Still More Collages

Fantasy

4 X 6 Collage on mat board

I started this collage on a dark green mat board and that background influenced the colors of the collage papers that I put on top. I ended up using some opaque papers and paint at the end so that everything wouldn't appear so dark. Lesson learned; put your collage on the white side if you want your translucent papers to show up. 

Unexpected

4 X 6 collage on mat board

On this collage I used a combination of manufactured papers and some that I made myself. The leaf is a sticker embellishment, the quote is from a fortune cookie (collagers save everything). 

I did some accenting with acrylic dimensional paint and some stamping. Click on the picture to get an enlargement to read the fortune.

Red Bird

4 X 6 Collage on mat board

This little bird keeps showing up. Now he's contemplating why a checker board is under his nest. All of the papers used in this collage are manufactured tissue paper, napkins and art papers.

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A Few More Collages

Eiffel Tower

4 X 6 collage on mat board

I'm still not tired of doing the little collages. This one has pieces that were copied on a ink jet copier. I have found that the Epson ink doesn't smear like other printers do and I've been told it's because theirs is pigment based instead of dye.   Some of the papers were stamped, some are pieces of napkin. I added some gold stamping in the top right corner. I like a little shine to my work.

The Golden Egg

4 X 6 collage, with acrylic and ink

This little bird seems to be puzzled but happy about the golden egg. It's another combination of napkin papers and hand painted papers. There is also a little gold acrylic stamping around the edges.

Scrable Rules

4 x 6 collage with acrylic

This collage was done with all manufactured papers. The quote was cut from a magazine ages ago. If you click on the picture you'll be able to read the quote more clearly. This also has the gold stamping on it.

I've been scanning these collages into my computer and designing note cards. I'm very happy with the results. Go to www.facebook.com/janwerdinart  and see how you can win a set of note cards.

Collaging

    Paris Lady 

4 X 6 collage on mat board

The past couple of weeks I've been making little collages on 4 X 6 pieces of mat board. It's been loads of fun and has really sparked my creative juices. I have so many papers stockpiled it's about time I used them. Most of them are papers that I have purchased, and napkins. I also have pictures I have copied on my printer such as the one in this collage and papers that I have painted. 

Leaf and Dragonflies

4 X 6 Collage with acrylic

This is one of my favorites, I love using the leaf skeletons and who doesn't like dragonflies? The paper on the bottom is something I colored with watercolor, the top is a commercial paper with threads sewn into it. I used a dimensional gold acrylic to embellish the dragonfly and the top. 

Life Is Not Measured

6 x 6 collage with ink and acrylic

I loved this quote that I found on a pack of napkins so I built my collage around it. The olive branch reminds me of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the butterfly is often a symbol of new life, moments that take my breath away.   

Sunset Sail 

Watercolor on Yupo synthetic paper, 20 X 3.5

This is my second entry into the Regatta show. Painting on Yupo is much like painting on the acrylic surface I wrote about in my last blog. I'm able to carve out my white areas with a damp brush. What I find difficult about painting on Yupo is that the paint moves so much before it dries if there is a lot of water in it. So, there is a decision to make; in order to have bright transparent colors I add more water so it's a tea or coffee consistency. But, if I want the pigment to stay put I have to put it on like heavy cream and then it's less transparent. So, I wait for the paint to dry, assess the outcome and, if it needs adjustment, I go in with a damp brush and remove what I don't like and then put in what I think I will like better. Then, the paint does what it wants to do anyway, control is out the window! Never  mind. This process is too much fun!

Regatta 2013

                                           Catching the Wind
                       Watercolor on acrylic on illustration board, 15 X 20.

It's time again to put forth a painting for our annual Regatta show at Cape Coral Art League. I'm continuing to try to do something experimental with my work. I don't want to do the "same old, same old" but push the boundaries of the conventional rendering of sailboats. I coated my board with gesso and used molding paste for some texture in the bottom third of my painting. This dried completely. Next I put in my blue sky and water background. After that dried I was able to carve out the sail shapes with a damp brush back to the white of the gesso. I continued with the darker boat shapes. I went back into the sails to create the contour with shadows and added people shapes. Finally, I carved out the small sailboat in the distance. This painting went surprisingly quickly because of the gesso underpainting. It allows me to  make corrections as I go along simply by wiping out and adding paint. 

I Might Fall

                                                  I Might Fall
                                       18 X 18 Acrylic on Canvas

I covered an old painting with gesso and put tissue paper into the wet gesso. After the gesso dried I covered the whole canvas with polymer medium to make sure that all the tissue was securely stuck down. When that dried I looked at the pattern of the tissue and thought it looked like a tree form that was slanted so that's what I went with. I used a palette knife to dab on the yellows, oranges and green leaves and the browns of the tree trunk. Most of the rest of the painting was done with a brush. It's spring and not autumn, so it's a little strange to be painting a fall tree but when you live in Florida you are never quite sure of the seasons anyway, except the long, hot summers. 

Lion's Gate-Jerusalem, Israel

                                          Lion's Gate-Jerusalem 

Watercolor, 15X22

I finished the painting that I started in the workshop but I finished it mostly in my own method.  I did try to use some of the new things I learned in the workshop such as paint strength and color blending. In the end I tend to go back to what I know best. I'm sure I will incorporate what I learned into my work. I love my sable brushes now that I know how to use them and using soft paint is so much easier than digging out diluted paint from a hard, dry palette. 

The photo that I used was from our trip to Israel several years ago. The gate was built in the 1500's and is also called St Stephen's gate. It is believed that Stephen was martyred outside that gate area. Of course the gate to the city in those days has been long gone and this gate is "new". It's a double gate, and leads to the old city with buildings beyond. It's called Lion's gate because of the lion figures carved on each side of the gate.