Many collage techniques can be used as what I refer to as a "stand alone". Basic paper surfaces are one of those. In the book you are given directions for tearing, wrinkling and punching. Most of us think of using collage techniques only on two dimensional surfaces but for this week, stretch your neck out of your shell and look for ways to take this lab into the third dimension. The instructions that follow are only one of many ways that you can do this....later this week I will share with you at least one more direction (time allowing) that I have played with.
Time to begin....gather your materials....
Most of the items in the photo you should recognize....the funny square with the hole in the middle is an artist canvas with a 3/4 side. Create the hole in the center by turning the canvas over on it's back side and marking an X in the center of the square hole on the back. Using an X-acto knife, slice the lines into the center. Turn your canvas over and push the four triangles to the back of the canvas and secure with glue. LET DRY! I used a 5 x 5 in canvas. For the backing you can choose to use a flat 5 x 5 canvas panel or a 5 x 5 piece of book board to secure to the back of the canvas with glue to create your niche.
Prepare to punch your paper by cutting it into strips that fit the punch you are using. Use any paper that your punch will tolerate....I like to use text weight paper (plain copy paper works just fine)....the ledger paper just happened to be handy.
Punch yourself a goodly supply of pieces.
Using Matte Medium, begin to apply the punched shapes to your canvas niche.
Note: I painted the canvas with black gesso so you could SEE the punched pieces, you need not paint or coat the canvas prior to adding the punched pieces...your canvas should be pre-primed.
Continuing adding pieces until you have covered as much (or as little) of the area as you desire.
Let dry and then coat with a thin layer of acrylic paint. CAUTION: To thick of a layer will obliterate your shapes which is something you should play with. It may be more or less effective to do so depending upon what you are trying to accomplish. This is where the experimentation comes in. Try doing several pieces using the same punched shape (easier to compare that way), and vary the coverage and obliteration to see what kinds of effects you can come up with.
We're now at that awkward adolescent stage....not very pretty is it? But here is where the fun REALLY starts.
Using a dry brush (that means to put VERY LITTLE paint on the the brush, then brush most of it off onto a paper towel or newspaper until it seems as though nothing is coming off of it.
Once your brush is properly loaded you are ready to take it to the textured surface. BRUSH LIGHTLY...you can always add more but taking away means painting over again with your base color and starting from the beginning.
Once you have your piece the way you want it let it dry and add your central point of interest or your focal point....in this case, it's a fossil.
Other ways to play with this our by mixing your textures; example below shows the cover of a book I did about three years ago.
The piece at the top of the blog was done by wrinkling pattern tissue onto the surface. It was done with many layers and became very thick and "chunky".
again...it was base painted when dry......
Dry brushed with a metallic copper paint....more heavily than the first piece, in this instance I wanted only a little of the base coat to show through and will use the wrinkles to catch the final two layers of aqua and parchment to create the copper patina.
Once dry, wash with aqua and parchment (allowing to dry between colors) and your ready to add your focal point.
This takes patience and often many layers before it builds up and looks real. Take your time....it's worth it.
Off with you.....find your materials and get busy, it's time to explore!! Remember, let me know what you've come up with....send me photos so I can post them!
Back before Friday with another little goodie using CUT pieces.
Bye for now......