Embroidered Collage

I loved the paper made by Christine Hennig for Melissa's paper swap so much that I had to create collages from it almost immediately.  It was a gel medium transfer of a forest scene onto a lightweight speckled paper with some section torn and collaged and also glitter added.  All four of the above pieces use part of this paper and I still have some scraps left over for something else.  The long skinny piece is a deco page for Kirsten for a birthday group.  The other three, two 5x7x and a 4x4, will be posted for sale at my etsy shop sometime this week.

The pieces started out as simple collage, but then I embellished them with colored pencil and a little stitching. One has a velvet leaf and some beads.  Two more have little hammered metal squiggles that I bought from Stephanie Distler in her etsy shop.  The colored pencil doesn't really show up in images this size, but it adds a great deal more depth to each piece, which pleases me.  Except that it is obviously only one layer, no matter how many colors I mix in.  I think I'll be trying to add a painted layer of an acrylic glaze as well in some future pieces and see what that does.

Today is the one year anniversary of my first post, which coincides nicely with some artistic soul-searching I’ve been doing.

I have found blogging to be a very fulfilling experience. Last year I stated I wanted to present myself as a fiber and mixed-media artist, and I have. I’ve even said it out-loud to others, repeatedly. The motivation of posting has helped me do that next piece of art and to articulate how and why I chose to do it. I have been thrilled watching my readership and views slowly grow, it’s good to have proof I’m not the only one who thinks this stuff is interesting, :)  and by the occasional comments left by those who have found a particular entry extra entertaining or helpful.  I also like knowing that I might be influencing others in the same way I feel influenced by the wonderful blogs I read, from those written by pure hobbyists to highly successful professional artists. Thank you for reading, thank you for looking, thank you for passing by.

I mentioned some soul-searching. I found some focus in the last month and it was a blessed relief, but it turns out I wasn’t done yet.

What fascinates me the most intellectually is looking at the same idea or object in different ways and also at how those views are interconnected. This is why I enjoy the concepts behind materials engineering – structure, process, and properties – and business – marketing, sales, manufacturing, R&D – and even multiple retellings of fairy tales and old stories. I want to be exploring this theme in my art. I want to create pieces that use the different layers of media to both emphasize and bring together the different points of view in one visual image.

I realized that I am not capable of producing these highly complex multi-media interrelated pieces that I desire to create. I mean this in the same way that I say I am not capable of running a marathon. I could be, if I went through the necessary physical and mental conditioning. I need to further train and practice with my eyes, hands, and mind.

I create better art and enjoy it more if I work in a manner that builds on what has been previously done, rather than having a specific end result in mind and striving to reach it. This is not true improvisation, but more like the extension of a pattern. Perhaps, I can try doing canvas pieces by working back and forth between the painted surface and the stitched focal point(s) and moving towards the middle, for example.

In order to make the most of this working style I need to learn to let go of any infatuation with what is already there, as in the first layer of a collage. Otherwise I cannot effectively move the piece forward. I’ve already begun working on this one with my magazine derived collages … that I still have to show you …

Some other ideas for my next training steps are color and needlelace. I’ve reached a point where I need to stop reading and start doing. I need to actually mix colors and lay them out next to each other to internalize what happens. I need to stop thinking “oh, needlelace would be cool to add to this piece” and do the exercises to learn what it is capable of so I can use the technique easily.

I look forward to continuing to share what I create.

Last night, our final week of class, was a great deal of fun.  Our teacher was Stacie Speer Scott and she had the most amazing amount of energy.  Her critiques and suggestions were very helpful.  I tried a couple techniques I enjoyed but will likely never use again and discovered a simple tool I absolutely must acquire.  A couple pieces I transformed and a couple pieces I barely touched.

Stacie started out the evening with demos.  She began with construct and deconstruct, cutting up old pieces and turning multiple pieces into one piece.  I was tickled that one of her options involved an awl and book-binding thread to sew pieces together.  Her glue of choice for collage is PVA, using matte medium on top to seal pieces so that future layers aren't absorbed by the paper.  I haven't tried that one, though I have a bottle, and will have to in the near future.

Then she began on overall techniques.  She seems to be very into sanding and layering paint and sanding and layering paint.  It was very effective in her example piece.  Stacie had also brought two "smelly" options, tar and beeswax.  Apparently asphaltum from printmaking makes a good aging coat, wiped off in varying degrees with mineral spirits.  She liked the tar variety better than liquid acrylics or some such (though she uses those too) because she felt the color was richer.  It was neat to see the beeswax demonstrated, as I've seen some amazing works online and a couple atcs in person.   These had to be almost the last technique used, since acrylics and such can't go on top of them.

