Sunday in the Art Room

My latest artistic obsession is collage.  I have been playing with shapes and designs for years.  I have worked in paints

and in fabrics

in clay - yes I even made jewelry with clay and stamps

and even carving stamps

What do they all have in common?  The use of shape is vital to success with each of them. 

I have even woven fabric with shapes woven into the design.

So why did it take me so long to get into collage? 
Actually doing applique on a quilt is really a form of collage.  I just didn't realize it until I broke through my mental block on collage. 

I had even done an abstract collage from fabric in 2024 - I even called it collage.

Nicole asked that I share the four collage pieces that I showed on Friday again, so here they are.

I have two newer ones, but I am not sure they are as successful as the above collages.

Nevertheless,  here they are.

I think the painted backgrounds didn't have enough contrast from the collage papers. 
I may still go in and change these.

Here is where you can find the Classes from CreativeBug that got me started collaging this month.  That  is my affiliate link. If you use it to sign up, you will get a free month of Classes - all you can watch in that month.  The collage classes that I watched are: 

4 x 4 Studies: A Daily Practice  and Collage Homage: 15 Women Artists to Know.  These are both taught by Erin McCluskey Wheeler.  

Failure is not something I worry about.  I am sure that if I DON'T TRY,  I will fail.  But if I do try, I may succeed.  And if I don't succeed - well, that is okay too.  Remember that I used those failed paintings to cut up and create collage. 

If you are wondering about materials,  For the base layer, (substrate) I used mat board cutouts (free from a local framer)  OR Mixed media paper - relatively inexpensive.  My adhesive is cheap glue sticks that I bought on sale when school was starting.  (Elmers purple disappearing school glue.)  For collage material, you can use almost any paper that you can find. One artist suggested painting acrylic paint on paper bags, brown paper that comes as packaging material or even copy paper - yes even those bills you have paid an are ready to toss - paint them with opaque paint and you have collage paper. Some famous collage artists have used candy wrappers, junk mailings, and other found papers.  I just got a package with a wad of brown paper in it.  I cut it into sheets and ironed it to get most of the wrinkles out.  I will be painting them.  Oh yes, you can even use the cheap cheap cheap hobby paints like Apple Barrell, Folk Art or Americana.  You could use leftover latex wall paint.  You can use crayons or....gee I could go on for hours.  Use what you have or can get easily.  Just be creative. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Face Off -Extra Portrait and some collage

There are many forms of art that I love to play with.  For example,  I enjoy painting - usually in abstract or non-representational form.  But, as today, sometimes I drift into more of a representational style.  

For the Friday Face Off,  I have an "extra" portrait from the portrait challenge.   I simply couldn't stop until I tried painting one of the faces on a canvas.   So here he is.  

I  used the same guy as the one in the portrait challenge.  But, I changed him a bit.

During the last week or so, I watched a couple of classes on collage.  

Then a few days later, I started playing with collage. 

The first piece started with a drawn line on the mat board drop out that I used as a background.  Then I started using pieces that I cut out of a couple of "failed" paintings. (hint, I never throw those away)

Then the next piece is using vintage magazine pieces on another piece of mat board.

And finally two more using cut up paintings. 

There are a couple of pieces of that vintage magazine in this one also.

Note, that piece in the background is one of the paintings I was cutting up. 

Yes, these are a bit "weird"  but I like them 

Have a great week.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Some of my older paintings

My friend, Nicole, hosts Sunday in the Art Room.  For this week, my decision is to show a couple of my older paintings.  When I started painting,  I wanted to paint in the impressionistic style.  But as I went on, I got into non-representational art and experimental art.  I still enjoy both.   

The two I am showing you today are both experimental art, but they are impressionistic and representational.  

First up - an experiment with charcoal powder.  The powder was sprinkled on the watercolor paper then some water was poured/dripped onto it to create patterns.  That was left to dry and then paint was added. 

 I named this Painted Lands. I honestly have no idea what happened to this painting. 
I may still have it stashed away somewhere. 

Next up is Enchanted Path.  For this, I took a "failed" painting and covered it with a clear  gel medium. 

After that dries, take a dark color, diluted with glazing medium and coat the entire painting. Then lift the dark paint in places with whatever, I used a bristle brush and paper towels. After I let that dry I added a few bits of light into some of the darker areas.

This certainly turned a "failed" painting into something interesting. 

Both of these remind me that I need to pull out art supplies and just PLAY.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off - Portrait Challenge.

When Nicole announced the portrait challenge, I was thinking that I would be doing well to finish a portrait in time.  However, I decided that my portrait just needed to be a face that looked reasonably good. After I did the first one, I was hooked.  Working in different media allowed me to explore some possibilities.  I have a few to show you.  

First up is a series of three created from the same face.

Acrylic Paint on good watercolor paper

Mixed media (oil pastels, colored pencils and water media)

Inktense pencils and Inktense blocks

Next up,  an older lady 

Colored pencil on very cheap watercolor paper.

And finally a male face.

Done with very inexpensive crayon on the back side of that cheap watercolor paper

There is a reason that I mention the inexpensive materials that I used for a couple of these. It is to remind you that you don't have to have expensive materials to create fun art. 

However, I will say choose your substrate (paper in this case) with care as it determines how

well the materials will work for you. 

Linking with the Portrait Challenge 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.