Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Imagine I can do a collage

Imagine
7 x 5 collage - photos, magazine images, paint samples, acrylics
by Miki Willa
I have finally jumped into the world of collage. I posted my first one on my Pastels and More blog. I decided I wanted to separate my paintings from my collage art in the blog world. This is all very new to me, and I wanted to freedom to experiment in a different format.
I fell in love with collage recently after finding Mary Buek's work at What if I . . . . Through her site, I found Leslie Avon Miller at Textures, Shapes, and Colors, Painting On with Margaret Ryal, Laura Lein-Svencner at Lonecrow Art and Collage with, and Kelly Kilmer. I started out by learning about visual journaling with Kelly on her Prompt a Day monthly online classes. That has really helped me become familiar with acrylics, glues, gloss mediums, composition, and a host of other techniques. I have been studying other collage artists and learning what I like best about collage. I will continue to paint my pastels, but am really excited about expanding my creative self.
For this collage, I decided to explore color. I took my color wheel and worked with split compliments. I think I will work in this area for a while. I chose images I find inspirational, placed them in a way that pleased my eye, and used a sponge to apply the acrylics after the glue dried. I am pleased with the end result. As I learn, I will use a variety of images, but as I progress and learn more about photo transfer techniques, I will begin to use only my own images.