Dreaming of Paris

Old Paris

Mixed Media 15 X 15

Using old postcard pictures of Paris as an inspiration I started layering pictures and paint, along with old clock faces and script. Finally I finished it with a stylized Eiffel Tower. At least I think I'm finished. We will see, it's not in a frame yet. If you click on it to make it bigger you can see all the texture and details. 

Circular Connections

Circular Connections

Collage 8 X 8

This collage is from the second day of the workshop that was led by Kathleen Conover. Some of the papers I made in the workshop, some were papers I had made before. I like using circles in  my work, they have a feeling of completeness and familiarity. I put circles on some papers that I make, some I add in the process of building the collage, some appear randomly while the paper is being made. When that happens I try to incorporate it into the collage. It's all connected!

Bird In The Hand

Bird In The Hand 

Collage, 6 X 6

I left some of the strings from the string paper on the collage. When the collage is mounted on a panel they will add some interest to the piece. The string paper is made by layering string in between two pieces of tissue paper and then coating with diluted acrylic and gloss medium. 

Bird In The Hand

(detail)

Collage 6 X 6

This shows the collage a little larger for detail. It's made of a combination of hand made papers, magazine pages that have been altered and commercial papers. Everything has been coated with

acrylic gloss medium and heat fused to 140# paper. I plan to mount it on a wood panel but it could be matted and framed as well. I think I'm going to have some fun with this bored looking lady holding different objects,quite a few things come to mind. Do you have a suggestion? Make a comment below. Thanks for taking time to read my blog.

Out of Sight

Handsome Rooster

6.5 X 9.75 Mixed media

"Out of sight, out of mind" the saying goes. It was true in my case. I grabbed and old painting block from my art closet on my way to an open painting session at our local art league. When I opened it, there was this rooster staring at me with unfinished eyes and beak. Poor thing has been languishing for so long I don't even remember starting it. I laugh about getting old and forgetful, I guess this must be proof. His lovely red comb and wattle has collage as well as some collage on his white feathers. He is drawn with ink and painted with watercolor. I finished the piece with a light yellow-green background. 

The Third in Bird Series

Green Heron

Mixed media 11 X 15

This is my third bird on a charcoal pour since learning the technique in Karen Knutson's  class a few months ago. Getting a good charcoal pour is trickier to achieve than I thought. I got a good photo of this bird while waiting for a tour boat to take us out to Cabbage Key one day last spring. Don't ask me why he's called a green heron, I don't see any green on him either! Except for his beak and eyes he is all collage paper attached with acrylic matte medium. The post he is resting on is also collage papers. I used a variety of printed papers and napkins and even some birch bark in the post. It's a different style from the heat fused collages that I do. All the rest is watercolor and, of course, the charcoal that remains on the paper after being splashed with water. 

I wanted to make the technique work on a Florida scene and I think I've accomplished that. I look forward to trying to paint and collage some more birds from my area using this method. 

The Woods

The Woods

Mixed Media Collage 8 X 8

This little landscape collage was one of those experiments that turned out well. The landscape foreground of hand painted and altered papers came together quickly and easily. I knew I wanted the feeling of woods on the top but couldn't find or make any paper that worked. As I wandered through an arts and crafts store I came upon a stamp of woods that would fade in the background. I used the stamp on thin tissue so that if there was a background it would show through. The stamped piece was laid under the adjoining piece which was also an altered tissue. I like the effect very much. I painted the bird and a few leaves so that the scene wouldn't look too forlorn, like it had been burned. 

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 17

DRUM ROLL PLEASE: THIS IS MY 500TH BLOG!

Thank you for reading and following!

Bird Watching

Mixed media and watercolor 15 X 22

I never imagined that I would get so involved with blogging. It goes to show you how you can do things that you never dreamed you would do.

Last week end I attended an art workshop with Karen Knutson as the instructor. She and I are fellow Minnesotans so I've known her for a long time. It was great having her in Florida to teach a workshop. 

Her first lesson was doing charcoal pours as a background for your painting. If you look carefully at the painting you see random black spray like shapes in the background. These are made by splashing water on paper that has been sprinkled with powdered charcoal. When it's dry, after it's been sprayed with fixative, you design your painting around the charcoal. It's a fun but messy process. The bird's wing has been embellished with collage papers, so it's right up my alley. Click on the image to get a closer view of the detail. 

