Christmas Commissions 2016

I can now show you what I was up to in the run up to Christmas 2016.

All of these are A4 magazine collage commissions.

Hand Stand On The Shore

Girl & Her Dog

Brothers

Dovedale Dash

Holiday In Scotland 

Aspin Family Magazine Collage Commission

Aspin Family Collage

A2 magazine collage commission depicting the recipient with his three sons and the family dog. A favourite family walk along the Norfolk coast.

The light in this was really lovely and I wanted to make sure I captured it. 

original photograph

I loved the little dog and was really pleased with how he turned out, lots of tiny pieces but it was worth the effort.

Aspin Family Collage Close Up

The sun catches the hair beautifully, again lots of tiny pieces were needed to recreate it.

Aspin Family Collage Close Up

Happy Customers!

Lovely feedback on this -

Just unwrapped! My husband is totally blown away by the collage you did of him and our 3 boys on a walk in one of our favourite places on the north Norfolk coast. It's for a 'significant' birthday - we are both totally in awe of the exquisite detail and the way you've captured a moment so perfectly in a beautiful piece of art to enjoy forever. You are so clever!

Szabo Family Magazine Collage Commission

I love how sunny this magazine collage feels, mainly due to the light colours used and bright yellow of the field on the left.

A2 Magazine Collage Commission

It was based mainly on one photograph supplied by the client, with some additional requests to make more of the buggy visable, To remove the jumper tid aound the waist and to remove the oncoming cyclists.

Client Photograph

There was a lot of detail in this piece which was fun to highlight.

The client opted to organise framing this piece themselves.

Magazine Collage Commission - Audi R8

A slightly different one for me, taking me out of my comfort zone! I was requested to create an Audi R8 in Cadbury's purple for a 50th birthday gift. This was commissioned by the talented Bad Dog Designs who I met through a networking hour on Twitter. It was wonderful to meet them both when they came to collect.

Karen & I with the piece commissioned by Paul

Luckily the client was able to provide an image of her driving one albeit in a different colour.

Client Photograph

Completed magazine collage. As this was a full face shot and a depiction as appose to a portrait, we agreed to add sunglasses to Karen.

The lights and grill provide a great opportunity to add some detail to the piece.

Close up detail

 This was framed in one of Roaring Tree's gorgeous handmade, reclaimed wood frames.

Magazine Collage Commission Szabo Family

This is a recent A2 magazine collage commission for a 40th birthday gift.

Magazine Collage Commission Szabo Family

I was really pleased with how sunny this piece felt, thanks it part to the field which left my hands very sore from the scissors!

The client asked for some details to be altered from the original images but on the whole provided photographs very close to the final piece.

Client photograph

Client photograph

I particularly loved working on the verge in this piece, highlighting some of the plants found there gave extra intrest to the texture of the piece.

Close-up detail

The client chose to have unframed, I would love to see which frame they chose!

Bluebell upcycled magazine collage art commissions

I do love walking in the woods when the bluebells are out and walking with my family locally was the inspiration for 'Among the Bluebells' magazine collage.

Since completing this I have completed two further commissions and had further interest.

This collage depicts the same location as the first. A composition comprised of several photographs to included the family's dog that they had recently lost.

In this second collage the figures are much more prominent with the bluebells playing a subtler role in the composition. This was taken from a landscape photograph but put into a portrait composition at clients request. This piece was a 1st wedding anniversary gift, very fitting as one year is paper!

Would you like your family depicted among the bluebells? Find out more about my commissions Visit Website

'Napoleon's Surrender' Magazine Collage Commission

A2 Magazine collage commission based on Napoleon's Surrender. As with all my work it is created entirely from ripped and cut upcycled magazines. No paint was used.

'Napoleon's Surrender' Magazine Collage Commission

A very different piece for me but one I enjoyed working on. Having had a request for a collage of some three deck war ship’s I directed the client to the flickr gallery of the National library who had recently released many copyright free images of ships. A line drawing of Napoleon’s surrender was selected.

The colours used were inspired by the painting of Geoff Hunt who’s work has been used for the Patrick O’Brien Master & Commander series of novels.

I loved seeing this piece come to life, I was really pleased with the original rough sketch where we decided what to keep and focus on.

Rough Sketch For Napoleon's Surrender

The sea took on a life of it's own, loved capturing the movement and experimenting with technique.

Sea & Sky completed, spray was added at the end.

Loved the light and dark in this piece especially the shadows in the sails

Details from Napoleon's surrender

The piece was framed in a reclaimed wood frame by Alan at Roaring tree.

