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Mixed Media Collage
18x24 in
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You're purchasing a print reproduction
Gallery-quality stretched canvas of “Unexpected” by Margaret Edmondson
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This piece surprised me, hence the name “Unexpected”. Most of the time, I envision a piece, but not this one. Squirrels fascinate me because they seem so busy, playful, full of mischief, attitude and acrobatics. I took the reference photo of this squirrel at a local park. This squirrel froze at a tree and stared at me long enough that I stared right back and slowly got out my camera. I created the first squirrel with painted paper and chalk pastel and was originally only going to use one squirrel in a composition, but I just wasn’t happy with the look of the squirrel. I wanted him to be a little shorter and squattier and so I made another. Frustratingly, the second squirrel looked basically like the first squirrel, so I made another. Unfortunately, I wasn’t happy with the third squirrel either. All three looked basically like the same squirrel in the end and each squirrel took me several hours to make over 3 days. What in the world was I going to do with 3 of them? Even if I went back to using only one squirrel in my composition, I have basically two days of work just sitting around and the likelihood of me needing a squirrel in this position and size again was unlikely.
In frustration, I amused myself by laying all the squirrels together, kind of in a conga line, on a large watercolor paper and I actually liked it. So, then I had to think about what in the world were the squirrels going to do? I experimented with dripping and splattering paint in the background. Eventually, after trying several ideas, I gave them sticks, which eventually became paint brush handles made from coffee- stained paper. The brushes were made with the discarded leftovers of a sewn book page that I was originally trying to use when I was considering the single squirrel composition. This was the first time I had ever hand sewn into a book page. The first time I let the thread drip off so carelessly and uncontrolled in a piece, but it seemed fitting for the busy squirrels. The paint can was a piece of sheet music that I had coffee stained and then Gelli printed over it. Once I shaped it and drew on it, it became the perfect rusty old paint can. This piece took so many twists and turns and the only way I can describe it, is with a lot of ideas and none of them working, an impending deadline, divine intervention, a bit of play, a sense of humor and recklessness, “Unexpected” was born.
Large mixed media collage, Encouragement Series. Original on 18x24 inch paper, final matted and framed size, 24 x 30 inches. Original will be on display and for sale at the House of NeVille Gallery and Gatherings, Fort Worth, Texas from October 7th, 2026 - January 9, 2027, included in "The Perspective "An Artist's Point of View" exhibit.