Karen has very creative and imaginative paintings, you can see her work at www.karenknutson.com or read her blog at www.karenknutson.blogspot.com.

2017 30 Day Challenge - Day 15

Bird on a Perch

Mixed media Collage

Day 15! I'm half-way through the challenge. I've made it through an out of town family funeral, and a 3 day workshop and I have still managed to post a daily piece. I can be organized and focused when I want to be, and that's the challenge. Not so much that I make great or even necessarily good art, but that I focus on what I want to do and that's to finish 30 pieces in 30 days. Sometimes I know life is going to get in the way  of creating so I double or even triple up on some days to get ahead or to catch up if need be. 

I'm starting to love the lighter oranges and yellows. I don't think I've made friends with a true orange color, yet; perhaps as an accent but not as a dominant color. I have one more orange and then I think I will move on and start a new color series of abstracts.

Another Series

Random Thoughts

8 X 8 Collage

I found a package of clear stamps of these sketchy women in interesting poses and I incorporated them into some collage paper that I painted on brown paper. It's an easy way to put a figure or a portion of a figure into a collage. I got a little crazy that day and also sprayed the paper with Krylon Marbelizing Spray (that's how they spell it); some in white, some in black. It was great fun. I also tried some Krylon Glitter Blast. It's easy to get a little heavy handed with glitter, I discovered. The circles are punched out of a painted book page to indicate thoughts. All the papers are coated with acrylic and heat fused. Then they are coated with several layers of acrylic and acrylic UV varnish. The piece was entered into a Show titled Words and Images at our local art league. 

My Happy Place

Beach House 2

Collage 6 X 6

With all the election stuff going on we need a place where we can go and find some peace and quiet. How about a little house on stilts out on the water. No internet or TV, just the waves, the sea and the sunset. Ah, makes me happy just thinking about it. 

This little collage is mounted on a gallery wrapped canvas and is paired with  Beach House 1 that I posted earlier. The papers are all hand altered or painted and heat fused to 140 # watercolor paper. The collage is sealed with UV acrylic to resist fading. 

Sketchbook Collage

I have an idea for a series of collages, beach houses.
I have made some in my collage sketch book. I just used ordinary magazine pages and a glue stick to quickly put together some ideas for little houses by the sea. These are good practice and reference  for some larger collages. I find that Pinterest is a great source for ideas and confess that I spend more time pinning pictures on my board than I do making collages. It's quite addictive. I especially like the one in the middle #4. Now to make one bigger with the heat fused method.

More From the Workshop

All Hands on Deck

Collage 5 X 6

I started this at the workshop I attended and finished it last week. It's an example of what can be added to a collage for embellishments. On this one I added some stamping, hand, circle and squiggle punch outs, brads, heat set silver foil and finally a heart shaped bead. It's a sampler of embellishments, not meant to be a serious work but mostly play. It's mounted raised on mat board.  Play is good!  

Collage Workshop Week End

Red Roof House of Music

5 X 7 Floating collage

Last week end I was at the Naperville Art League attending a workshop with Laura Lein-Svensner. It was a floating collage workshop. The pieces of collage are mounted on foam core so that they are raised up from the surface of the mat board on which they are mounted. For the first project of the class we all made a little house with a red roof. We were to have earth and sky background, a house with windows and a door and a red roof. The rest of the design was up to us. We had a wonderful variety of red roof houses. Mine has sheet music for the house, a treble clef for the chimney and notes on the red roof with a night sky. 

Ancestors

Floating collage, 12 X 12

The next day we worked on a larger project for which we made our own papers (first day) and included some of our own photos. This collage has a picture of my parents; the map in the background is of South Dakota where they were born. This collage is a keeper for me. 

