HOW TO DO A PATRIOTIC COLLAGE

First, my thanks to Shauna for saying she actually likes my scattered approach of covering many disciplines in this space! I may be slightly schizophrenic, but I do like to try everything from assemblage to fine art painting to pure collage to hybrids! It's a sickness, but I enjoy it, and I hope the viewers do, too.

In honor of Independence Day, which is coming up sooner than we think,

I'm working on a collage/painting and showing you the process, step by step.

• First, I gathered together images, papers, costume jewelry bits, even an old red belt with star grommets.

Be sure to find some text and maybe some postage stamps, too!

• Then I began from the back, gluing larger torn shapes to my substrate. I also made a plan for the pieces that would come later, overlapping them with the design elements and principles in mind.

Still not finished. I haven't added any paint yet.

• Stars, flag pin, and pieces of the belt came next. Finally, I added acrylic paint (mostly black and white) to partially obscure some areas, enhance others, and to add a sense of depth.

The finished collage/painting.

 

THANKS FOR VIEWING THIS POST! 

     

PAINT FURNITURE AS A "CANVAS"

I found this old rocking chair on a pile of discards. But you can use an old door, a bench, a stool. or a wooden shutter as a painting surface!


One arm was missing, so I removed the other one.





I filled holes with wood putty and let dry.



I used sandpaper not only to smooth the wood but also to take the shine off the surface. Then I wiped it with a damp cloth.

A smooth coat of gesso came next.

After the gesso was dry, I began to paint with acrylics.

I even decorated a pillow with fabric paint to use as a cushion...

                      

             But I prefer the plain gold-colored pillow with the finished product.

  

Painted chair.



ENCRUSTATION AND EMBEDDING IN AN ARTWORK

EMBEDDED FOUND OBJECTS, PAINTED

Jars and bottles have been decorated with objects since the Victorian period. Folk artists created "memory vessels" or spirit jugs by embedding mementos (of loved ones, special occasions, or simply daily life) in a type of dough that covered the jar. When it hardened, the vessel was painted.

This arts & crafts  method is so easy!

I built this functional, encrusted vessel, Pandora's Box, upon a lidded soapstone box.  I covered it with air-dry clay, and pressed plastic insects and more into it. When that was dry, I covered it with gesso and later painted with acrylics. 


A fairly frugal art project!



Thanks for viewing this post! Paula, the Mixed Media Manic.

UNUSUAL SURFACES FOR COLLAGE AND PAINT

Try Collaging or Painting on Unusual Supports or Dimensional Objects!

Tired of creating art on the same old surfaces, in the same old shapes? In this post you'll see some unconventional "canvases." Paint and collage almost anything from a large animal bone to an entire vehicle! Breathe new life into a battered briefcase or hard-sided suitcase. Rescue a scruffy table. Unusual collage surfaces or painting "canvases" include far too many materials to mention them all here, but I hope you'll take inspiration from some of these ideas.

Robert Esquivel is a very talented artist who has done wonderful mixed-media work on old LPs ! He painted Captivation, below,  over a collage done on an unwanted vinyl record.

An old album cover might be perfect, especially if you use clear gesso on the front and also gesso the back. 

Collage/painting using old LP cover as the substrate.

I used the round format to collage and paint a mask on a  discarded dinner plate. 

                                                                              Here a game board served as my collage base. 

Game board substrate.

Wooden cases, salesmen's sample cases...these can
easily be collaged and painted. (Lightly sand and gesso 
first if necessary.) 

I can't wait to use these!

Large cow bones can be painted, too! 

Bone Mask, cow pelvis, acrylic paint.

(Always clean bone thoroughly and let dry before painting. You can apply gesso as a first coat if desired. As a final step, a layer of varnish is suggested.)

Other unorthodox "canvases" include vintage book covers (above), old bowling pins or decorative metal tins (after sanding and gessoing). 
Rejuvenate an ordinary bottle into a fantasy genie bottle with Lumiére or glass paints, fibers, beads, found objects, and more. Even a shoe can become a blank canvas--create cool kicks that you can actually wear, if you dare.

                            Go ahead, be re-creative  with any funky object you can revamp!

GORGEOUS ARTWORKS BY GUEST BLOGGER CHRIS MARSHALL, PAINTER - COLLAGE ARTIST

(Note from Paula, the original Mixed Media Manic: ) I'll just quickly introduce my guest blogster and then get out of the way! I "met" her on LinkedIn, where she is an enormously  supportive and encouraging presence. Chris Marshall is mad about color (or, as Chris puts it, "colour") and texture. She lives in Perth, Western Australia, with her artist/photographer husband and teammate, Steve, with whom she partners in their business, Marshall Arts. In addition, she coordinates an art centre and gallery! Chris works in acrylics, watercolors, pen, mixed media and the digital arts and maintains a sensational website at www.marshallarts.com.au   Now here's Chris!

Hi, everyone! I’m a mixed media / collage and digital artist and I have fun with my art. I work totally intuitively, love to experiment and let my art come from deep within me so every artwork has something of me in it. I love looking at all types of art but when it comes to my own art, I'm happy in my own skin. That is, I don't aspire to be like anyone else and I don't like being labelled or put in a box. 

Blue Mountains Odyssey, by Chris Marshall, features
texture made from tickets, brochures and other  info collected on  holiday.

