Recent Landscapes
As I continue
“painting in papers”
LITTER-ally KENTUCKY
Also available as
giclée prints
A Change of Seen
When I took paper and
paste outside
Les Cheneaux Series
Inspired by the
northern waters
Posts Tagged ‘collage’
View my collage landscape galleries —
Monday, May 4th, 2026At Pleasant Hill
Tuesday, March 31st, 2026“The holistic quality of craft lies not only in engaging the whole person but also in harmonizing his understanding of himself in the world.”
— Peter Korn“Well I guess my advice would be: be patient. If you follow your gut and not the advertisements on the side of the bus, everything will turn out as nature intended.”
— Nick Offerman
Plenty of time on the east end of Shaker Village (during past outings) paid off in the studio recently. I decided to complete this one during the final week of my March Exertion. I intend to leave the rough, unfinished edges on this piece. When I was “painting in papers” on location, I could hear the sheep, but they never showed up in my view of their enclosure. Actually, I can still hear them (haha).
As the whole world is forced to swallow “large language models” that have run amok (which nobody really asked for), it is satisfying and gratitude inducing to make something authentic with my own hands at the historic setting of a culture revered for its artisanship.
At Pleasant Hill
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found paper, gel transfers, tissue, tea bags
on vintage notebook cover, 12.5 x 6 inches
finished during my March Exertion, day 28
Hatched at a workshop: “The Joining”
Friday, March 27th, 2026 
The Joining
imaginary collage by J A Dixon
found papers, gel transfers, tissue, tea bags
on canvas, 8 x 10 inches
finished for my March Exertion / day 24
Asemicana
Friday, February 20th, 2026 
Asemicana
collage experiment by J A Dixon
7.5 x 10.875 inches
2025 yields to a fresh face
Thursday, January 1st, 2026
Two Janus Cards for 2026
collage miniatures by J A Dixon
from my Haus of Cards, Series Pi
Last one for the 2025 collage archive
Wednesday, December 31st, 2025“If you’re doing a good job you should feel that it gets harder. If you think it’s getting easier, you ought to look out. I think it means you’re getting lazy.”
— Matthew Carter
My final collage of the calendar year might be a favorite for the whole cycle, even though the finish felt like a struggle. Although I spent a lot of time at this natural place before confronting my impression on the drawing board, bringing it around to a “finished look” transcended a plein air description. I don’t know why it’s hard for me to cross that line, but a fulfillment process often needs to maintain the upper hand. I can never easily bend paper to my will, but, if I ask nicely, it will cooperate to help me become an “agent” of the Creative Source.
Haven on the Knob
Marion County, Kentucky
collage landscape by J A Dixon
7.75 x 10.75 inches
private collection
The Les Cheneaux Series
Saturday, October 11th, 2025
Thanks for your interest in my “waterscapes.” Click on each thumbnail to view a larger image. Hover over thumbnails to view the availability of originals. Many of my previously sold artworks can be ordered as fine prints. Click here to scroll the original blog posts.
View the LITTER-ally KENTUCKY collection, too!
Fat Tuesday Catharsis
Tuesday, March 4th, 2025
Fat Tuesday seems as good a day as any to finish a pair of collage miniatures that clearly fall into the category of “catharsis.” Not all artwork in the Merz tradition is specifically purgative, but the synchronicity inherent in this dynamic approach lends itself to the impulse.
The genre is ever with us to explore
Wednesday, February 26th, 2025“I called it Merz. This new process whose principle was the use of any material. It was the second syllable of Kommerz. It first appeared in Merzbild, a painting in which, apart from its abstract forms, one could read Merz, cut and pasted from an advertisement for Kommerz und Privatbank. I was looking for a term to designate this new genre, for I could not classify my paintings under old labels such as expressionism, cubism, futurism, and so on.”
— Kurt Schwitters
Mere Scrupulosity
collage miniature on canvas panel
8 x 10 inches, in the Merz tradition
our living landscape . . .
Friday, January 31st, 2025“The landscapes that I choose to paint are tied by a common thread, a sense of nostalgia, a setting that at once is current, but also captures a sense of the (Sacramento) valley that hasn’t changed for many years. I believe that landscapes live in us.”
— Phil Gross
While away from the studio, with limited collage ingredients, I made a miniature copy of a splendid oil painting by Phil Gross. I’ll probably add a few finishing touches and then decide if it’s appropriate to sign it. This turned out to be a very different kind of exercise than any other paper landscape that I’ve done. My thanks to Rowland William Breidenbach for the opportunity to spend time with this landscape.
California Theme (after Phil Gross)
unfinished collage landscape by J A Dixon
10 x 8 inches
framed: 16.75 x 13.75 inches
• S O L D
2024 CCMag Awards!
Friday, November 8th, 2024“This year has been the biggest one yet for the Contemporary Collage Magazine Awards. We received almost two thousand entries across all six categories and the calibre of work has been outstanding.”
— Les Jones and Molly Campbell
Delighted to announce that my collage landscapes have earned international recognition from Contemporary Collage Magazine, with a Bronze Award in the Nature Series category. The jurors also placed my LITTER-ALLY KENTUCKY artworks in the overall “Series Shortlist.” The England-based publication has set an impressive standard for worldwide coverage of our artistic medium. My thanks to the panel of judges, with congratulations to fellow award winners, including friends Teri Dryden, Allan Bealy, and Robert Voigts.
It is gratifying not only to have my particular area of concentration gain recognition, but for it to be in the context of a wider acknowledgment of representational collage as a vital approach to the medium. I give great credit to CCMag for their ongoing salute to “collage as painting,” and to all the 2024 competition adjudicators.
Above Curtis Road
Boyle County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
11 x 8 inches
part of the LITTER-ALLY KENTUCKY collection
giclée print available