Heart Collage Zoom Workshop Aftermath

 We had a great group last Friday for the Valentine Card Workshop. I'll do it again next February. Here are just a few of the pieces made by participants.

All of these are small, greeting card size. It's a great format for exploring contrasts in color, value, and pattern. How do you make an image lively without making it 'too busy'? Where is the line between visual excitement and visual confusion? How simple can you make an image and still maintain a sense of excitement or mystery? 

Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day!

Re-Imagining: Using Your Own Artwork for Collage

 I recently had a bunch of my paintings, drawings, and sketchbook studies printed by a local printer, to generate new collage material. I always scan my smaller work at high resolution, and my larger works I have professionally photographed, so I have high quality digital images of everything. In Adobe PhotoShop I re-sized some of the images, and then ganged them up on 11"x17" files, ready for the printer. You could do this on your own printer if you have plenty of ink.

Here are a few of the files I sent to the printer:

A few images from my sketchbook

More from the sketchbook, original and re-sized

More from sketchbook with the red pear in several sizes

Here are some paintings and studies ganged up on 11"x17" sheets:

In addition to all this new collage material, I used some found material and began playing. Take a look at this video.

 

 

I found this to be a very freeing way to play with imagery and generate fresh visual ideas.

Scraps

 I seem to be obsessed with scraps these days. They call to mind the debris from explosions (think Ukraine), fragments of lives washed up on a beach from a plane crash or shipwreck. But also the piecing together of worn out scraps to make something useful or beautiful (think quilts in the traditional sense).

This and the next two images are the 'parts' that I'm making, which are then cut up and reassembled.

These consist of painted papers, gel prints, found papers, and repurposed 'pieces'.

Though these have a random look, I do pay attention to varying the scale of the pieces, and the scale of the patterns, textures, and marks on the little bits.

This work in process combines one of the 'collage quilts' (cut edited) with another work in process. 20"x20" on wood panel.

Similar in process to the above piece. Both are works in process.

Collage quilts combined and edited over a painting, 20"x20"

This one is finished. Ta DA!! 24"x24" on wood panel.

4"x6" window mat. Trying to see some possibilities of up-close tiny collages in this and the next two images.

4"x4"

4"x4"

Another option I'm considering is 'floating' these reassembled scraps as 'maps' or continents, with lots of space around them.

Same as above.

This process was inspired by my workshop, The Visual Sentence, which I taught in January in Tucson (hosted by MISA) and also at Hudson River Valley Art Workshops last June. The student work was amazing. 

Here is some student work from January (click the Facebook icon to see the post):

 

And this is from Last June:

 

A Deeper Dive: Is Cohesiveness Overrated?

 Ever feel scattered? Or as if your work is all over the map or lacks a clear style or focus? Again and again I come back to this feeling that my work should be more 'consistent'. It should be recognizable as mine. And yet I would never tell someone else that their work should be consistent. I really believe (as you'll know if you've taken any in-person workshops with me) that you should explore what interests you. WE should explore deeply and honestly, and follow our passions and interests. Otherwise we're just banging out 'production art'. 

The other end of that spectrum is skimming the surface of an idea. Try one piece, then move on. And that is not real exploration. I'm always telling people in my workshops to "do ten more" in answer to almost any question. But not "stick with that image/style/whatever for the rest of your career".

That said, some artists explore honestly and passionately in what looks to us viewers like a narrow, but deep, range of imagery. We read this as 'consistency' or 'cohesiveness' and seem to feel that this is the correct way to make art. Why the high value on recognizability and consistency? Does it make us as viewers feel good to recognize an artist's work? Or is it just more convenient for galleries and marketing?

Just like I have changed my profession several times over the span of my three decade career (potter, freelance art for manufacturers, painting and teaching), and my extracurricular interests are broad and cyclical (chicken husbandry, language learning, excel spreadsheets, graphic design, cheesemaking), my work changes in format and style pretty consistently. It is also cyclical. So I did stripes for over a year - that was the exception. But I've done stripes before, differently, with different perspectives. 

Right now I am doing what I call collage quilts or collage mosaics, and then working them into pieces. The friggin world has fallen apart, and this feels like making something meaningful or just pretty, out of the shards. Or maybe I am just trying to make up a story that connects my work to something real. Oh well, it's the work I'm doing because I'm following what interests me. I'd love to get your comments on this topic.

This is the mess, partially assembled.

This and the following three images are the 'quilts', collage on very light-weight paper.

Finished (I think) piece, as yet untitled, 24"x24", acrylic and collage on wood panel

24"x24" on wood panel

16"x20" on wood panel

Thanks for visiting.

Stained Tissue Paper

 This months raffle, see image in the right margin, features all you need to make stained tissue paper for collage: a set of ten Golden Fluid Acrylics (plus I will add a couple from my own stash), a pack of white tissue paper, a 12"x16" disposable palette, and a brush. You supply the water. 

Buy Raflle Tickets Here.

Here is a video I made a couple of years ago on staining tissue paper. 

 

Recently I have been using stained tissue paper along with other materials in collage. Here are a few examples:

On the Edge #1, 11"x14"

Edging Away #1, 11"x14"

Off the Edge #1, 11"x14"

On the Edge #2, 11"x14"

Off the Edge #2, 11"x14"

I would love to get your comments on staining tissue paper. Have you ever tried it? How do you use stained tissue paper in your work?  

 

Click here to buy raffle tickets for this tissue paper staining kit.

Mashing Up, or Carefully Juxtaposing

 As a counterpoint to my more-or-less orderly stripe paintings, I like to mash things together in my works on paper. These are 11"x14" on Bristol, and they include collage, drawing, and painting.

I also love to cut up gelli plate prints, made with Golden OPEN acrylics, and put those parts together in ways that surprise me:

You can win a set of Golden OPEN acrylics, an 8"x10" GelliArts Gel Plate, and a 6" Speedball soft rubber brayer in this month's raffle. CLICK HERE TO BUY RAFFLE TICKETS.