely melancholic.  We'll never know what her name was or how many years she spent working in the candy factory, or what those chocolates tasted like. I hope she had a long happy life.

Eye of the beholder

'Eye of the beholder' collage by Paul Vallance.

I made this collage at the Jung Art Making Group. Usually when I make collages at home my cutting is quite precise, with this one I took less care. I'm never that keen on collages that feature cut out eyes and mouths, it seems such a cliche but with this one I found myself doing just that, and the whole thing then seemed to form around one eye and one mouth. I did the red, white and blue painted background as a separate full page painiting before making any of the collage. When it came to the end of the viewing someone in the group suggested the painting would frame the collage well-so I've stuck the two together. At the moment the collage is pinned to the boiler in my kitchen.

Descent

'Descent' collage by Paul Vallance

Ascent

'Ascentt' collage by Paul Vallance

Defying gravity

'Defying gravity' collage by Paul Vallance

This collage consists of three elements: 1. Sky from a contemporary book about the weather. 2. An old 60's photogravure image of the Portuguese coastline. 3. An image of a dancer by American photographer Doug Neal (in the original the dancer is pulling himself up a ladder).

Ship of fools

'Ship of fools' collage by Paul Vallance

Adam's apple

'Adam's apple (with Crocosmia)' collage by Paul Vallance

Frosted henge

Procession

'Procession' collage by Paul Vallance

The crack in everything

'The crack in everything' collage by Paul Vallance

'Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in'. 

Leonard Cohen.

Fallen angel

'Fallen angel' collage by Paul Vallance

Off-grid

'Off-grid' collage by Paul Vallance

Washed-up

'Washed-up' collage by Paul Vallance

This collage reminds me of one of my all time favourite short stories 'The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Collage lends itself quite well to magic realism...

Cherry

'Cherry' collage by Paul Vallance.

I made this collage some while ago and viewed it with some suspicion initially-worried that it might offend and be construed as objectifying. I like it more now and feel its closer to the true spirit of surrealism than many of my collages.  I find it mysterious and melancholic.
The buildings came from a fifties photography book of London scenes; the figures bottom right and left are market porters at the old Covent Garden market. The frosted tree in the background is from a winter sports photo.
The female model was taken from a contemporary lesbian and gay magazine; an article about lesbian erotica. I'm not sure if the woman is seated statue like on a plinth or emerging from a box. Although she is naked she has dignity.
 I included the arched structure as a nod to De Chirico who I'm a big fan of, adding the clock face, but removing the hands to give a suggestion of timelessness.

Angel

'Angel' paper-cut collage by Paul Vallance.

The pin-up is from a vintage issue of Gay Times magazine. The background a photograph of a cloud formation from a book about the weather. I got the idea of doing the paper-cut after finding a reproduction of a scrapbook made by Hans Christian Andersen who collected printed scraps and made paper-cuts for his children and friends. I've changed the colour balance of the collage to give it a bit of a sixties psychedelic feel.

Dance

'Dance' collage by Paul Vallance

I found this photograph of dancers in a 1963 edition of 'The Portugal I Love' one of a series of photography books on popular tourist destinations cities. I have 'The Paris I love' but cant bring myself to cut it up. The photogravure images are beautiful depicting an old fashioned romantic Paris that has now all but disappeared. In this collage I've added clouds and a cut out of the red planet -Mars. The dance of emptiness and form?

Lotus storm

'Lotus Storm' collage by Paul Vallance.

I've been getting some of my collages mounted at E17 Picture Framers. Looking at the mounted collages I'm aware that some seem less 'complete' than others. This was one of them. I liked the various elements-the lightning, the ballerina, the house, the billowing red clouds but something was missing. Then looking through some greetings cards I've received I found the image of the lotus. One of the things I like about collage as a medium is that you can always add, though you do have to be careful -too many ingredients can spoil the broth! I'm a lot happier with this collage now and like the dharmic associations of the lotus rising above the rooftops.

Twin planets

'Twin planets' collage by Paul Vallance

Menage a trois

'Menage a trois' collage by Paul Vallance

House on fire

'House on fire' collage by Paul Vallance

Press to call lift

'Press to call lift' photomontage by Paul Vallance

Henge

'Henge' collage by Paul Vallance

Standing stone

'Standing stone' collage by Paul Vallance

Snake and paints

My Windsor & Newton Acrylic Paints with found object.

At sea

'At sea' acrylic painting.

and here's a slightly different version where I've increased the colour saturation using i-Photos edit function. Its a pity the original doesn't look as good.

This was painted on an old scrap of rather absorbent grey cardboard. I seem to be attracted to blues and greens at the moment. I planned to paint a figure of Poseidon, or a buoy, or a message in a bottle somewhere in this picture, but wasn't sure I had the skill to do that, so just pretend they're all there, or take your pick!  Painting this made me realise how hard it is to paint wavy and wiggly lines when you're not completely relaxed, but it's still very enjoyable just making a line.

Tree -my first painting with acrylic paints.

My tree painting. Its a bit crude. I found an old frame for it and this seems to help it a bit.

A friend bought me a lovely set of Windsor & Newton acrylic paints and paint brushes for Christmas. The tubes of paint are lovely little objects in themselves and I love their poetic names-raw umber, titanium white, yellow ochre, mars black. I must admit I found them a little intimidating as I knew opening them and squeezing out the paint would bring me up against my perfectionist tendencies.
This morning I had a go at painting. I began with the background then thought I'd do a self-portait. Big mistake, I painted over that and then had the idea of painting a tree and here's the result. I enjoyed the process the faster I worked -mixing and applying the paint quickly without too much deliberation.

Night and Day

Boxed collage using illustrations from 'The Magic Tree' by Gerald McDermott (1941-2012). Fellow of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, filmmaker, illustrator and story teller, McDermott's work often features archetypal trickster figures.

Originally published in the seventies I found my copy in a charity shop.  A library book from Downham Market Norfolk, the date stamps reveal the book was borrowed 56 times between 1975 and 1986 when presumably it was retired or perhaps borrowed but never returned to avoid mounting fines. The 'printers tray' box frame is from one my favourite stores - the fabulously cheap 'n' cheerful Nordic 'Tiger'.

The Magic Tree is a traditional Congolese folk tale about twin boys. I find the moral of the story a bit confusing though there's a clear message/warning about forgetting who loves you. The illustrations are beautiful-like an Afro version of Matisses's paper cuts. No wonder this book has recently been reissued it's delightful. Themes include; night and day, leaving home, 'monsters' (a crocodile), a night voyage (in a canoe) and the masculine and feminine. Individuation?

Coming home from the mill (the global village).

'Coming home from the mill' For this collage I've added some figures from 'Nylon street View: the new Nylon book of global style'. The men were photographed in various world cities but look quite at ease in Lowry's Salford. The framed print was from Barnardo's shop in Wanstead and cost six quid.