A Day in the Life of a Collage

It started this way:

I had an old watercolor of a tree that I didn't want any more, so I thought I might recycle it and use it as the base for a collage.

First, I glued some brightly colored pieces of an old museum guide onto it, since I wanted to be able to scrape through to show bits of color.

Then, I covered the entire thing with pieces of vintage paper from old books, drawings, and sheet music.

I immediately added a second layer because it's easier to scrape or rub off when still damp from the glue. (I use matte gel medium as my adhesive.)

Here's a close-up view. I have to apologize for the poor photo quality, as it's been very dark and dreary here, and there's not really enough light to get a good photo with my phone.

Here it is after I scraped some of the papers off to reveal the colored paper underneath.  I call this the "Glaaaaaaah!!!" stage - when a piece gets to the point where I'm either going to throw it away or cover it up again; in other words, I hate it. Could I make a decent composition out of it? Probably, but right now I'm not seeing it.

My studio and materials were also in a complete state of "glaaaah!", but I still couldn't leave well enough alone...

 I glued some more papers on, then rubbed some more off (lather, rinse, repeat) .... and this is how I left it for the night.



Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens to our poor, pitiful collage. Will it live to see another day?  I'm not so sure...

New Mixed Media: Map IV

Map IV

ingredients: vintage maps, vintage book pages, vintage stamps, acrylic ink, metallic pen, watercolor pencils, image transfers, stitching  (7 x 7 inches)


This piece has come together slowly, originally starting with two fragments of pieces that didn't work out, and then building on from there. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, though some parts were ripped up more than once, as you may be able to tell. It just goes to show you that you shouldn't necessarily throw away the pieces you consider failures; you may be able to recycle them into something else. Does anyone else do this? I find it often works out well for me.

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.                           ~ Alan Cohen

Weekly Quick Collage Two-fer: A Bit of Cheating

I guess you could technically say that I cheated on these, which is why I decided to put them both in one post. Though all the added materials were found on my work table (except for the stitching, of course), these collages are pieces of an old collage that I cut up. I was unsatisfied with it as a whole, but it had some parts that I really liked too much to just throw it away. So, I cut out those redeemable parts and added new materials to them. I actually think I like these enough now to consider them finished work.

 Map I          6.5 x 5 inches

 ingredients: vintage maps, decorative paper, joss paper, vintage book pages, metallic pens, artist pens, eyelet, stitching

Map II            4.75 x 3.13 inches

 ingredients: vintage maps, vintage notebook scrap, joss paper, vintage book pages, metallic pens, watercolor pencils, lace



Anyway, who's to say what's cheating - I make the rules here, right?   ;-)

The "Book of Dreams" Project: Monotypes, Recycling, and Binding (Oh, My!)

Hello all! Now that I can get out a bit (at least on the porch) I hope my photos will improve somewhat.  I had to discard some of the ones I took inside, because the flash reflected off the shinier parts of the piece, making it difficult to see what it actually looked like.  Of course, I will unify everything when it's finished, by using the proper surface coatings, but I'm not ready to do that yet. With the varied surfaces that are unavoidable when using mixed media, this is another issue that has to be resolved in the end.

This is part of the first inside page spread for the Book of Dreams.  Since the text block of the original vintage book has largely come loose from the cover, I thought that if I used single page 'signatures' (I know they're not really signatures, but I'm trying give you a clear visual here- and probably not succeeding.), made from sturdy, durable material, it would help to bind the pages to the cover more securely.  Not really being very experienced with book-binding techniques, I'm not sure if this will work, but it seems logical to me.

What I decided to do, then, was to recycle parts of an old monotype that wasn't successful.  It's a  method that usually works out well for me, because it gives me layers of color and images on which to build.  Being a big layer-er, it functions as kind of a head start, and the additional layers tend to yield a richer piece with increased depth.  Of course, I first needed to come up with a scrap piece that fit in with my vision; I had an idea of the one I wanted to use, and luckily it worked out.