To see other collages from the week end go to Laura's blog. (Click on this link)

Abstract Collage

Abstract Collage 1

8 X 8

The collage class is going well, the students are learning a lot about making papers, choosing colors and color combinations and putting together their collages. They look simple but abstracts are much more difficult than they appear. It's hard to get that look that you are going for. It takes lots of practice. It's so much easier, in my estimation, to do pieces with objects or subject matter. I like the challenge of abstract or non-objective work even if it is frustrating at times. Even if I start out with a plan I often don't stay with it. I get lured away by a pattern or piece of of paper that I just have to use, then I just go from there. I think this one tied together pretty well. I will use it to show my class how to heat fuse it to a wood panel. Then it will be ready to show or sell. 

Day 9 Dancin" To the Music

Dancin' To the Music

Collage, 6 X 6

It was the acrylic transfer of the figure that inspired this one. I'm not sure where this figure came from but I've wanted to use it for a long time. It's such a simple graphic but looks so joyful it needed joyful colors and some playfulness. Nothing serious going on around here. 

I also learned a good lesson. The painted tissue, which is what the dancer is on, is very thin and fragile. When I put the dark shading on the collage I wipe it away with a baby wipe. On most papers I can get pretty vigorous with the wiping; not on the tissue. From now on the tissue gets and extra coat of gloss acrylic before the shading so won't get rubbed away. I had to do a little patching on this where I rubbed to vigorously. 

A friend contacted me and wanted to buy the collage "Night", so I have priced them at $40.00 each, unmounted, plus shipping. 

Thanks for all the wonderful comments! 

Day 8, Cool In Blue

 

Cool In Blue

Collage, 6 X 6

The swirly blue paper is a copy of some paper that a friend brought to me from Italy. I can't bear to tear it up so I copied it on my printer so that I would feel OK using it. The green corners are altered magazine pages, the solid blue is painted and glazed tissue and the script is printed tissue paper, another favorite.

Thanks to everyone who has made comments on my earlier posts. They are appreciated!

A Mini Collage Class

I taught a Mini Collage Class last Saturday in Sun City, FL. My long-time friend, Dixie, was instrumental in getting the class organized. There were 10 enthusiastic ladies in the class and they were a joy to work with. They got right into it and were eager to learn the process. I had the little frames that were a donation and made the paper substrate to fit each one so that the class would be able to get started right away finding their collage papers. For a warm up they all did 3 practice collages on index cards using glue sticks to fasten the papers down. That got their creative juices going so that they could put together their heat fused collages. A couple of gals had to leave early before I got a picture of their collage so there are only 8 out of 10, but they are all wonderful little compositions. The images are all between 2 x 2 to 3 x 3 inches. 

Oriental Paper Collage

Oriental Expressions 2 Umbrellas

Mixed Media-Collage 4 X 4

This is the second collage I have completed using the Japanese paper. I love the red in these collages. It's so eye catching. This collage also has some of the envelope paper (upper right) and some specialty paper (center). These are heat fused collages that are coated with acrylic gloss medium and finished with a coat of acrylic UV varnish. 

Oriental Papers

 

Oriental Expressions 1

Collage 3.5 X 4.5

I'm finally back to blogging after a very busy summer. We had 3 trips to Minnesota and one to Oregon and back. My suitcase really got a work out and so did I! 

A long time ago a friend who had lived in Japan gave me some scraps of decorative paper that she had used to cover boxes. They are quite beautiful and have been a treasure in my paper collection but it's time that they are used. So I coated some of them with gloss and have begun a series of collages with them. Since most of the pieces of paper are small, the collages will be small. This is my first which I mixed with hand painted tissue (the light red), marbled paper ( black) and security envelope (lower right corner). I'm enjoying the challenge of working with the colors and patterns in these papers.

Still Life

Still Life on the Lanai

Mixed media/collage 

16 X 16 Gallery Wrap Canvas

A still life; a moment in time captured in a painting. Our workshop with Tara Funk Grim was held on a lanai (a screened outdoor room) on the lovely island of Sanibel Florida. We were surrounded by trees, and a courtyard with birds singing and flitting about. We were visited and serenaded everyday by a cardinal. Our last day we had a set up of fruit for our still life which we could "paint" with our colored tissue in any arrangement. It was far from complete when we left class on the last day. I've been working on it, off and on, ever since. Now, I think I'm finished. The yellow table is laden with fruit with a view to the world outside. I think I can still hear the cardinal!