Collage workshop

Abstract With Banner 15X15 Acrylic on paper with collage.

Last week I participated in a workshop on abstract collage with Minnesota artist, Karen Knutson (http://www.karenknutson.com). There were 10 of us in her home from Monday through Thursday working on our designs and going through the process of layering acrylic to achieve depth and texture. This process was a steep learning curve for me but I was happy with the final results. In her process one starts with a composition and then works sort of backwards to get to what you want. You paint dark where you want light and light where you want dark. It's a brain cramp in the beginning! As the layers progress you finally get to the point where your dark and light areas are matching up with your initial plan. From there you begin using collage and paint to lead the eye towards the center of interest. This painting is my first attempt at doing this.

We spent much of our time the first day learning how to make our own collage papers, by painting on bakery tissues, using powdered carbon on watercolor paper, making our own stamps from mat board, and spraying bleeding tissue. It was very hands on and a lot of fun. These items were used in our work the following days.