Houston Arboretum I

Of the four black & white prints, this was the most dramatic, so I mounted the collage papers on the least dramatic of the red backgrounds. I may work into it later.

Abstract Trees Backgrounds

I painted the four quarter-sheets of watercolor paper with various reds I had on hand.
 

Inspiration Photos

I love trees, and I saw these fallen tree trunks at the Houston Arboretum and took photos of them. I applied filters in Photoshop and then selected areas of the photos to use to create abstract work. They are the same proportions as the quartered 22"x30" 140-lb. watercolor paper I have on hand. The paper has been gessoed, so that the acrylic paint will not soak into the paper.

Maybe Fixed?

This spread was difficult. I used new stencils and I am not sure how to best use them in the future. I did violet/yellow complementary combination on the left hand page, not my favorite. On the right, I made a rectangular image that was really dominant in the composition. So these are today's "fixes". There may be more work on these. Every day is a new world of challenges, excitement and learning.

Today's Sketchbook Spread

 

These backgrounds were done with paint left on the brayer from making gel prints, plus the one on the right had dots from a stencil. I am not really pleased with these pages, but I will probably work on them again at some other time. The one on the left is somewhat chaotic, and the one on the right does not feel finished. Oh well, can't pull a rabbit out of the hat every day!

Eliminated Face!

 

When the stamp on the lower right area of the left hand page is vertical, it forms a face and I found it disturbing, so I covered one of the circles, which looks a lot like an eye. The brain always looks for images in random patterns, so there may be other images you see in these pieces, but they are unintentional.

Sketchbook Spread from Today

Emergence

I don't have an explanation for these images. The blue and green swirly things are gel prints. The black marks are painted on artist's tissue that was strengthened and made transparent using acrylic medium.  The orange shape on the right side is inside a pocket, and can be removed in case you need an orange shape.

 

Sketchbook Spread Worked Today

The page on the right was very disorganized, lots of reddish paint and strange juxtapositions, and gradually I added the blue-green collage and it took the current form, which may change. The one on the left got that funky paddle shape added, and to pull it back from taking over the entire world, I added the other collage pieces. The white area on the middle left may become clear, because I took the photo right after gluing in the piece next to it. No matter, these are not finished paintings, just ideas. I feel like the one on the left is speaking, but in sounds, not words.

Plaid?

The four collage backgrounds here came from rolling excess paint off my brayer onto pages of a calculus book. I am still waiting for the gel medium coating to dry on the other four small pieces. 

First Layer of Shapes

 

I sanded down a lot of the white paint on the smaller wood panels, and added collage shapes from my gel prints. More layers to come!

Blobs to Masses

 

I used the deli paper blob paint to collage onto this background spread. I like the combination of colors, and the contrast between the two pages, plus I am delighted that the paint masses are contrasted with some straight edges from rolling paint off my brayer onto the background papers. 

Blobs

 While I am waiting for the white layer to dry, I am experimenting with painted deli paper. The colors I used on this one are Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Crimson, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Titan Green Pale, and Manganese Blue Hue. I put a blob of each color on one deli paper, then covered it with another one and scraped it with a plastic card. As I added colors I turned the paper so that the results are not mirror images. 

Whiteout!

I covered all of these small wood panels with a mixture of soft gel gloss and titanium white. After it dries, I will sand it and make some of the underlying color and collage visible again. As each layer goes on, the underlying layers are more and more mysterious, giving a sense of depth. The sanding makes it into a palimpsest.

The End of the Beginning ...

I coated the sanded collages with acrylic, GAC 100, which sealed the paper so that it would not absorb paint and that layer will remain intact when I add layers and sand them too. Then I put on a coat of Quinacridone Gold on the smaller pieces, and Quinacridone Burnt Orange on the larger ones. Once that dries, I will start adding cut and torn collage papers and paint.

This is the End ...

 The last page of my watercolor spiral-bound sketchbook now has a background of a gel print. I am skipping around, adding shapes and so forth to these pages. I have a mixed media sketchbook ordered, so I will do a similar thing with that one. This gives me something to react to when I am doing warmup collages.

Greener Grass ...

 

Grungy Backgrounds in Sketchbook

 

Individual Collage Papers

Collage Papers!

These gel prints are for the collage bases I made in the past couple of days. Red, Purple and Green!!! OH YEAH!

First Sanding

I did not add any layers of collage to the smaller pieces, thinking that removing one layer might be fine. I think that is the case. This makes a nice background. I will put a coat of some neutral on it, either translucent or only partially covering the surface, meanwhile making some collage papers with the gel plate. The more I look at the paintings I did using many layers of collage shapes and paint, plus sanding, the more I like them. Even now I find these exciting.

Collages for Radical Layering

 These pieces are collaged with random bits of paper that I had on hand. They are drying now, and once they are completely dry, I will sand the bigger ones, which have several layers of paper on them, and add another layer or two of collage to the smaller ones.

"Siblings" in Play Phase

 

Four 8"x8" collage pieces on Claybord, a very smooth substrate that works well for mixed media. As I say in the headline, these are all in the "play" phase, where I am just putting things down without a lot of thought. Who knows how these will turn out?

Thursday Things

 

These two pages are very different, but both start with a blue ground. I gave them what they seemed to need, within certain parameters. I may work into them later but for now, I like what I see.

Exclamation Spread!

 

Vertical strips set off the warm backgrounds.

Yellow-Orange, Blue-Green

 

Today's art journal spread. The one on the left I hated, until I added yellow-orange back in. Both of these are very lively, with lots of movement. Yesterday's pages were very still and serene.

Blue-Green, Red-Orange ...

 

I like the contrast between the cool and dark page on the left side, and the light, warm delicate page on the right.

Page 2 Art Journal 9"x12"

 I will have to think of distinctive names for these journals/sketchbooks/artist books. If you have an idea, please share it! 

Get That Elephant Outa There!

I showed a friend the finished image in Blue Collage, and she said, Oh, yes, I see the elephant! I was dismayed because I had intended to be non-objective in this piece, so I had to work on the composition, adding more blue and orange. I like it better. The red "trunk" piece was always the only hard-edged piece that was not on the edge of the page, so this is an improvement anyway.
 

Blue Collage

My process making a simple collage from gel-prints and other hand-painted papers.

Art Journal Flip

These backgrounds will be used as a basis for collage experiments.

Progress

Because this color combination delights me, I have decided to do four pieces with the same basic elements and colors. 

Making Transparencies for Collage

 

Using the method described by Jane Davies in her video on tissue paper as transparency, I made three sheets of transparent tissue and stamped on it with black acrylic paint. I will cut these up and use them in collage.

Four Collage Backgrounds #workinprogress

These four collages are 12"x9", and they were inspired by details of a collage I did without a focal point, just for this process. They are drying while I take my lunch break. I don't know for sure what I will add to them.

 

Original Collage