Birthing an Abstract Collage

I'm not quite ready to deliver yet but it won't be much longer. This is basically my process...try this one, try that one...no try another NO! NOT THAT! Ah, that works better. Yes, yes...okay.

There is method to my craziness. The rules of composition still apply and thankfully can guide me until I feel more confident to try something more daring. Know the rules before you break the rules. I love a good mix of texture, form and color and one of the things I'm enjoying most working on these collages is how easy it is to experiment with color, always something I can improve upon.

Distressed Leather Paper ~ demo

I've crumpled the wrapping paper and am preparing to apply two coats of walnut ink. I'm assuming any brown ink will work as well. Apply your ink to only one side. This is important.

Here the paper has dried after both coats of ink. IRL this side looks more flat brown than it appears in this image.

This is the flip side and the side you want to use. It looks a little batik-y.

This is the appearance after a coat of acrylic medium is applied. I've taken a crop off an earlier collage to show you the effect.

I was going to combine this demo with my last post but thought better of it. I dislike (usually) overly long blog posts and am guessing I may not be alone in this particular dislike.

Always on a quest for interesting and/or unique collage papers I'm finding brown wrapping paper excellent for various treatments. I've put together a short photo demo of my take on 'faux' distressed leather.

January ~ mixed media & collage

I've titled this one 'January' because it was inspired by the view outside my living room window this month. Icy, drippy, chilly and truly 50 shades of grey. It's a combo of homemade and purchased decorative papers, silver leaf and acrylic on HP watercolor paper. I used a mixture of tissue paper and gesso for texture. It didn't scan well but it's impossible to get a good photo because the days are so dark and silver leaf is tricky. I've already got a start on my next collage and this one will be 'warmer'.

Making Collage Material

This has been my ongoing project this past week. I've discovered a love for inexpensive brown kraft paper, the kind you usually find with the mailing supplies in dollar stores. It's the perfect weight and I like the texture it can give me. When I painted it with heavy body yellow oxide acrylic I got something akin to ultra suede. Nice! I've tea stained crumpled tracing paper and even used pickled beet juice here and there. I was surprised the beet juice didn't turn that funky brown shade when dry. Maybe the vinegar was the hero. Either way it stayed a lovely shade of pink.

I rummaged through a desk drawer and found an old box of white thumb tacks which gave me the idea to gild them. I wound up using both copper and silver composite leaf . I also embellished a few with alcohol ink.

I gathered a huge stack of old artist magazines and chose lots of yummy artwork to add to my collection. I also went through my purchased art papers and cut samples of each. I now have a palette  of papers to begin my collages and of course I can always add as I go along.

Whales, Snails and Puppy Dogs

When I titled this I thought I was channeling that old rhyme, "What are little boys made of ?".  "Whales, snails and puppy dog tails". Apparently it goes, "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails". I also discovered a snip is a type of eel. Who knew?! Anyway, when I chose the collage papers for the base of this piece I hadn't done my fact checking yet so it is what it is.

I also discovered what a mess I can make with gel medium and collage paper. I managed to ruin another fleece shirt too but I'm still happy with my results. This is not a great image but I did my best. The colors are a little off but close. I wound up using collage papers, matte and gloss gel medium, Sharpie pen and acrylic paint, all on 174# Yupo. It was fun, enough fun that I'm on to another.  

Yup, cats are next.

Silverbark at Sundown ~ complete (acrylic and collage on paper)

I'm going to call this done now. It doesn't look like I've done much since my last post but I spent a lot of time just looking at the painting and deciding how I wanted to create the leaves. I finally settled on a paste paper that I copper leafed on one side, painted on the other. I used tracing paper so the copper leaf would show through and tone the yellow. This produced a fairly accurate representation of birch leaves in Fall. Then the issue was where to place the leaves and how many wouldn't be too many. Did they distract or benefit the painting? Branches were never where I needed them and I knew I should've added the leaf placement to the original drawing. Dang! Ah well, a Chinese white pencil and a violet Prismacolor Verithin solved the problem. Cutting those teeny, tiny leaves was a chore, as was using tweezers to handle them. I think it was worth the effort and time, though. I'm pretty happy with it. :) The final size is approx. 6 1/2" x 29".

