Nancy Douglas
In 2021 my husband and I were picking up our crop share and worrying about the Pandemic. I waited in the car at the corner of Barrie and Clergy. I marvelled at the view- the maroon colour of the store, the telephone pole and the steeple of the church beyond. A mountain of structures, decades of history!
This cut and paste collage was created using swatches I made with Tri Art acrylic paint. Pure colours were mixed with white or black to make gradations of tints and shades. The focal point in the collage-the west side of Old Farm Fine Foods, is depicted with a vivid pure Cadmium Red; the shadow side of the building is a shade and a tint of Alizarin Crimson.
Using my photograph from 2021 for reference, I began the collage by grouping paint swatches to visualize the composition. Unlike my paintings and drawings, I don’t make rough sketches for collage. Shapes are cut and ripped to fit, as if in a jigsaw puzzle. I measure using folds and overlaps, and I draw by making impressions into the paper with my thumbnail. It feels both immediate and arduous to work in this way.
Picking up the Crop Share
Collage of acrylic paint swatches on board, 8” x 10” $395
Nancy Douglas is a collage illustrator living in Kingston, Ontario. Her commercial and fine art collage incorporates paint swatches, photographs, archival material and elements of drawing and painting. Since graduating from Sheridan in 1995, Nancy’s illustrations have been used in advertising and publishing in Canada and the US. She enjoys researching the time and place of a story, bringing to life a narrative that can be felt by the viewer if not immediately known.Nancy’s passion for research and collaboration has evolved into large art projects for organizations such as Providence Transitional Care and RMC. Her most recent work, The Four Pillars, is installed in Baronial Hall, Royal Military College. The seven by nine-foot collage chronicling the history of RMC, is the result of a five-year art project which included interviews, research and collaboration with the RMC community.
Nancy began teaching in 1999 and has continued to include art instruction as part of her practice. Her Kingston teaching began in 2007 with studio classes and grew to include all ages and mediums; ranging from private drawing classes to curriculum-connection art workshops for: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, The Kingston Prize, LDSB, Queen’s University and Royal Military College.