collage dresses

The week before last in my Monday night collage class I had the students make a series of collages depicting one object. The students seemed absorbed in their work, and pretty self sufficient, so I started my own series. Since I've been working with figures lately, I thought I'd try some collage dresses. Just this afternoon I took them out and did a little machine stitching. Here they are!

Collage Dolls

Here are a few of the dolls I made last week. I had loads of fun playing with all kinds of materials, ones that I've been using in other projects for my book. Tyvek, Angelina, fabrics, papers, paper clay, and so forth. Thank you Pamela Hastings for your encouragement!

Collage Self-Portrait

I have done collage self-portraits, but not in a while, and I'd like to get back to them. I may do this as a project for my Monday night class, though I'll see if it appeals to the students. We're on a roll with foam core collage and painting next week. Self portraits can be intimidating, but they are really fun to do in a group. I would love to hear from readers who do self-portraits and hear your thoughts on the subject! The three self-portraits pictured here all come from one photograph. It could feel like cheating to start with a photograph, but I'm not going to go there. It seemed like a good place to start. The bottom image I simply printed out in black and white, and painted over it in bright oil pastels. Also a good way to start. We'll see where this goes!

Ink About It workshop

I had so much FUN last weekend teaching a collage workshop at Ink About It in Westford, MA. It was a great group of people, several of whom had taken my workshop there last summer, all full of creative energy and talent. THANK YOU to everybody who attended and to Linda and Lori, the owners, for hosting me. Besides the Saturday workshop on "Painting with Paper", I taught a Friday evening seminar on writing a book proposal. That was my first time teaching this topic, but I've talked about it a LOT to anyone who asks.

All week I've been working on making paper and mixed media dolls. What a RIOT! Inspired by Autumn Hathaway's Spirit Dolls, and Pamela Hastings' paper and mixed media dolls, it did not take long to get on a roll. Will post some pictures next week.

Fabric Collage

Just yesterday I was browsing blogs and found a little tutorial on fabric scrap collages. Not that I've never done this before, but somehow at that moment, a simple, straightforward project was just what I needed. I used a floral upholstery-weight fabric for the background, some tea towel fabric, my own hand-painted paper, and a few other snippets of this and that. After making the basic collage (fusing each piece down with fusible web) I stitched around the tea cup and saucer and painted the background and tablecloth. The little tea tag hangs off the collage. The reverse side says "Smile". Right now I'm about to make some collage samples for a workshop I'm giving on Saturday at Ink About It, called Painting with Paper. Tomorrow evening I'm giving an evening workshop on how to write a book proposal. Both workshops filled up quickly!

Fused Fabric Patchwork

I made this small piece of patchwork (16" square, approximately) with pieces of fusion fabric. Fusion fabric is made by layering fabric, papers, threads, and fibers on a base fabric using fusible web, such as Mistyfuse. It is inspired by Indian patchwork made with discarded ceremonial garments and saris, with all kinds of embroidery, beading, and shisha mirrors. I left mine un-embellished, as the fabrics themselves are so rich. I'm making it into a pillow cover.

Zeke and his Puffins

OK, I haven't posted anything in a few months, so I'll try to do better in 2010. I am working on a new book, which is taking all of my time. More about that later. Also, I am teaching a six week collage class at the Long Trail School in Dorset, VT, starting this coming Monday, the 11th. It is six consecutive Mondays from 6 - 8 pm. Ink About It, in Westford, MA, is hosting a one-evening workshop (by me) on How to Write a Book Proposal. This is for people interested in writing books about art, collage, mixed media, or any how-to topic. That is on Friday, January 15. On the 16th I am doing a collage workshop there called "Painting with Paper" from 10 - 4. That one is full.

Now for Zeke and his Puffins. This is a painting I made for my Sweetie for Christmas, based on our dog, Zeke, and his puffin toy. I haven't done a painting - as opposed to a collage or mixed media piece - for about a million years! So it was a challenge, and WAY fun. Of course I had to use some collage material, but the dog himself, and the puffins are pretty much just painted. I framed it in foam core, covered with rice paper and painted.