I just LOVE mixing my media and creating something intriguing out of often unrelated materials and objects. I work on paper (heavy watercolour paper, 638gsm with a rough surface), canvas or board. I work totally intuitively, sometimes starting with an artwork in mind (eg Blue Mountains Odyssey, above); sometimes inspired by something I find (eg Out of the Blues, below); sometimes I just play with materials and/or a technique and see what happens (eg Absorbed and a Hint of Autumn); and other times I’m totally inspired by the feel of a place that I have been, like Intriguing Wetlands and my Ningaloo series. 

Out of the Blues, which began on an impulse when I picked up a second-hand scarf for $2.
because I was so taken with the beautiful colors.

As watercolours was the first medium that I used, I like washy looking backgrounds and the magic that happens when the wet liquids of different viscosities combine; I often start that way, mixing watercolours, acrylic paints and inks, sometimes also using a light modelling compound in the background. I also often use fabrics of different textures in my surface treatment.                                                                                                                       

I don't have a plan for the finished work but I do go rather zen and let the artwork lead me where it wants to go. I often turn the work in all four directions and work on it from all four angles. Sometimes I work on the painting thinking that it will be that way up, but then turn it around and it heads off in a completely different direction! I find this way of working wonderfully exciting and very creative. Sometimes I am amazed by the finished artwork, wondering where on earth that came from.

Absorbed,  Japanese papers collaged onto a heavy watercolour
paper (rough surface),then caran d'ache crayons on top.

A Hint of Autumn,  started by blowing watercolours
around with a straw! Again it uses Japanes papers then wooden
 buttons, dyed fish scales, threads and other bits and bobs.

I do sometimes use words in my collages but tend to bury them in the artwork so they are not obvious. I generally use impasto gel as my "glue" but usually bleed in some colour while still wet so the added piece sort of emerges from the background.

I do like the finished piece to have unity. I personally don’t like the sort of stuck- on look, so wherever the journey of my artwork takes me, I bring it all back together either with colour, with my penwork or with painted marks and repeated patterns so that everything looks as though it belongs.

Intriguing Wetlands, below, is inspired by the reflections, the stillness, the birdlife of the wetlands....the washy acrylic and ink background with twigs and leaves,  coloured wool, combed out staples of wool that Spinners use (here representing bird life),  a bit of jewellery, some paua shell, some green netting. Throughout I try to match and echo the colours so that you have to look really closely to work out what is part of the background and what is foreground, what is painted and what is a collaged. I'm trying to capture the look and feel of the wetlands when you stare into the water and can't work out what is above the water, what is under the water and what is a reflection.

Intriguing Wetlands by Chris Marshall

Ningaloo IX, Hidden Depths, the latest in a series.

Detail of Ningaloo IX, below, shows the dyed fish scales, bits of orange bag

(the white bits are where gesso has been dribbled through the orange bag and allowed to find its own path). There is also some shredded japanese paper  which has fantastic fibery threads. As you can tell, I often use different japanese papers, especially those with long fibres. Some of them go quite transparent when you stick them on so that all you see afterwards are the individual fibres. Fantastic!

Detail of Chris Marshall's Ningaloo IX

Thanks to Paula for giving me this opportunity to share my passion for mixed media/collage with you. - Cheers, Chris M.

DIMENSIONAL MIXED-MEDIA COLLAGE/PAINTING

Hollow Forms Protrude Into Space

Extend your formerly flat work into the third dimension! Add more depth to your collages by building outward or upward! If you have primarily worked with two-dimensional collage or painting, you may find it easy to expand into bas-relief (low relief). Heavy foil can be rolled, crumpled, creased, and pleated. Or score and bend heavy, thick paper for dimensional effects! 

This work (below) with found objects and scrap materials, portrays my emotions about our dirty air and spoiled environment. The dimensional "smoke-stack-like" forms were made with bits of aluminum tape. They might remind you of volcanoes! I also adhered gritty pieces of flat elements I found at roadside, and used acrylic paint. The title is Industrial Revolution. 

(I suppose some of you will see a face in it, with a red nose!) Feedback is welcome.

Difficult to see here, but the dark "holes" are surrounded by protruding forms!

PLAYING WITH PAPERS AND PICTURES - Altered Art Mixed Media Techniques

Let's Color, Kids!

Altering papers and printed images to use in collage is easy: Stain, paint, tear, stitch, dye, burn, bleach, or scratch them for effect. Of course you can create dimensional paper, too, by folding, pleating, crumpling, and more.


Rolled, crumpled, creased, pleated, scored.



 


Strong coffee, wet tea leaves, walnut crystals, alcohol ink.

 
















                                                                                                          
Tip:   I saturate papers with rubbing alcohol before applying alcohol inks. Then I immediately soften and spread the ink with a brush or piece of felt dipped in rubbing alcohol.


The finished papers after colorizing them.

Alter lab-processed photographs with laundry bleach. This is not an archival technique, but it's fun! Try a gel bleach pen or a cotton swab dipped in liquid bleach. Apply it selectively to lift areas of color. When you've achieved the desired effect, rinse the print under lukewarm tap water and blot dry with a lint-free cloth. (Note that some papers and pigments resist bleaching action. Also, take all the necessary health precautions when working with bleach.)
 

Bleached spots at left, scratched selectively at right.


Abrading a surface lends an aged, distressed appearance. To scratch the emulsion of a commercially-processed photograph, soften it in a tray of warm water for a minute. Blot it on a hard, flat surface and scrape away with a large needle, nail, or other scratch tool. Sandpaper removes large areas quickly. The light-colored marks show up best in dark areas of the photo.

And finally, do try this: Décollage is an art term that refers to a cutting and tearing technique based on the appearance of layered posters on billboards. The result leaves shredded papers, revealing portions of the images and text underneath.


Decollage example