Collages

Back in January I had taken part in an online collage workshop. The instructor was great, and I've tried to keep the supplies out and available so that I can continue collaging for a while. Cat demonstrated a variety of techniques to make and paint our collage papers. We used bubbles, stencils, marbles, cling wrap, and all kinds of items to make marks. These 3 x 3 collages were done with a limited palette of primary red, primary yellow, black, and white to keep them cohesive. I did 12 small collages and then two larger ones (5 x 5) with that same color scheme.

I think the smaller ones were easier to do than the larger ones.

Next I switched to a palette of primary blue, primary yellow, black, and white. So far I've only finished two 4 x 4 collages with those colors. I plan on doing more with this color palette and then maybe try a neutral palette and some black and whites. 

 

Collage Joy Taster

 I've been participating in a 10 day online collage class given by Catherine Rains (catherinerains.com). I took a shorter collage class with her before and really enjoyed it. She gives this class once a year and it includes recorded lessons as well as live Q&A sessions. She is very good.

We started off making an assortment of different kinds of collage papers made from different types of papers and different weights. I used copy paper, tissue paper, deli paper, watercolor paper, and rice paper. She taught us various methods to turn them into colored collage papers. We used crayon resists, bubbles, marbles, scraping, and water resists to design our papers. Some were more successful than others. Here are some of the papers I made.  We worked with 2 primary colored paints plus black and white paint. The last time I used blue and yellow, so this time I tried red and yellow. The colors are not ones I would normally pick, but I wanted to challenge myself.

These are mostly crayon resists.

Here are my water resist papers.

Our first collages were made with geometric pieces in assorted sizes and shapes.

The following day we did two collages. The assignment was to pick our favorite paper and use a piece of it in each collage. It needed to be a different size and orientation on each collage base. These are 3 x 3 inches. As you can see I used the same papers in both collages.

I was happy with both collages. I am planning to do a few more collages in this color scheme and will post them when they are done.

My thanks to Cat for a really good collage class!

                             

Collage

 Last Wednesday the South Bay Art Association had our monthly meeting and there was a collage workshop. I brought along some gelli printed paper and the instructor, Derek Owens had tons of collage fodder, especially fabric.

Southold Charm & Collage

 I headed out on the north fork this weekend and added some sketches to my concertina sketchbook. This sketch filled the last segment on the front. There are some really nice houses with beautiful colors like this one in Southold.

I decided I'd never get to all the projects in Sketchbook Revival. My plan is to watch the videos and pick the ones that interest me. This lesson was by Tiffany Sharpe called "Watercolor Collage Fodder." I used a bit of stamped paper, a gelli print, tissue paper and watercolors.

Stained Paper Collage - Day 1

I am taking a stained paper collage with Gerald Brommer down at Springmaid Watermedia at Myrtle Beach. I've taken several classes with Jerry him before, including this one. My sister and I each did a lot of paper staining before coming down here so we be prepared to start collaging.

The first things we did yesterday were 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 abstracts. One in a bridge shape, one in a T shape, and the other in a cruciform shape. Jerry had us work in two colors with the addition of black if we wanted. One important thing was to use a variety of widths. Also to make the center of interest more detailed than the rest of the collage. The COI should have smaller pieces and more detail and the detail should diminish the further you go from the COI. We added lines, paint, and gouache to make the parts of the collage connect to the outer areas.

Here is my bridge collage.

Here is my cruciform collage, which happens to be my favorite of this group.

And my T shape collage.

It has been a long day today. We were up at 6 am to take a walk on the beach. It was cold, and cloudy so we were bundled up with winter coats, hats, gloves, etc, but our faces were freezing.

Yesterday we had a gorgeous sunrise, but today it was gray and cloudy. 

We were in the studio from 9 - 4 with a break for lunch. Then we exercised in the indoor pool, came back and showered and then headed to cocktails and dinner. After dinner there was a presentation and then we went back to the studio to prepare more stained paper for tomorrow. We were back in our room around 10. I'm ready for bed and then we will start this all over tomorrow.