Winners for Collage Challenge #2

I know it is not quite the end of the month, but I am posting this to coordinate with my every-other-Friday newsletter schedule. Don't forget to check in on Monday for April's Collage Challenge #3.

Here are two monochrome collages going to two "winners" from Collage Challenge #2. It was hard to choose winners because there were so many great collections of collage papers all in one color.

This one goes to Rosemary in Devon, UK. She sent me these gorgeous papers in RED.

This goes to Linda in Kansas. Her color was orange, though here on the screen it looks so similar to the red. I did not actually give preference to this color range.

Check out the Flickr Group, where people have posted collages made with Collage Challenge #2 papers, and Collage Challenge #1 papers.

More Hearts

I started experimenting with hearts in late January, in search of a studio activity that I could do "just for fun". You can see previous posts here, here, and a video here. You can view the whole collection on Fine Art America.

My current collage hearts come from an exercise I did with my Collage-a-thon class in Portland the other week. We explored how the shape can be defined by positive and negative space.

Heart #39

Heart #40

Heart #41

Heart #42

Heart #43

Heart #44

Heart #45

#46

#47

Heart #48

All of these are approximately 5.5#x7.5"

Radical Collage

I have been working on these "extreme layering" pieces, of which you can see a few examples on a previous post. Besides being just plain FUN to do, this process offers a lot of lessons in art practice. The main one is that it forces you to let go of any attachment you might have to the "pretty bits". They will inevitably be covered over or radically altered. To get the kind of depth and sense of history that characterizes the pieces, you have to layer and layer and layer.

Here is one piece at various stages of the process. It is on 11x14" cradled wood panel.

First layer of collage after a coat of gesso

Second layer of collage

Third layer of collage

Fourth layer of collage

After sanding with an orbital sander, a coat of gesso mixed with paint (the yellow-green), and then more sanding

More collage and painting and sanding

At this point you can see that the steps forward get much much less dramatic. At this point I have found the image and it's a matter of tweaking.

I quieted down the upper left quadrant.

I toned down a small section in the center. This might be done.

I am curious to know if any of you have tried a process like this. I will be teaching a workshop on this process in 2020, after I get a better handle on the variables and possibilities. For instance, I'm wondering if a dremel tool has the capacity for this kind of sanding. Anyone know?

Works from Collage Challenge #2

Here are a few of the pieces posted on our flickr group, Jane Davies Collage Challenge, for Collage Challenge #2:

This one has friends! An installation.

"After Matisse"

Check out our Collage Challenge #2 post, and then go over and visit the flickr group.

Layering and Sanding

If you have been over to my Facebook page, you'll see that I'm working on pieces that make use of what I'm calling "extreme layering". I build up layers of collage (using Utrecht Matte Medium), and also layers of Sandable Hard Gesso, sometimes mixed with paint, and then sand down the layers with an orbital sander. I use a lot of other techniques as well, but this sanding offers such great surprises!

The above are all 14"x11" on Blick's Bristol. I think wood panel would be a good substrate too, but if you begin with a layer of gesso and then about four layers of collage, this bristsol is sturdy enough. I am using a lot of magazine papers as well as painted and printed papers. I have the benefit - thanks to those of you participating in my collage challenge! - of SO many different collage papers.

When I have explored this process sufficiently, I'll do a workshop on it.

Monochrome Collage

Here are some beautiful green papers I got in the mail yesterday, my FIRST envelope of collage papers from this Collage Challenge #2. 

I did a scan of some of my pink papers from the last challenge. I have organized the papers into color groups, including single color groups, neutrals, black and white, and multi-color.

And below are examples of monochrome collages.

These are pieces of student work from an online class.

This is one of mine; it does have a little purple and red in it, but to me it still reads as monochrome.

Head over to our flickr group where people are posting collages using the collage papers from Collage Challenge #2. There is some pretty exciting work there.

Keep sending me self-addressed envelopes (stamped if you are in the USA) so I can send you little packets of collage papers.

Collage Challenge #2

Part 1: For this month, I have made you a group of papers to download on Flickr. Cut it up and make a collage (or try several!) Same rules apply: you may add one paint color and one other mark, such as a line or a pattern. Post your work on our Flickr group. It was so much fun to see how diverse the collages were even when they all used the same papers. For links to Flickr instructions, see Collage Challenge #1.

Here is the collage I made with the papers:

I added the orange paint at the top, and the black scribble at right.

For part 2 of the challenge, send me groups of collage papers (6 - 10) that are all in one main color. They can be patterned or textured, but they must read as one basic color. Send your collage papers to:

Jane Davies Studios

Collage Challenge #2

PO Box 45

Rupert, Vermont 05768

Again, I will choose a few winners and make a mostly-monochrome collage for each of them. See yesterday's post to see winning collages from the first challenge. Here are a few examples of groups of papers all in one main color:

GREEN

ORANGE

BLUE

RED

BLACK, WHITE, and GRAY

NEUTRALS: beige, brown, off-white, etc.

My color categories are:  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Turquoise, Pink, Neutrals (see above), and Black-and-White and Gray (see above).

I will gladly send YOU some of this bounty of collage papers: just send a self-addressed envelope with adequate postage (if in the US), or no postage (if outside the US) to Jane Davies Studios, Collage Paper Request, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT  05768.

Deadline for all of the above is the end of the month.