Cartina

The work you are looking at contains many layers of collaged paper glued to pieces of scrap lumber, and often painted over more than once.  Like the walls of an old house each layer represents a mood, feeling or era. But I am first and foremost a painter, I currently have a quote by the artist Kurt Schwitters on the wall of my studio that says “My name is Kurt Schwitters... I am an artist and I nail my pictures together.”  Although I admire the works of Kurt Schwitters (and the later Joseph Cornell) I am frequently dismayed by artists use of “old timey” ephemera when creating contemporary collage.  Both artists used contemporary items to create colleges.

"I could see no reason why used tram tickets, bits of driftwood, buttons and old junk from attics and rubbish heaps should not serve well as materials for paintings; they suited the purpose just as well as factory-made paints It is possible to cry out using bits of old rubbish, and that's what I did, gluing and nailing them together." ~ Kurt Schwitters

I collect and create the materials I use in my paintings.  I spray paint pages from old notebooks, tear up the painting and drawings I am no longer satisfied with.  I stuff my pockets with the ephemera of daily life, roadside and beach debris, receipts, bills, and junk mail.