First I played around with fitting the appropriate section of the scrap piece to the page; when satisfied with the composition, I cut out the parts I wanted.  In this particular case, the figure was already there, but had to be significantly modified.  I won't describe all this in detail, but one major thing I changed was her dress, which looked really floopy.  (Yes, this is a word, at least in my head...)  I took a piece of gampi (also called silk tissue) and tried to make it fold where the folds in the dress should be, gluing it down with gobs of acrylic medium as I went.  Though it didn't turn out the way I had hoped, I decided it was acceptable; to me, it looked a bit like encaustic, or maybe like her dress was made of ice, or water.  Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow, people.

The wing was added, part map and part feathers (the feathered part came from Wing of a Roller by Durer), and then the stitching to connect them.  I made several other changes and additions- everything from adding more grass, as well as the egg and the bird, to changing the shadows, and removing things from the sky and other areas.  The thing I love about Rives BFK is that it can take the abuse of some pretty aggressive washing and erasing.  I did still tear up a few spots; this is where creative improvisation comes in (otherwise known as gluing something over it if all else fails).

This post is getting longer than I intended, so I think I'll continue later with the alterations and collage work I did in the pages of the book itself before gluing the monotype in place, and, of course, with the completion of this spread.  Be sure to check back for that update, and as usual, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about materials, methods, or techniques.  Also, I would love to read your ideas and advice, if you're so inclined.

The Traveler Goes Trick-or-Treating

Well, not really, but it sounds a lot better than "The Traveler goes Halloweenish"- though the second one does sound like something I'd say.  I'm starting the 5th piece in The Traveler's Tale, a series of large collages I've been working on intermittently since the spring of 2009.  Maps are the main material used in the series, which is somewhat narrative, as each piece "tells a story" about the same character.  And this one is, well- kind of spooky.

 This is an old monotype that I started re-working.  It's actually a "ghost image", so called because it's a second impression, made using only the ink that's left after the plate has been printed. 

I started re-drawing the figure; I'm not finished yet, and you can see that many of the lines and shadows aren't really in the right place.  But this is just the preliminary stage of planning for me- like thinking aloud on paper.

This drawing of a model inside a piece of stretchy fabric was transferred onto frosted acetate so I could see through it.  Somehow it will have to be transferred onto the monotype, but at this point I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to do that.  I think I'll need to enlarge it a bit so that both figures will be closer to the same size...








It still has a long way to go, but here's the general idea:

And a detail:

It is rather Halloweenish, you see?
















If you're not familiar with the series, here's a look at the first four.

The Traveler's Tale: As the Crow Flies

The Traveler's Tale: Balance

The Traveler's Tale: Once Upon a Time

The Traveler's Tale: Self-Birthing

I'd really welcome and appreciate any comments, criticisms, or suggestions about the new piece.  Have a blessedly spooky Halloween!

One More Time!

Like a dog with a bone, for some reason I just couldn't let this one go.  Maybe it's stubbornness, or, put in a more positive light, persistence.  I guess there was something I liked about this piece, enough that I thought it deserved one last try.  If you'd like to see some of its past incarnations, here is the first version:

 After getting some advice, I tried to fix it, but still wasn't satisfied with it, here.  So I decided to use Photoshop to do some experimental cropping, here.  Ultimately, I was unable to make a decision.

After putting it in my "scrap works" drawer, I came upon it again last week while re-organizing my studio.  I'm a big proponent of recycling old artwork anyway; most of my collages include pieces of my work that I have "scrapped", so to speak.  Call it what you will: reusing, recycling, thriftiness, or just being a plain old pack-rat.  Sometimes it works beautifully, and sometimes, it doesn't, but my motto is: It's worth a try.

I've also been inspired by Jeane Myers's recent series of gorgeous re-dos at ARTIT, whose motto is similar to mine: "What's to lose...?"   That's only one of many great examples, so please do check out her blog for several others that are just as awesome- as is all of her work.  In fact, I just noticed that her newest post is also about a reworked piece!

Here's my final (I think) version of this piece:

Exile

Ingredients: multi-media art board, vintage maps, vintage book pages, handmade papers, joss paper, graphite, watercolor pencil, Pitt artist pen, metallic paint pens, eyelet, vellum, PVA glue, acrylic gel medium, kitchen sink (ha!).

