MOTHER NATURE (FAWN) original paper collage

The newest Mother Nature with Fawn is an evolution on the original story of this mythical figure. When I began the series, I wrote, “In the mid-summer heat, in a field of pigweed and poison oak, Mother Nature lifts the newborn fawn from the gnashing maw of the farmers combine and places her in a shady spot by the river, within sight of her birth mother...When the lightning strikes the mountain and lifts the spirits of three hundred stricken dragonflies from their mortal bodies, it is Mother Nature who takes them home and refills their bodies, and plants them in the clouds so that, with the next rainstorm, their souls can return to earth to dart above the racing river.”

In this newest version of Mother Nature with Fawn, I was able to incorporate much of the story’s imagery in the intricate paper collage. Look closely to see a map of the night sky in the dragonfly’s wings, its constellations repeated in Mother Nature's garb. Like all collages, this one began with an underlay of vintage papers affixed to a wood panel and whitewashed with acrylic paint. I crafted the cornucopia of nature surrounding this female icon by hand-cutting a vast array of vintage papers and finished the piece with a handmade frame assembled from salvaged tin.