Mixed Media Collage (Acrylic August)

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

I got a wild hair the other day and decided to tear down a full sheet (22 x 30″) of watercolor paper in quarters.   Which is working pretty large, for me, as I usually stay right around 5 x 7″ or so.   I had fun working out some “stuff” on the surface, with lots of color and using many different mediums.     I created that piece to use as collage fodder….and here is a collage on 11 x 14″ watercolor paper, made solely from that original work:

080916
Materials used to create the original piece, which was posted here:

I haven’t glued the pieces down yet, as I feel it may need a tweak or two.   I’m gonna let it cogitate for awhile.   The original piece was so saturated with color, while this collaged piece leaves lots of space for the eye to rest, something it really needed, I think.   It feels restful and peaceful to me, even with so much vibrant magenta humming through it.   I’d love to hear what type of feelings this might bring up for you.   Maybe it makes you feel like dancing, hehe.   🙂   We can only hope, right?    Have a wonderful week!

103 thoughts on “Mixed Media Collage (Acrylic August)”

  1. I love that you have cut them in different shapes, that will bring in movement and dimension in your final piece. I am intrigued with how you will execute these pieces together. Will it be with more acrylic paint? or ink? or a completely out of this world piece only a mad scientist can conjure? What will it look like…the wait is so exciting! 😀 😀 😀 Possibilities, possibilities, possibilities!

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    1. Thanks so much, Debi. Just found a bunch of stuff in my spam along with two of your comments. My comments have been going in spam too so you may wanna check your WP spam folder for anything of mine you’ve missed. I’m taking a blogging break to try and decompress. I really appreciate your feedback. 💜💜💜

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  5. I love this Laura. Now you’re putting ideas in my head 🙂 I’m thinking one could paint and glue those on top and make a composition, add dried flowers and what not, create a whole cityscape with shapes like that….

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    1. Wow, adding dried flowers is something I’d not thought of but I really like it! I had kinda thought it was finished, or v close, at this stage, but may need to take a step back and rethink the whole thing. I appreciate your thoughts!

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  7. I like the idea of overlapping your pieces and creating a city scape. I think that would give you an interesting piece! I’m curious as to what the finished product will be. I really like the colors.

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    1. Thanks, Dawn. I like the colors too and kinda like them just like this. With a bit of tweaking, as Graham said, maybe get rid of the columns. For me, coming from a quilting background, it doesn’t really have to look like something, it can just be cool colors and shapes and textures all together and it’s all good. But maybe the viewer needs more? I guess is what you’re saying. I appreciate your time and thoughts. 💜

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      1. I just noticed it wasn’t glued down and figured you were messing around with it still. I saw the columns and thought of buildings and then saw another commenter mention the city scape and thought, great idea…my mind didnt go to quilts but it should have with the quilting blogs I have been reading lately and I knew you could make quilts. I am sure that whatever you come up with will be a good eye full for the viewer. The color itself is an attention grabber. I like it.

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    1. That’s a great question, not glued down yet but probably a glue stick. The last one I did, went over it with matte mod podge and didn’t like the change it gave to the appearance, didn’t know too much about acrylic products at that time. So I may just go with something underneath and nothing on top or I may go over the whole thing with a gloss gel that shouldn’t change the color. Thanks!

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  9. Love the colors. This is very interesting. Was it hard to cut the pieces out? I believe I would have had the most trouble placing them on the second sheet of paper. I can just picture me shaking my finger trying to get the little decoration off my finger. Kinda like getting a fruit sticker stuck on your finger. 👈🏼

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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    1. Thanks so much, Rebecca, I may just tweak it a bit as Graham suggested. I’m surprised by the comments, I guess this looks a lot like a WIP to most, which I guess means I need to go back to r drawing board. I had pretty much called it done at this point. Not sure if I should rethink?

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  14. Oh How FUN – and I love all the ideas and suggestions people are offering! Can’t wait to see what this becomes! I am really drawn to the one piece with the dark/almost black moth or butterfly looking shape that stands out against the lightness on it – then add in all the glorious magenta and shapes! Such a feast for the eyes!

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    1. Thanks, Jodi! Glad you like it. That piece makes me think of a butterfly too. I had pretty much called this done until I saw all of the comments here, guess it looks like a work in progress to many so maybe I need to scrap or revisit? But pieces like this are the reason I made the big sheets. I’ve now made purple, yellow/orange and blue green. It’s in my head like making my own fabric for a quilt I don’t need to sew. 🙂

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  15. I think that you are on your creative roll….interesting how it looks so correct and finished just by the layout. I can’t wait to see how or what you are going to do the layout (the base) and then work your magic. The colors are even more vivid being cut up than as a complete painting, isn’t that interesting?

