Projects > EARLY WORK

mixed media collage by Julie McNiel
Track
xerox, ink, acrylic, gold leaf on paper.
4 x 5"
1991

After receiving my BFA in illustration in 1988, I continued to live in a tiny apartment, and worked full-time in factories, offices, and restaurants, with hours spent each day commuting on the subway. In the evenings, I would spend what little time I had for myself, making small artworks like this one, at a hand-me-down drafting table with a few tubes of paint and a pen. Like many pieces in this portfolio, backgrounds or other landscape elements were xeroxes of photos I'd taken at the railroad yards, collaged together with bits of drawings. A common source of paper for these projects were the pages of abandoned books, sometimes found in dumpsters or just left lying on the city sidewalks. When I had a couple of extra dollars, I'd splurge and buy an old book from a second-hand bookstore, and use the pages for drawing, collage and painting substrates - cheaper than buying a sketch pad.