I have cropped the top, bottom, and left side, and added more book pages and a few other bits.  Of course, the main difference is the addition of the raven.  I felt it needed a focal point to pull everything together, but it had to be something strong in value to hold its own against all the bright colors.  My solution was to go with black, which seems to work.  It's entirely possible that this piece is way overworked, though I think some of the compositional problems have been resolved.  What do you think?

Convergence + Totally Tweaked

Transformation 42 - Ingredients: monotype scraps (oil-based litho inks on Rives BFK), Caran D'Ache crayons, watercolor pencils, acrylic inks, acrylic gel medium, PVA glue.  7" x 7"

Here is the finished version of Transformation 42.  As you can see, the only big change I made was to darken the lighter blue area around the seed.  I felt it was too light before, creating an unintentional focus on that area, and too much contrast to the rest of the piece in general.

I've been working on another piece over the last week or so, and I think it's finally complete.  This one is made from some of the recycled pieces that I washed off a couple of weeks ago.  I've been thinking about simplifying my work a bit, and I believe this is a tiny step in that direction.  Okay, you can stop laughing now; for me, this is simpler, you have to admit.  It is, really.

Convergence - Ingredients:  Recycled monotype scraps, Caran D'Ache crayons, watercolor pencils, acrylic gel medium, PVA glue.  11.5" x 7"

Art on Demand (RecyclingTime)

I've been trying (I emphasize trying, here) to work on something for a woman who bought two pieces from my ongoing Transformations Series back in the Fall.  She had originally wanted three, but when she went back to get them, someone had come in and bought the one she wanted.  She didn't like the pieces that were left in the gallery, so the gallery owner put her in touch with me.  I sent her photos of the remaining pieces I had, but none of them were really what she was looking for, and didn't go well with the ones she bought.  So I told her I'd come up some things that might fit the bill, send her some more photos, and hopefully she'd choose one of them.  No problem, right?  Wrong.

I'm finding it more of a challenge than I'd imagined.  For one thing, I usually just make whatever strikes me at the moment, with no particular goal in mind except to make something.  If it fits into the series, fine; if not, fine.  But now I have to limit myself to a specific size, color scheme, and subject matter. She wants something with plants, and the colors need to coordinate well with the other two pieces.

Here are the ones she has:

        Transformation 12

          Transformation 22

So I fiddled around with some things for a couple of weeks, but nothing came of it except some wasted time and considerable frustration.  What to do, what to do?  Time to recycle!  I had some old monotypes in my "scrap works" drawer that I'd been avoiding cutting up for collage, probably because I had harbored some subconscious notion that I'd be able to "fix them", and maybe shouldn't give up on them just yet.  But, being uninspired, and running low on good collage material, I finally said "what the hell" and threw them into the bathtub on Friday.  Yes, I did say the bathtub.  My old pieces have various  mixed media layered onto the monotype surface, and much of it is water based.  I can't get everything off, but after it has soaked for a while, I wipe off as much as I can.

I've come up with one new piece so far; here it is:

    Transformation 41

I think it could use more work, but this is what I have so far.  I have two questions.  One, what else does it need?  And two, does it "go with" the other two?  Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Transformation 38

38 and counting. I'm not too sure about this one, which was actually made before #37. I held off calling it "finished" because I was hoping I'd think of a way to make it better. Nothing occurred. If you have any ideas, let me know; I never hesitate to tear something apart and start over. Recycling or re-recycling- it's all good.

Transformation 18 (state II): recycling

I'm doing some more of these small pieces, since they're what the gallery's selling right now. This is an old piece that I wasn't happy with; it had been put in the "scrap" pile. Sometimes old throwaways can spark new ideas. So I re-worked it, adding more things, subtracting others. These collage pieces are a great way to recycle things that don't work out, giving them a new "life". I've found that the oddest little bits of things can come in handy later on- you just never know. Of course, this does nothing at all for the organizational state of my studio!