Collage Lady

Being without any internet for the past few days, I have had more time to get messy with paint and gel medium! Collage Lady is another catch up from the Life Book Course.

Loosely following Mystele’s week 22 lesson I created a collage from torn magazine pages using a picture of a woman as the central focus. I then used a mixture of pastels, gel medium, neocolour crayons, journaling and acrylic paint to add colour and depth to the work. I must add that the painted lady bears virtually no resemblance to the collaged image underneath!

I had great fun making this piece. Thanks for the lesson Mystele and for the new techniques I learnt!

Spiritual Growth

Last weeks life book lesson with Tam was to create a mixed media collage using paper and material celebrating where you are now using no more than two words. I love working with material, so I just had to have a go at this lesson! I chose Spiritual Growth for my two words as above everything else, that represents where I am right now.

I started off with a collage of images torn from magazines. Then I added an assortment of material pieces most of which were more or less transparent so they just added colour while still allowing the paper layer to show through. Next I added the images and words which I printed out using my computer. I used a distress ink pad to help the paper to blend in with everything else. I added some hand stitched crosses and buttons and finished off with some machine stitching to link everything together.

I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out. Its very tactile – I love the feel of all the stitching! Thank you Tam for another great lesson.

Newspaper Collage

Newspaper is one of my favourite materials – it is so versatile! You can use it to protect your work areas, you can cut it up and make things with it, you can build things with it, you can use it for papier mache, you can take prints from it, you can use it in collages – and those are just a few of its craft uses!

To create this image I completely covered a sheet of watercolour paper with torn newspaper, then added acrylic paint using a variety of implements including bottle lids, bubble wrap, sequin waste and old credit cards. Next I added some carefully chosen, strategically placed leaf prints and a few stencilled footprints. Finally after scanning the image into the computer, I added a quotation using distressed digital text.

I love the way the newspaper peeps through the layers in places!

Jigsaw Pieces, Thick and Thin Lines, Gesso and Gel Medium

Jigsaw pieces, thick and thin lines, gesso and gel medium …

I had great fun drawing the thick and thin lines with my water colour pencils. I’m still considering giving it a wash to soften and blend it … but I can’t make up my mind … so I’m leaving it for now!

The jigsaw pieces weren’t meant to stick to the page!! I was trying to make a raised jigsaw outline, but I used a bit too much gesso and when I came to remove the pieces… they were stuck solid!! So I turned them into a collage instead and added some thick gel medium to create some great textured ridges in the pieces!

After I scanned the image of these pages into the computer, I created an A4 print of the coloured lines pages and printed it out.

I used this to cut up and make a sort of collage/mosaic fill for my traced hand. I coloured the background using a black water colour pencil.

I’m having so much fun with this journal and learning so many new techniques; but most importantly i am learning to be more experimental in my creativity.

Take one wooden picture …

Take one wooden picture, some magazine illustrations, a celtic knot frame (yes it is the same one you’ve seen before!), a mixture of alcohol inks, some lumiere paint, a few grains of perfect pearls powder, an enormous quantity of mod podge, and a graphite pencil – mix well making sure to get your hands covered in all of the above ….

… get a massive dose of inspiration from one of your favourite artists [I just started reading Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts … and this is what I got!

I’ve been meaning to try my hand a some mixed media collage work for ages. I’m quite pleased with the result of my first attempt. I hope you like it!