I made this little file folder for a friend who produces beautiful bird art. Some of these tiny feathers, collected over a number of years, have finally found their way into one of my projects.
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| Wallpaper lining, painted and printed with acrylics (approx. 4.5" x 4") ..... |
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| .... with four internal pockets |
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| 3" x 3" in watercolour Moleskine |
I tried out Golden high flow and fluid acrylics on this one. After the subtlety of watercolour, I was a bit overwhelmed by the strength of just a small amount of acrylic. I went overboard and added a background glaze of gold ink, then decided to try and tone that down with some hatching in watercolour pencil and white Neo-pastel.
Despite the forecast high temperatures last Sunday, a friend and I decided to make an early start to visit some of the open art studios around Marlborough. Quite a few of those participating were in small villages or well hidden farms in the surrounding downs, but we managed to fit in a couple of venues where 3 or 4 artists were exhibiting together as well as some individual studios.
Of particular interest was the garden print studio of one of our art society colleagues, and another artist using fabric, stitch and mixed media. I am not one to make impulse buys, but I did treat myself to a framed work from the latter. The beauty of this piece is in the subtle colours and textural detail which is difficult to see in my photograph.
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| "Fields of Gold" 10" x 10" by Ann Louise Smith |
I was tempted to try out some of Ann's techniques on some scraps of calico (and used/washed antiseptic wipes).
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| Calico, fluid acrylic, metallic ink, collaged painted tissue and wipes, hand embroidery, machine stitch and pen. Painted wipe strips made up the plaited piece. |
Some months ago I made this little fold book out of an A3 sheet of cartridge paper. Originally I had intended it to have a Christmassy theme, printed with holly and ivy leaves with berries, but it wasn't a success so ended up in my scraps folder. Recently, at a loose end for ideas, I decided to glaze over it with completely different acrylic colours and added more printed patterns with white gesso. With no plan in mind, I have picked it up in spare moments and randomly added more painted and printed scraps from my oddments stash. (Finished size approx. 4" x 6 )
A couple of other artists using this style of folded booklet are Helen Wells and Sue Brown which you might find interesting.
I have started to over-think these postcard collages instead of quickly just grabbing what comes to hand - not necessarily a good idea.
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| Handprinted tissue, mulberry and cartridge paper, acrylic, gel pens and machine stitch (Hahnemeuhle watercolour postcard 6" x 4") |
I have long admired the beautiful Chinese thread books made by some book artists, but the structure looked rather daunting to me. However, on this rather miserable, damp day I decided to tackle the smallest component, the twist box, to see how I got on.
I used an offcut of painted computer paper - this was only coloured on one side, so once the folding and gluing was complete I collaged matching green papers over the white facings, with the pink paper flower petals adding a bit more interest.
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| 3" x 3" |
Another collaged postcard -
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| Lino printed tissue, paste paper, texture paste, sketch and machine stitch (6" x 4" on Hahnemuehle postcard |
I am enjoying making use some of my facial sketches in these small collages.
Since I finished my collage journal last month I have missed the playfulness of cutting, tearing and sticking random oddments of painted papers. I have a box of Hahnemuehle watercolour postcards which I have only used on a couple of occasions and the size of these appealed to me as a substrate for further paste and paper experiments. I also added machine stitching for more texture and interest.
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| 6" x 4" Hahnemeuhle watercolour postcards |
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| Ink, acrylic, paste paper, lino print, stencilled texture paste, gel pens and machine stitch |
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| Ink, acrylic, gesso, lino print, foam stamps, gel pens and machine stitch |
To recap, this journal was started in response to a 5 day challenge by collage artist Lydia Rink. A set of 5 instruction videos plus a materials list were provided, starting with how to make a simple A5 journal, and making your own collage papers, plus sourcing images and letter forms from magazines, posters, etc.
I have used some pre-printed images and text, but mainly utilised my own painted and hand-printed papers together with snippets from my sketchbooks. It took me a couple of pages to get into a way of working that suited me, but I enjoyed the process.
I have come to the end of my collage journal, although I am tempted to re-do the first couple of pages which are very uninspiring. However, I am glad I worked through that stage and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge - thanks to Lydia Rink for sharing her process.
Now I had better get on and start replenishing my files of painted and printed papers for future collage experiments.
I am not over-thinking these collage pages, just grabbing a few hand printed papers and other scraps from my folders and seeing what goes together.
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| Book page weaving, hand-printed paper (mainly tissue), black and gold pens |
Following on from the paper "cathedral window" paper quilt block in my last post, Jennifer Collier also demonstrated how to make a paper pocket with embroidered lace edging and paper roses.
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| Stitched paper pocket; book pages and envelope paper for the flowers |
I then decided to repurpose my pocket, adding a handle, as part of my next Collage Journal page - an afternoon mug of tea with a cupcake!
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| Painted paste papers and tissue |
A couple more pages from my collage journal.
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| I liked the colour of this magazine image of a bowl and tied it in with a background of some of my painted papers |
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| A couple of sliced up/re-arranged lino prints on book pages |
Another couple of collage pages completed.
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| Paste paper, printed papers and a scanned sketch |
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| The printed and stitched tissue paper background was done a while ago, I just added the lettering shapes and the lino printed face |
I am joining another 5 day challenge - Collage Up Your Journal being run by Lydia Rink. I believe she uses a lot of letters and numerals in her work and a fairly subtle palette. I spent a couple of hours printing and painting mulberry paper sheets using my lino cuts and foam stamps - all rather colourful, but they can always be toned down with further glazes if necessary.
I have submitted a small piece for the exhibition and exchange organised for World Book Night 2021, entitled The Herbarium.
The subject - a flower (related to a poem, book or text) - could be made with paper, fabric, collage, drawn, printed or photographic, but measure no more than 8 x 8 cm (just over 3" square). I used a cut-down version of the paper cast which decorated my artist's book about our local Snakes Head Fritillary Nature Reserve. Fortunately, I still had a piece of the painted paper used on the cover of that book; this was glued to mount board to provide a sturdy base, plus the required means of hanging.
More details about the original artist's book can be seen here and here (scroll down in my Book Binding page).
I've finally got round to adding a little more detail to the sketchbook pages I shared at the end of December.
On the left I have used some wine cork stamps and on the righthand page I stencilled paint through a fine paper-cut image from an old birthday card. The latter didn't work particularly well, but there was enough information to bring out some detail with coloured pencil.
I drew out this clematis design some months ago and this week finally got down to cutting my lino (actually Softcut rather than traditional lino).
I have done some trial prints using gesso and white acrylic as my medium and these have been hand coloured and attached to A6 cards.
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Going through some loose sketches seeking inspiration for my continuing sketchbook challenge, I came across this very ancient pen and coloured pencil drawing which I felt deserved to be filed in a more substantial way. My reference was a small plein air pen sketch done on the evening of the concert. The blue collaged panel hints at the firework display which fizzled out due to the rain and wind.
Not a lot happening with my sketchbook these last couple of weeks, but I have been raiding my files of old sketches and doodles to see if there's anything I can usefully include.
The two drawings I've glued onto this spread are quite some years old, both based on fashion magazine images - with a little bit of collage added to tie in with the background colours. This is not finished, but I am not sure yet what is needed.
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| Collage, acrylic paint, printed papers, coloured pencil sketches |
