Coffee, Tea or Collage?

Another Sunday afternoon that's perfect for collaging! Between reading, making a collage and eating a Turkish chocolate bar it's been a pretty fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon. What more could an artist ask for? I might still make a few tiny additions here and there before I add the remaining coat of varnish. It's so hard to leave these collages alone when you're close to finishing. It seems there's always another piece that could be added. "This might look good over here"...and so it keeps evolving until I add a few coats of varnish. Once the varnish is applied, I rarely change anything.

The second piece shown here was the original arrangement, which I ended up changing once I started gluing my pieces down. I really wanted to use that mini Queen of Hearts card, but it didn't seem to fit in, so I left it out. Too much fun! It's like an addiction for me. But I should stop saying "too much fun" as if having fun was something I shouldn't be having. We should all have more fun in our lives - the kind of fun you get from doing something you truly love... your passion!

It's also Mother's Day today, so a Happy Mother's day to my mom, and to all my friends who are mothers! My wishes to all of you for an enjoyable and very special day!

Happy Mother's Day &
Blessings,
~ Kate


  

Almost An Obsession

Another collage over the weekend (actually I did 2). This one is a little bit different in that I included a couple of different elements. I carved a lino pattern last week and experiment with printing it. The central flower near the bottom is one of those prints. And there's a real leaf that I saved from last fall that is collaged into the right corner. It's a little bumpy, but that only adds texture to the overall piece. The large pink flower on the right is a paper napkin. Can you see that there's just no limit to what you can use in a collage?

I'm wondering if this is turning into an obsession, since there's a third collage assembled but not glued down...yet. This medium is too much fun! It's so easy to do, and because it doesn't really take that long (and it's easier on my hand than more detail-oriented drawing and shading, which can be intensive), it gives me a sense of accomplishment when I'm finished. And when you combine those two elements - having fun with a sense of accomplishment - I end up with an activity that I could easily get addicted to. My friend who is an addiction counselor would say that's a pretty healthy addiction! Also, I'm going into overdrive with my art work right now because I was recently laid off from my job. Having all this time on my hands gives me free license to produce as much art as my little heart desires! I've noticed, however, that when my anxiety increases, so does my art output. It's also therapeutic for me. The bottom line is that art is incredibly fun, enjoyable and satisfying. Moreover, If I can pass that wellness feeling on to someone else, and they benefit from it, then I will feel like I have accomplished something really worthwhile!

Best wishes & blessings,
Kate

Courage

This 6x8 collage on wood is meant to be paired with "Off With Her Head!" I love the rich red (Alizarin crimson) combined with warm brown and gold colors, which are the dominant colors in this piece. I also added some color to the collage pieces that I cut out to make them blend in a little better. You can do that with collage - manipulate your own pieces, and even draw your own if you have to! You may actually prefer to draw your own pieces, because sometimes it's more meaningful to create your own "clip art." And that's the beauty of creating used a variety of media - you can use this, or that, and create your own using whatever color scheme you wish!

The only thing I haven't done yet with my collages is add 3 dimensional bits to them, like buttons, charms - little objects. I just haven't really come across anything that I wanted to add that was meaningful. I think that's next, however. Collage is so much fun, it's also a form you can forever experiment with.

If you've never collaged before, you might want to give it a try. I have a workshop coming up on Saturday June 2nd - 11am-4:30pm. If you're interested, send me an email, artistikat@gmail.com

Blessings,
Kate

Off With Her Head!

This is my latest collage piece done on a wood panel. I used acrylic paint for the background and then used a matte gel medium as the base glue and top coat for each piece. This collage is unique in that some of the elements are hand-drawn. I'm learning that if I can't find exactly the right color combination in a piece of clip art or from a magazine clipping, I can simply draw it and color it myself! Besides getting exactly the effect that I want, I'm also creating a finished piece that has original elements to it. I also used 2 puzzle pieces for the bottom left corner, but colored them to fit into the overall color scheme.

This collage was a lot of fun to do. It's a truly relaxing activity - more so than the drawing, watercolor and pencil crayon work that I do. Collage is an assembly of collected pieces of paper and bits of ephemera that are arranged in a desirable pattern. They are glued to a prepared surface layer after layer. It's a process of adding layers with paint and paper pieces. This process is truly therapeutic as you work with your hands and your imagination. There is no pressure to be perfect and to draw well. And there are no mistakes in collage, because if you don't like a particular effect, you can easily paint over it and glue down another image!

I enjoyed working with a red and golden yellow theme on this one, and added some of my own drawn pieces. Other bits include wrapping paper, magazine clippings, a bit of text from Alice in Wonderland, and a couple of puzzle pieces.

I'll be facilitating another collage workshop in May - probably on the 27th. More details to come. Until then...

All my best,
~ Kate