CUSTOM WEDDING PORTRAIT original paper collage


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Size & Details

Size & Details

Original paper collage commission to celebrate a special life milestone. This one-of-a-kind, bespoke portrait collage features a beautiful bride on her wedding day, bedecked in a family heirloom dress and cradling a bursting bouquet of multicolored flowers.

  • Medium: vintage papers and acrylic on wood
  • Size: 46" H x 38" W (framed)
  • Frame: hand-built salvaged metal
  • Residential commission
Process

Process

Working from an original color photograph provided by her groom, Dolan sketched a rendering of this special lady on her special day, capturing each important detail (the lace on the dress, the specific tones in the flowers, her contented expression) precisely. He worked closely with the client (that wonderful groom!) to bring the piece to life, soliciting regular feedback to ensure the collage captured everything the client hoped. Also included in the piece are fragments of meaningful papers provided by the family: letters, cards and documents were hand-cut and placed lovingly in the topmost layers of the piece to preserve this milestone - and the family's love - as art, to be passed down to future loved ones.

process

Learn More

Dolan Geiman Paper Collages

Dolan's signature paper collage artwork celebrates America's West and Southwest. Color, composition, and detail come to life in hand-cut vintage materials, many salvaged in Dolan's cross-country travels.

Creating the original collage starts with a wood panel. Dolan pulls vintage sheet music from his vast collection and applies these to the wood, first with glue, then with a top layer of whitewash paint. In many prints, this background layer of sheet music peeks through.

Next, Dolan draws the outline for the original collage in graphite atop the sheet music.

Dolan returns to his extensive trove of collected papers – think magazines, antique textbooks, handwritten letters salvaged from abandoned farmsteads - and begins pulling the ideal colors for the piece. He cuts each piece of material by hand and carefully layers into the artwork. These collages are carefully crafted from thousands of small papers: no two are exactly alike.

Dolan's paper collages are finished in a handmade frame constructed from salvaged metal or a modern, minimal wood or metal frame.