Paper Collage Progress

This was my original inspiration piece..it's composed of a greeting card and some pics from a magazine!

This was the first crop I made from above....2.5"x3"

This was the first paper collage I made based on the crop above.  It's only around 5.5" x 8" and I it is  in my collage journal.

I made some patterns from the original crop after I enlarged it.    This  collage/piece will be 9"x12" finished.

I used tracing paper to make my patterns, which I then laid on my painted/dyed papers and cut out each segment.

This is the larger leaf with the veins fused on the leaf.  I was going to just stitch the veins but decided to use some painted papers I already had.  I'm thinking I will stitch stitch some dark black or blue threads on the leaf.

Playing around with different backgrounds/placements.

I like the green but still looking at all my papers I've made over the past year and a half.

This is my favorite background...not sure why but I think with hand stitching it might work well...so I've put this aside for a few days to 'cook' and for me to decide what background I want to use.  I have so many cool papers so I'll keep digging!

Composition and Design

Our lesson last week in Hilary's MIP online was on drawing/composition/design...ya all know I'm not big on drawing so I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to this lesson.  But with all our other lessons, I'm once again, very pleased with how Hilary approached this area.  Drawing was at a minimum and her method was one that i didn't feel intimidated by. 

Hilary suggested we look at different shapes that we'd like to work with.  I happened to have a feather drawing, which I've always liked.  So that was the first drawing I did. 

 I'm not showing how Hilary 'taught' or suggested we follow to make our drawings (you have to take her class!). 

Next up, she showed us how to use jars/glass work.  So I found some pictures on Google and used those as my inspiration. 











Once we had our drawing, then we got to color them in! What fun!!!  I used  Derwent Pastels.....

Then I used water on my brush to obtain the color(s).

I had to play around with some more pieces and coloring!  Just because it's so much fun! 

Next, I used Gelatos, which I love using!  They work so much better, for me at least, than the oil pastels we've all used in the past.



Lastly, Hilary told us "to play with our papers" and that's what I did..  These are some of my painted/dyed/stamped papers.  I put these in my Shape/color journal (8 1/2" x 11").  I'm quite happy with how this page turned out. 

So I know my 'art work' isn't the best but it's a great exercise in design and composition.  We'll leave the drawing part out of this one!  I am going to play around with this some more - in my spare time! 

Oh, here's a shot of my work area...BEFORE...it was a real mess with papers, crayons, etc. 

AFTER....all cleaned up (AGAIN!)...and ready to go!

Collage Time!

First off, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all those mom's, step-mom's and fur mom's!  Hope you each have a wonderful day!  My son is cooking for his wife, his MIL and  myself later this afternoon.  Should be a nice time with the kids.  Dawn and Jeff won't be there as they are up north celebrating their 20th anniversary! 

Friday and Saturday afternoon I played with my MIP online class.  We're working on design and composition!  Not my strong suit but I did have fun playing with Hilary's instruction(s)!  She makes it so easy and makes you feel free to try anything with regards to your art work. 

Hilary had us start off using bits and pieces of our scrap papers and make a block in a repeating fashion.  I decided I wanted to keep my original block as reference so I made two blocks the same.  I glued them in our workbook and used the 2nd block to add elements or shapes to make it better!  Now that's a stretch for me!  Yikes...but it was fun!

Here are some of my 'rejects'.  This was such an interesting task.  I took pictures after each 'attempt' at adding shapes or elements to my block. 

Reject 1

Reject 2

Reject 3

Reject 4

Finished

And here is my finished block.  I was pleased with the end results....but there was more fun to be had!!

Our next assignment was to create a collage using the "rule of thirds"....I have to say I don't think my piece is actually using "rule of thirds"...and I didn't mean to use 3 fish in this collage!!!!  But it is what it is!  All of these pieces are made just with the papers we've stamped/stenciled and over dyed. 

I'll look forward to Hilary's feedback.  I am happy with the colors and can't wait to start stitching on this....I'm going to add some hand stitching as well. 

Finished design