Solstice

 Solstice, Collage obsessions.

Just time before the new year arrives to post my first collage obsession piece, link to blogpage on blogs I follow. It's a weekly challenge so thought I'd start the new year off with a bright winter sun.

Linking in to mandarin orange monday

The Merry-go-round

The Merry-go-round

I visited York just before Christmas. York is a fabulous place at most times of year, although with just a few days to go before Christmas the streets were packed. In amongst the hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers I stopped to watch a beautiful Victorian Merry-go-round. I watched as it whirled round, a bright sunburst of colours on a dull, dark, December day, thinking then how much I would enjoy making a Merry-go-round collage.

Once Home I came upon another merry-go-round on a cold Christmas eve trip to the pantomime. This one was not as beautiful as the one in York but it did have an eerie quality. Although still lit, children had gone home to bed, the music had stopped , all was silent  and still.

       I did a couple of sketches before beginning my new collage on Boxing Day

Christmas seems to produce lots and lots of waste and I thought it would be a good idea to use a bit of up-cycling in my collage, I collected together a pile of used Christmas wrapping paper, golds, silvers, whatever shimmery foils I could find and set to work........

I sketched out the initial design onto a large canvas, then using artists quality PVA began to stick fragments of paper.

         The bottom two photographs show the finished Merry-go round .

The foils are very reflective and shimmer in the light......Just need a Wurlitzer and it would be complete!


Wishing all my blog visitors a very happy new year.

Winter Wonderland

Winter wonderland
I made this collage last Christmas. Its combines acrylic, collage, gesso, texture bead gel and fabric and is on board rather than canvas.

 I covered the sky in Daler Rowney Interference colour, I love the way it shimmers when applied to a dark surface .                             


                                                    
                      

    

The close up shows the use of  Galeria glass texture bead gel. Its an intresting medium that contains tiny beads that can be moulded and swirled into ridges..very snow like. It reminds me of the rough snow effect on top of a christmas cake...  :)

                                                          

 

                                                      

                  

 

 

Interference shimmer

Continuous drawing

Over at Butterfly mind I have been inspired by Jez and her continuous drawing, she has been on what sounds a challenging but rewarding course at Liverpool Tate called ' Drawing the line'. I thought I'd have a go at drawing my cat, during the winter months all he does is sleep, so he is quite a willing model. The idea of continuous drawing is that you keep your eyes on the subject and not on the paper, the results can be either awful...or surprisingly interesting. It makes each line or mark you make hugely important. Its ages since I tried it.. think I must have been at Art college.... so here goes...

I've drawn in blue ink so I couldn't rub out any bits I didn't like, I went over the lines though once I had finished so you could see more clearly.

And after all that excitement he is still asleep.... :)

Experiments with paper

  Experiments with paper

Sometimes it is not the finished work which matters, what is far more important is the steps which led you there. Experimenting for me sometimes leads to a finished piece..or a sketchbook page...or its ripped up and used for another experiment! That's what these pieces are. Amalgamations of previous experiments.
     The photo below uses card, thread, watercolour and newsprint. Newspaper is great for collage.. It creates texture and absorbs washes brilliantly. In the above piece I used watercolour, machine embroidery and paper to create vaguely geological swirls. It reminds me of a polished slab of Agate.

Banded Agate

    Although I am the first to admit I know next to nothing about geology I do love the forms and colours of semi precious stones. When I was a child I had one of those lapidary polishing tumblers. The ones which tumbled round for days. Each morning you put in a different grade grit.. and after a considerable time the door was opened and out came the beautiful polished pebbles . I have no idea where the machine went, I do remember how much I loved it. Maybe I should search ebay for a replacement. :)