Napoleon's Surrender Framed

This piece is available as a card or print through my shop on EcoCreate

Magazine Collage Commission 'Reed Family'

This A2 magazine collage commission was intended to be a Christmas gift but unfortunately the photographs weren't given to me in time. The receiver was thrilled to receive a bonus Christmas gift in January instead!

Reed Family Magazine Collage Commission

Inspired by my 'For Kicks' collage, it was wonderful to work on another autumnal piece. The technique lends it'self beautifully when creating the effect of fallen leaves.

'For Kicks' Magazine collage

The composition was made up of several photographs, making the required changes to clothing and placement.  The coat was changed on the son and the figures arranged altogether. This was a favourite local walk so it was important the details in the surrounding were accurate.

Client image

Client image

Client image

Client image

'Rutland Wedding' Magazine Collage Commission

This A3 magazine collage is one of the most detailed to date! This was commissioned and gifted to the bride and groom for their first Christmas as husband & wife.

'Rutland Wedding' Magazine Collage Commission

With the clients permission I did use my artistic licence to alter the composition in order to make sure the piece worked on this smaller scale. The main focus was to be on the bride and groom with the guests being alluded to without prominence. I was particularly pleased with how I was able to catch the light from the window and decided to make a feature of this and the stunning chandeliers.

At this scale I think this maybe one of the most detailed pieces to date and one of the most challenging. 

Client Image

Client Review  

I've never commissioned a piece of art before, but had seen Kirstie's work and wanted to have a unique and creative piece to capture the mood of the wedding of our elder son and daughter in law. 

The collage is beyond our expectation - the colours are so bright and the movement in the Bride's hair can even be imagined. We are thrilled and the Bride and Groom are enraptured They had tears in their eyes when they first saw their surprise Christmas gift - they looked at each other and said "it's us". It has taken pride of place in their home as a reminder of that wonderful moment when they were pronounced husband and wife. Thank you Kirstie for creating such a superb piece as a permanent reminder of such a life changing moment. 

Alison Rutland

Magazine Collage Commission 'Horses'

Along side the figurative pieces I have begun to get requests for landscapes and animals. This magazine collage is made entirely of ripped and cut magazines on recycled board using non-toxix adhesives. This piece was completed last summer but not gifted until Christmas, I cn now finally share it with you!

Horses Magazine Collage 

I really loved the colours in the original and tried to capture the soft tones. I was able to find colours quite similar to the original and by tearing the paper for the majority of the piece I was able to retain the softness as well.

Client Image

The original image was quite small but I was provided with other images which helped me to get some of the small details correct.

The piece was frame in reclaimed wood by Alan at Roaring Tree

Magazine Collage Commission 'Reid Family'

This piece was relatively straight forward as it was taken from just the one photograph. Although I am happy to build compositions I do think the single image pieces are naturally the most accurate. The piece is made entirely from ripped and cut magazines, as always no paint was used.

This is an A2 piece depicting the father and his three children, commissioned and gifted by his wife as a 40th birthday present.

Alan created a wonderful handmade wooden frame from reclaimed fencing which I think compliments the piece beautifully.

I have quite a large waiting list now for the commissions so if you are considering having one for a specific date please do contact me as far in advance as possible to ensure I can make your deadline.

Magazine Collage Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

This magazine collage was a lovely piece to work on. It is an A2 piece made entirely of ripped and cut magazines, on recycled board using non-toxic adhesives.

Magazine Collage Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

The composition was made up of several photographs, making the required changes to clothing and placement. I also had the added request of a rainbow!

Original Photographs

I always roughly sketch out before beginning to collage

Rough Sketch

There is quite a lot of detail in this piece so I was able to play with technique, using cut and ripped magazines to emulate the landscape and subject features.

I spend quite a lot of time adjusting the height of the figures as some of the images were old and didn't reflect the correct scale.

Detail from Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

I absolutely love the little girls colourful unicorn dress and so spent time making sure this was as accurate as possible.

Detail from Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

The beautiful caravan made a wonderful feature,

Detail from Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

I was quite liberal with my artistic license when working on the shelter as the exact details were a little difficult to make out.

Detail from Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

I love this ladies hair! I had to cut lots of tiny pieces of magazine in varying shades to capture the lovely curls.

Detail from Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

Did you spot the duck?

Detail from Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'

I was asked to take lots of photographs during construction so that the family could see the way the piece was built up. I put them altogether in this video

The piece was framed by Alan at Roaring Tree using reclaimed weathered fencing to make this gorgeous frame.

Framed Commission 'Hogben-Smith Family'