Greetings Everyone,
Yes I know I have been remiss in my blog posting duties. Please forgive me but I have been very busy with last weekends new class "My Own Little World." You can view my sample above. This was a very difficult class for me and in truth was probably the most complicated class to date. Why?
Because the class objectives were to use all the collage techniques that we have studied to date to actually illustrate a scene- as if you were illustrating a book.
Much collage is what I like to call representational. It tries to tell a story or represent an emotion or idea in a non literal manner. Here's an example below:
But as I started to participate in altered book swaps I found that there were full scenes that I would have like to have shown. I became frustrated with my inability to find images of those scenes to collage around. So I concluded that I would have to "create" the scene myself. But how do you do this? How do you collage different images and scenes together and make them appear as one piece?
I started with this piece below:
Here you can see a vintage photo of the pyramids in the distance and a woman from a classic painting in the foreground. What pulls the two incongruous images together are paint and texture, in this case pumice gel.
Here is another example from an altered book:
In this case I just collaged on two reference pictures (the woman and the castle)and literally painted the scenery around them I then match the other elements I wanted to include in the spread with more painted scenery. There was no texture on this piece.
The most difficult part of this type of collage is just getting everything to match. Like a jigsaw puzzle you fit the pictures together until you can bridge the gaps with paint and texture. The most important element to achieving this is proportion. Your images must be in proportion to the scene as a whole. So needless to say the class spent the greater part of the first class day just trying to fit the pictures together.
After you piece is composed then its just a matter of painting in more scenery to fill in the gaps in the picture. The addition of texture is a great way to hide the joining of images and also adds a tactile and 3-d quality to the work.
This is definitely an advanced collage technique which I do not recommend to beginning collage artists.
But speaking of beginning collage artists: I am offering a beginning collage class this Sunday the 9th! I highly recommend this class for anyone that is interested in collage. This class is the place to start. Plus it is a great value: you receive a full day of instruction, instructions to take home for future use and a huge bag of papers,ephemera and found objects to start you out. Everything is provided in this class except paintbrushes and scissors. I make sure that all beginning collage artists receive twice the value for the price of this class.And we go through everything: what to create on, products to use and where to find them, creating backgrounds from everyday objects and composition.
If you are interested in signing up please email me by Saturday afternoon at connie@isbjorn.com. You can view a class sample below :
Here are the particulars:
Sunday September 9th
Beginning
Collage I
Description:
Using the principles of composition we will explore ways to break through artistic
barriers to discover the infinite possibilities of you! We will start by learning about: Art
surfaces, Mediums and acrylic paints. We will then progress to a simple
background and finally create small collages using the techniques and
principles discussed in class.
Items to bring: Please
bring your favorite scissors and paintbrushes. All other materials are supplied
including instructions and a large collage pack of items to use in class or
take home.
Time: 10:30 to 4:00 (lunch break will be at 12:30)
Fee: $55.00
Class limit: 4 students
C.Andrews Studio is located at 103-1 Harvard st. in Princeton-by-the-Sea.
1 comment:
What a terrific looking class!
Maria
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