SUZANNE SIEGEL and THE ART OF COLLAGE
I am very pleased to introduce you to Suzanne Siegel.  I love Suzanne’s work, and when I saw her “Nest in Place IV”, I wanted to get to know her better.  So, I wrote to her, and she graciously agreed to both share her work with us and the art experience below.

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Meet Suzanne Siegel

Suzanne goes for walks on sandy beaches and in small coastal New England towns, searching for visual elements that excite her eye and mind. Her keen interest in color, shape, and texture in her world inform her vision. She works in her studio nearly every day because “this is where I come alive” she states. Surrounded by  dozens of squeeze bottles of paints which she mixes for the exact hue and value that she wants, she often begins the day by painting papers with layers of texture or solid color, depending on what is needed. Suzanne always works in series, currently she is creating collages based on the surface of water, using ocean colors, textures, and shapes. With a color idea in mind, she chooses a few papers that excite her eye and harmonize well together, and the search for magic begins.

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“I started making nest images in art school in 1998 with transparent layers of watercolor.  I return to the nest image with every medium I experiment and work with – oil paint, pastels, oil and cold wax, drawing.  The nest is a strong metaphor for arranging, creating, nurturing, and being home; and seems so perfect for mixed media collage, as in nature, what is available is used to create…”

I love Suzanne’s quote above, “The nest is a strong metaphor for arranging, creating, nurturing, and being home…”

Suzanne Siegel’s Art Lesson

Don’t Worry, Make Art

Picasso said “All children are artists…” We were all children once, or still are, so somewhere inside each of us is an artist, whether we call ourself one or not. 

Collage is a fun and accessible medium for all ages and all abilities.  It is easy to do at the kitchen table or a family gathering table, and a perfect medium for these stay at home times.

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CREATING YOUR NEST COLLAGE 

Materials: a variety of papers (plain papers, magazines, newspaper and maybe even some old sheet music), paint,  crayons/colored pencils, glue

>Collect a variety of papers, paint or color your papers with crayons and colored pencils.

>Cut, tear and glue your paper shapes to a surface, one piece at time.

>You can think of collage as similar to building a nest, one piece at a time, for a few hours, days, or weeks! Birds and other nest builders use what is available to them to build their nests and we can do the same.

>Make your nest personal, it can be empty, waiting to be filled – or it can be filled with colors, shapes, ideas that are important to you. With a handle added, your nest can become a basket, filled with whatever your heart desires.

Have fun and let your imagination lead you!

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“Nest with Mother Crow and Her Baby”  by our preschool granddaughter

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I invite you to share your family’s nests.

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Thank you, Suzanne Siegel,  for providing families this very special lesson as we all nest in our homes with our families.

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And now for your 4th of JULY observance…..

In days gone by, we celebrated 4th of July with our hometown friends.  A dear friend wrote today to share this with me.

“Here’s a fun and easy recipe for making ice cream—so simple a child can do it!  My nursery school kids loved it—we are going to make it with grandson on the 4th—but maybe some of you and/or your friends with kids would get a kick out of it too for the warm holiday!”

1.  In a small ziplock baggie, place 1 cup half and half, 2 Tablespoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Zip the bag closed.

2.  Fill a 1 gallon ziplock baggie half full of ice and add about 6 Tablespoons of table salt. Place the small bag in the large bag and zip it closed.

3.  Shake it for about 4 minutes.  

PRESTO! It’s ice cream!!! The kids can eat it right out of the bag!
Enjoy—and Happy 4th of July to all!!!

Thank you, Judy Kelly