Tuesday 28 August 2012

Creating for The Studio

Oh Karen and I had such fun last Friday creating a large canvas for the Studio Wall.  The previous evening I had designed a prototype in a small version on cardstock (see above), I loved creating this mixed media piece using ephemera, patterned papers, stamps, acrylics, lace, and rub ons.  The next day Karen and I discussed creating a similar design on a huge canvas as a fun piece to decorate the studio wall, so together we set about the task in hand, and below you can see a snapshot of our endeavours.
The background was a collection of old music sheet paper, patterned wrapping paper, brown paper,, scraps from an old book and a good washing of watered down acrylic paint.  The edges of the canvas were then aged using brown acrylic and tapped and rubbed in to give a mottled effect.  Different textures and patterns were painted on using household and everyday impliments that gave great effect, such as bubble wrap (see above).
Here Karen is working on the aged edge effect, it's lovely and messy, but such great fun!  These are some of the techniques that will be covered over the weekly two hour workshop sessions.
Below we have the background base from which we will add our little girl and then continue layering and embellishing till we've got the look just right.  The girl is created using old book pages, patterened paper and paint with rub-on and drawn on embellishments.
Here she is all cut out and positioned, now for the fun part, adding hair, skin tone, blush and embellishment to truly bring her to life....


Unfortunately we ran out of time and could not complete the full canvas, but we're nearly there, here's a sneek peek of the work in progress (below), we will meet again this Friday to add the final touches and I'll be sure to post the full canvas when it's all done.
For more information on the up-coming September Collage Taster Day and following on weekly workshops please see previous posts below... places are still available!

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Capturing Memories in Art

With only a few weeks to go until the first Taster Workshop, Karen and I are busy preparing the Studio, stocking it up with lots of lovely art and supplies in readiness to welcome our first guests.  The basic collage kits are now ready and waiting along with the  handouts to help you create your first basic collage.  Should you get bitten by the Collage bug then you may wish to sign up for the following six week course we are offering, during this time you will cover many exciting techniques, to include creating a Memory Collage using family ephemera. Naturally most of us are Keepers of our past hanging on to old love letters that have long turned yellow, precious old photos of those dear to us  -  all treasured pieces of our past.
Here are just a few examples of Memory pieces that I have created both for myself and clients. Memory Collages don't have to be restricted to Canvas or Cardstock, they can be created in many forms as Greetings Cards,  Memory Boxes and Paper Journals, the possibilities are endless.
So if you are signing up for the weekly courses then please start thinking about your Memory Piece and trawl through your loft and photo albums to collect together items to bring these memories alive again in Art!