Work in progress

Rusty Gate Post ~ complete?

Hi! Remember me? Well, here's my rusty gate. I'm happy with the gate but got stuck on the background which threw me into a sort of paralysis. I hate when that happens. It's like I can't move on until I solve this problem or the world will end. Crazy, huh? I'm still not happy with the background but it's time to post this 'as is' so I can start something new. This piece will land on the 'complete?' pile along with a few others that never quite made the grade.

To be more specific, I was very happy that I was able to make the chipped paint on the fence posts, which I hand painted, mesh with the egg shell paint chips on the actual gate post. After attempting some sort of background there was a noticeable disconnect between the gate and BG additions. But what to do? The gate is so busy I felt the background needed to be understated so as not to compete so I didn't think I could add any collage material to the tree trunk. Did I even need a tree trunk? What else would I put there? I don't know! The solution is probably simple and right before my eyes but I've looked too long at this to see it objectively anymore. Time for a time out.

Reference photo courtesy of ESP on PMP  

Rusty Gate Post ~ WIP 3

More work done on this piece. So far it's been figuring out how to recreate the look of many layers of peeling paint and rust without spending a ridiculous amount of time on fiddly detail work. I've added more cracked egg shells but think I've reached the limit of that on the actual post. I will probably add egg shells to the fence posts, though. I've also got some ideas for a finer cracked paint texture for smaller areas. I toned down the blue cast in the background. It doesn't show up much in the image but I have been laying in some foliage growth behind the gate post. I'll be adding more after the post in complete.    

Rusty Gate Post ~ WIP (mixed media)

I developed a small case of artist's block and not even Crabby Cat could rescue me. He's still in the sketch stage where I left him in my last post. I detest that funky feeling when nothing seems to inspire me. In desperation I began going through my reference photos and kept coming back to an image I found on PMP. It was a rusty, ornate gate post and I loved all the wonderful colors and textures but had no idea how to go about painting it. Finally it was time to try. This is a mixture of acrylic paint, collage paper, egg shells and God knows what else before it's complete. It's a project that will keep me occupied for quite some time as I figure out how to recreate all that wonderful chipping paint and patina.

Alcohol Ink & Collage

I created a background with alcohol ink on Yupo, then added a small stacked paper collage of amate and Lokta paper with a photo image on top much like the cherry on top a parfait. I selected a photo I took of my Spring anemones, cropped a single blossom from the bunch, greyscaled it and printed it out on photo paper. Then I went over the image with more alcohol ink to tone it. I would've gotten more daring if my format wasn't so small (3 1/2" x 5 1/2") but I didn't want to cover the background completely. I wish the scanner would've captured the colors better but photos turned out much worse. This is really more of a color story than anything else.   

Second Collage ~ WIP 2

All the pieces are now completed and adhered in place. I had thought of adding a few other shapes (maybe flying birds?) but decided against it. I think there's enough going on as is. There was a little struggle at the bottom of the piece so I used a cut mat to create better perspective and wound up adding two more shapes. Now I'm going to call this one done. Pine tree shapes were my inspiration so I'm thinking of titling this collage 'Evergreen'.

Collage Paper/Prep

Has it been an entire week since I last posted an update? I guess so! I've been busy trolling the 'net looking at video demos, browsing paper sources, all while waiting for a couple orders of paper I knew I couldn't produce myself (like bark paper) to arrive. In the meantime, I sketched out a possible idea for another collage. Starting yesterday work began on producing the decorative papers needed to realize my vision. I used Liquitex acrylic paint and lumiere metallic light body acrylics on tracing paper, let dry and using a metal ruler, I tore them into the intended shapes. These same shapes were then mounted on a golden yellow handmade(not by me!) paper I've had for several years. Looking at my sketch I'll need about 24 of these triangles to complete the task. I may use some decorative papers I purchased online to help the process along. I stacked the chosen papers and scanned them so I could see how they look together on screen. Maybe I should glue what I've posted all together as is and call it good...huh?

Note: I kept my Quiller color wheel by my side as I selected my color palette. It makes decisions so much easier for me.