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    1. Margaret I am so glad you say it looks good as is because I kinda thought it was done when I posted it. I thought it may need a tweak here and there and that’s it. I was thinking of just mounting it on watercolor paper and going with it as is, but alternatively I may do small sections with wider borders, still on WC paper, and then sew those paper blocks into a quilted wall hanging. Art quilt only, no washing type thing. Or just sell as small unframed originals. Either way, on WC paper, was what I was thinking. But I might reconsider if I come up with a better alternative.

      I’ve used only about 1/5 of the original large 1/4 sheet I posted the other day.

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      1. oh sorry! sometimes I scan quickly and I thought it was your layout, I didn’t realize that it was on its permanent base…..oops! I thought you were showing the layout only. There you go! lol to me it looks done, I just didn’t look at the underlying paper that is all. I need to slow down and read properly. 🙂 But still like I said it has life and vibrancy than it being as a complete painting.

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        1. Thanks, Margaret. Still don’t know for sure on this but I appreciate your feedback. I tried something like this in January I think and I really liked it but it was in one of my journals. So I thought I’d try it on WC paper, something unbound. I’m glad you like it; thanks for your feedback.

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  23. Humbly suggest less worry and more exploration…be a child again…ask what if…make ten of these in different colours and shapes, rip the paper instead of cutting, mix them up, overlap, play…make one a day for a month, introduce images, fabric, newspaper, magazines… immerse yourself in process, enjoy…

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    1. Oh Kerfe, I’ve missed you! So glad you’re back. I’ve suddenly been pulled to collage, I never know where this train is going. If I glued this down exactly as you see it here……would it not be a collage,because there is supposed to be a lot of overlap? Or would it have some other big flaw I’m missing? I don’t know enough about art; I just try and make stuff I like. I’d really like your honest thoughts. Should the ground be something other than plain paper? The colors going on are so bold and vibrant that I thought lots of white space would be good. So this is why I did it this way. Would love your take, as you’re the best collage artist I know. Instead of channeling my inner Klee, honestly I’d rather channel my inner Kerfe! No exaggeration, my friend!

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      1. Now I’m blushing again!
        Collage can include any kind of layering you want. Open spaces or not. I like it, but I also understand your urge to try different things. You have a photo, so you could put it on different backgrounds or rearrange it. I have definitely done that a few times when I’m unsure (although you can’t always entirely recreate the original…) I’ve also moved things around and wished I had a photo of the original. But it’s a never-ending process, so you can always move on to something new. Always more questions, and more ways of answering.

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        1. Thank you. Jane Davies – do you know her work/books? I love her book “Collage Journeys” and she has others. She also has a YouTube channel which I just found yesterday. I like what she’s doing which is to paint and collage all in the same piece. She also loves quin gold, interestingly. I think you might enjoy her videos, they are all short. Her book is speaking to me very loudly right now, I’m thinking of collage/painting for therapeutic value. That “In the News” piece you liked really was helpful and I’d like to take it further and then ran across her YTs. I was curious if you knew about her at all. And seriously you inspire the heck outta me, Kerfe. So glad you’re back. 💜

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  26. An interesting composition with shapes and color Laura. I like it, but possibly overlap a few of the shapes somewhat, giving the collage more movement.

    There’s a couple books you may be interested in, “Handmade Paper Collage” by Dawn Ackerman (she uses watercolor paper for creating hand painted papers and uses other embellishes that adds interest and enhances the composition of a piece). The other book is “Watercolor Without Boundaries” by Karlyn Holman. Both books present non-traditional approaches to explore and experiment with mixed media painting, without boundaries. I bought them “used” from Amazon. Much cheaper tan buying them new.

    I love how you experiment with mixed media and sharing the ins and outs on what you’ve done. 👍😀

    Connie

    PS feeling better. I hope to get back posting blogs next week.

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        1. It really does, Rebecca, miss you and your lovely work too. It started out with fatigue I think mostly from the heat and it’s morphed into a creative drought, which I’ve never experienced in two years of doing art. Have you ever had one, and how do you bounce out of it? Feels v strange.

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          1. Oh gosh yes I do get that, in fact I had a mini one after the month of painting…I looked back and wondered how I achieved the whole month?? I don’t panic about it, I just find other stuff to do in the garden, or house. This short blip saw me making hyper tufa pots for my succulent plants, really pleased with them 😀 I still can’t get back into oils, just lost the plot with them at the moment….it will return, as yours will.❤️

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            1. Thanks, Rebecca, much appreciated, friend. Yes, you will find your way back to your oils, you have a gift. I appreciate your encouragement, it’s never happened so it’s thrown me off a bit! It’s kinda like looking for a lost child somewhere, hearing her voice calling and can’t quite find her. She’s close by, though. I hope. :))

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    1. Thanks so much, Jesse. Life gets in the way sometimes but I hope to be back soonish. I just have to find a balance between posting not at all and posting daily. I’m kind of an all or nothing person and not sure quite how to do it, but hopefully I’ll figure something out soon. I hope you are still drawing late at night and letting art fuel and drive you!

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