Rolling with a Theme

©Annette Bartlett-Golden, H.G. Wells & The Wheels of Chance.
​Mixed media, 18 x 24 inches. $500

Rolling with a Theme
By Annette Bartlett-Golden

Looking out of my studio window, I'm likely to see members from our local herd of deer or my neighbor zipping by on his bicycle.  So perhaps it was just a matter of time before bicycles made their way into my art. Hearing from a friend about a cycling themed exhibit motivated me to incorporate bicycle images in a couple collages this month and I rolled with it from there!  My latest collages, H. G. Wells & The Wheels of Chance and The Grand Tour of France, are infused with a bicyclingtheme. Wheels of various sizes and bicycles are uniting elements in both collages. I also used some of the same papers and vibrant color combinations in both. While these pieces have a different feeling from my past collages, I’m very pleased with how they turned out.

The first one called H. G. Wells & The Wheels of Chance was inspired by one of HG Wells early novels, a humorous story titled The Wheels of Chance, a Bicycling Idyll.  As I worked on this collage, I listened to the story, following one Mr. Hoopdriver on a cycling holiday through the English countryside where he meets and befriends a pretty girl in grey who is also on a cycling trip. The roads, open fields of the country, flowers and butterflies mentioned in the book have made their leisurely way into the collage along with bicycles and wheels.
 
For the second collage I took inspiration from July's biggest cycling event, the Tour de France, which along with Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, comprise the Grand Tours. Looking at a video clip of the route for the Tour de France I was struck by the zigzagging lines of the race and the prevalence of mountainous terrain. Those motifs, along with wheels and bicycles, are evident in this busy collage called The Grand Tour of France. Listening frequently to Kraftwerk's epic song Tour de France added to the bicycling race ambiance.

©Annette Bartlett-Golden, H.G. Wells & The Wheels of Chance. 
​Mixed media, 18 x 24 inches. $500

I had a great time making these collages which stretched my artistic process.  Unlike previous pieces where I used mat board for the support, I worked directly on birch panels attached to a supporting frame (much like a stretched canvas) which are larger than most of my other collages. These collages are also much more intricate in composition and more detailed. Working with specific bicycle related themes added another layer of meaning to the artwork which was quite satisfying.  

When I make my collages, I use an intuitive process which means that at the beginning I have no idea what the finished work will look like. In this case I knew that there would likely be bicycles somewhere in the pieces but that was all. The rest evolved as I worked.  After I thought I had finished H. G. Wells & The Wheels of Chance I got the idea to use a large wheel shape. At that point I went back and transformed a big, plain yellow disk in the collage into a wheel design and then reworked the area around it. For The Grand Tour of France I began with the large orange wheel and the composition expanded from there. Because of my process, there is an element of surprise when I stand back and contemplate the finished results. For these two collages that was a particularly exciting moment!