  The first piece I went after was the one that used to be the leg.  I thought that the mix of papers might work well with a beeswax coating, with some oil pastels for emphasis, as the wax and oil media were compatible.  So I started scribbling, emphasizing some swirls and circles that had shown up.  I began coating the surface with wax, and it was a little thicker than I expected.  She saw me partway in and gasped a bit because she'd meant to take the set-up outside and heat everything hotter, and so had been letting it cool, which was why it was too thick.  We found some razor blades and scraped large portions off.  I added more color, added thinner layers of wax, then added just a few extra touches of color.  I can see why people get addicted to this technique.

  Perhaps swirls would be a good new title.  Or universal.  Just as long as it's something other than the piece, or pieces, that "used to be the leg".  I'm also having cropping issues.  I don't like it as shown in the previous paragraph.  Here's a couple more options.  I can get one piece, as shown on the left.  Or maybe two smaller pieces, as seen above?  Either way, cutting is the only thing left that will happen.  I'm otherwise happy with it.

  Next I wanted to try the nifty plastic squeegee scraper thing Stacie had been using for the application of paint.  I LOVE this tool.  I tore the yarn off the lace piece, decided some red would be a nice contrast and started scraping.  The paint makes such a different mark this way than when applied with a brush.  I'd tried credit cards, but this had more flexibility and I liked the effect better.  Later in the evening, when the red was mostly dry, I put on white.  My original work is essentially gone, but it's existence peeks out and adds texture to what I've done on top of it.  It wasn't wasted, which is something I sometimes worry about when covering things up.  I'm really happy with what is happening here but feel it stills needs something.

  I painted the shoes in a moment of pause, thinking about what to do next.  I mixed the colors and glazing medium, painted it on, then wiped it down so that the sequin waste would show through.  As I did that I placed an accidental wipe of gold near the bottom.  I couldn't wipe it out when I caught it, so I shrugged, and began using paint remnants on my palette in other places on the background.  I absolutely love the effect!  It seems to bring the piece together more.  I also rubbed in some cerulean blue liquid acrylic (Golden) that Stacie had brought.  That is such a wonderful blue.  I'll be buying some of that at the next Dick Blick order for certain.  I'm almost done with this piece.  I'm debating adding beaded ornaments to the shoes.

  I wanted to try the asphaltum, so nominated the pots piece.  Since I mostly liked it as is I figured it could take a top coat.  The material was interesting to work with, but I'm not thrilled with the result on this piece and when I took it home it still stunk.

  I consulted with Stacie about the plant piece.  She asked me what I liked about it, and I told her the swoosh and the background.  She suggested turning the brown branches into a green.  We held up a bunch of paper scraps and decided on an olive green, maybe with some silver in it.  I thought that worked very well, except it was the only part that glittered, despite the silver bits in the paper on the pot, so I added more silver accents to the pot.  I think I want to go over this one with colored pencils at this point and work a little more depth into the background but in a way that doesn't obscure what is already there.  I'm also seriously considering poking holes and adding some stitch to the leafy bits.

I've got a couple weeks to play with these, as I can display three in a show that the store/gallery is having of works done or started in their classes and life drawing sessions.  An opportunity for a sale sounds good to me.  The Greater Norristown Art League is also having their annual juried show mid-May and I'm thinking of submitting Casbah Sonata and the best of these mixed media pieces.  I have some framing to do.

What did I take away from the class overall?  Proof that overlaying and changing a piece completely could be effective.  My head knew, but my heart didn't.  Realization that the fear of messing up what I've done exists within me, which I'd not really noticed before but explains a couple things.  A few ideas about how I could start from a representational beginning, which I'd never tried before.  Some experience in critiquing my work with others' eyes.  And assorted other little things.  It was definitely worth the money to me and I hope to take more classes in the future.

  I completed the collage work I wanted to do on the shoe piece before my next "Out of the Box" class.  I added scraps of assorted papers to the background, then put down a color wash in a similar shade to the original color.  I built up each of the shoes with light modeling paste and set sequin waste into it.  It's hardened up nicely and securely.  I will be painting the shoes with glazes to be similar to their original colors. 

I ended up not doing additional work on any of the other pieces, so we'll see what happens to them.  Gotta go finish getting my bits together for tonight's class...

Just a couple collages for zap pages today.  I had fun working with the hand made paper and the paint chip pieces on the yellow.  I put in a running stitch in dark blue, as a bit of an accent, before whipping it with a fuzzy yellow to green blend.