Following My Paper Collage Trail

“The process” is a big buzz term in the art world. Like so many specialty areas, jargon specific and often unique to those endeavors – nomenclature – is the language used to describe activities within those disciplines. Usually you can find a corollary word or words in another field or every day speech that means the same thing. As with the medical profession’s term “stat” (from the Latin, statim), in layman’s lingo it means “now” or “quick”.

In meteorology, “Polar Vortex” really means freakin’ frigid – less sophisticated, perhaps, but to the point and just as accurate. Somehow, language in vocational and specialty fields has evolved to have their own way of communicating, conveying a sense of exclusion and not unlike having to know a secret handshake to enter or, in terms of language, understand. I continually find it fascinating the myriad ways we have to describe the same thing.

Back to the world of art, admirers and collectors of works often only see the final product of the creative effort an artist makes. They’re unaware of the thought, analysis, preparation and steps involved in the process, or, once again, in layman’s lingo, the how-to of the artwork’s conception, birthing and growth to maturity.

People who view my art have consistently expressed a fascination about how I create my paper collage images, the majority of which are horses.  I do my best to verbally describe the how-to but it doesn’t thoroughly convey the entire number of steps involved in the process. It is labor intensive, almost tedious, yet, rewarding. There’s something about the hands-on manipulation of the paper – the tactile, intuitive determinations on what painted papers to use and where, and the physical adhering of the paper to canvas I find compelling.

The inspiration for my foray into creating images by collaging painted papers was three-fold. First of all, attempts to teach myself to paint horses strictly using acrylic paint and a brush weren’t meeting my expectations. But I DID know I loved the hands-on technique of creating abstract paper collaged art. Then, one day, I stumbled across an old article from an issue of Artists Magazine I had saved that featured a woman who created a cheetah image using paper collage. Her technique intrigued me. Re-finding the article coupled with my disappointment over my lack-luster success at brush painting a horse image propelled me to do my own style of paper collage. It was worth a shot. The Great Grey was my first attempt. I was pleased, got a “WOW” from Steve when he saw it and was pumped to do more. 

Although I’ve done several feather mixed media pieces a similar way I’ve done my equine paper collages, to date I’ve only done one canine paper collage. Several years ago I decided to do a piece of art as a gift for a dear friend who had a special soul mate, her Golden Retriever, Lucy. Lucy had graced Elaine’s life since Elaine had rescued her at 7 months old. Lucy came with a skin condition that, through Elaine’s efforts, was successfully healed. At the age of nine, Lucy developed lymphoma which cut her life shorter than expected.

Before Lucy died, I had determined to do a piece of art for Elaine to honor both the bond that Elaine and Lucy shared as well as the friendship that I shared with Elaine.  Elaine, after all, had been the facilitator of a one-night creative workshop that was the catalyst for my artistic beginnings. As I started the process for Elaine’s Lucy, I was sure to document the how-to steps.

Follow along as I describe my paper collage technique with words and pictures.

I asked Elaine to loan me a photo of Lucy, not letting her know exactly what my intent was. She gave me a photo of Lucy when she was two, a happy golden girl with snow on her muzzle, head and fur – apparently there had been something worthy of investigating in the snow! Elaine said it was one of her favorite pictures.

I did a rough sketch of her using colored markers.

Undetermined whether I should do a watercolor or paper collage and passionate about wanting to achieve a piece I was proud of and satisfied to give to Elaine, I implored my muses, writing in my sketchbook and doing another pen sketch with colored wash.

Between my muses and Steve, who said he liked the texture and depth of my paper collages, the decision for a painted paper collage was made. That meant I first had to create the papers that would give form and life to the artwork. Using large pages of acid-free sketch pad paper, I used some acrylic pastes that would give the paper actual texture and acrylic paint to cover sheets with the various colors and tones I felt would support the coloration that I wanted to use to portray Lucy.

This shows the isolated view I decided on for the collage that would be adhered to an 18×18″ canvas. The grid marks on white paper “frame” over the photo were a guide for me to draw the image onto an 18×18″ paper with comparative grid marks so that I got proportions and position correct.

Once I was satisfied with the 18×18 sketch, I laid it over the 18×18 black canvas and placed blue transfer paper under the sketch.  Then I traced over my sketch to transfer the main image outlines onto the black canvas in preparation for the collage papers.

The next step was to draw sections to cut out to adhere to the canvas, like puzzle pieces, to give Lucy form. I used tracing paper to lay over the large 18×18 sketch to determine the shape of the piece then selected what painted paper to use.

I continued doing this for most all the parts of the image. This is the laborious yet fun part of the doing. It’s always interesting to me what patience I can have for some things and not for others. We humans can be such a conundrum!

Because the picture of Lucy had some of her features masked by the snow on her muzzle, I searched the internet for pictures of other Goldens to I could fill in where detail was covered up in her photo.

The photos below show Lucy coming to life with added detail. Before I committed painted pieces to the canvas using adhesive, I arranged and taped them in place to be sure I liked the composition and coloration of what I’d cut out. There were many layers of paper that over and under lapped each other. Once I liked how the pieces fit, I adhered them using a flat brush and acrylic matte medium, which has several purposes, one of which can be used as a glue or adhesive. Because I didn’t want to disturb or move where the loose pieces were, I started by adding adhesive to an underside corner of each of the larger pieces to secure them and then gradually worked at adding adhesive to the entire underside of each piece. I also added matte medium, which dries clear, over the top of most of the piece to further assure they were secure. As I said, a laborious, yet satisfying technique.

When it got to adding details like papers to show contrast in her ears and under her chin and on the body, I merely cut out shapes without using tracing paper.

Because this was a larger piece, sitting on the floor in my Petite Studio amid the creative chaos worked best for me. You’ll notice I have my favorite muse, Phyllis, close by me during the process to insure the successful execution of my undertaking!

Once I think I’m finished with a piece, and often during the process of creation, I let the piece sit for awhile and look at it in passing. It distances me some from the intimacy of all the detail and I can better assess if it’s going in the direction I want. When I determined Elaine’s Lucy was done, I went back and repainted some of the black paint around Lucy’s image because the matte medium I used contrasted with the more gloss finish of the black paint. Lastly, several final spray coats of varnish were added to protect from UV rays. Ultimately, I was pleased with the way Lucy came out.

These are a few closer-up shots of her so you can better see the detail and variation in the texture and coloration of the painted papers I used.

My muses came through and guided me to a place and with a piece I was happy with. For those who aren’t aware, Elaine is the person who held a one-night workshop almost 20 years ago on “Reawakening Your Creativity Through Expressive Arts”. That pivotal night was the conception of my present-day, self-taught artistic life. Because I knew Elaine would be as interested in “the process” as she was with the artwork, I documented the steps it took to create “Elaine’s Lucy” and made a little book of the evolution of the piece to go along with the art. These are just a few pages from that book.

That, faithful followers, is the “process” I use when making my painted paper collage pieces. I hope you’ve enjoyed this more in-depth look, my “how-to”, behind the finished artwork and have a better understanding of the steps it takes.

Posted by carol@mylifewithcreativity.com & filed under Studio. This post has 6 comments.