Tag: Technique: Collage

Lost in it

~ Liz A ~ 12 Comments

Here’s today’s challenge pairing, to be followed with what is sure to be a long-ish post …

But first, a look at the finds from the first walk in our new-to-us neighborhood park …

Some familiar, some not … starting upper left with mistletoe, and continuing clockwise, lichen, hackberries(?), seed pod of unknown origin, pecan, Osage orange (aka bois d’arc, aka hedge apple), and dried fruit from what I hope is native western soapberry, but might be invasive chinaberry (will have to wait for springtime leaves to determine).

Truly, I can’t walk without combing … filling my hands with wonder.

Anyway, on to today’s challenges. Yesterday older daughter Meg gifted us with some Faber Castell Gelato sticks, which paired beautifully with one of my current reads …

They can be used as crayons, but can also be applied with water and brush …

Having just read Marti’s comment on Acey’s blog, I was taken by her image with its bit of new-to-me artist Judy Chicago …

Wanting to play on a map grid that would be purely structural, I chose Poland, with its unfamiliar place names, then started painting in the blocks with different colors …

Until I saw it … the dreaded familiar word … place actually … and found myself painting in the color of iron …

Honestly, I just couldn’t help myself.

Then I was on to Acey’s Day 6 prompt:

Okay, so this, with colors that I love, but a somewhat intense composition …

Besides which, I’m not a huge fan of figural forms, so I dug out this used book find and started tearing out strips of like-colored stuff …

at which point things got a little crazy (and totally off-prompt), so I’ll give you the abridged version …

which ended up totally too big to put in my journal, so I copied it on my handy-dandy printer/scanner/copier and only then re-read the prompt and realized how far off I went …

Oh well, what’s done is done … which brings me back to where I started …

Australia on my mind

~ Liz A ~ 12 Comments

I woke today thinking of Australia … thinking of Barry and Fiona, and the ripples of peace they send out to the world … thinking of Mo, who dreams of a world where love is the answer …

Thinking of Australia burning …

The #crayonuary30 challenge, done with beeswax crayon bricks, was a test to see how I might hand-draw circles using the edge of each crayon …

I also wanted to see how the various colors interacted, and fought at times with keeping a smooth line as the edges caught on previously laid arcs of pigment.

And in the end, though I originally envisioned it as the world sending cooling thoughts of water to quench Australia’s droughted land, what I also saw was Earth and Sun, with Earth itself. radiating heat …

Then I was on to Acey’s Day 5 prompt: a diagonal line, a conversation.

Finding rainfall and seasonal temperature maps in the World Atlas, I was struck by the colors trending from cool to warm to hot …

Then by a book cover with an image of time, narrowing …

And finally, a second book cover with darkness falling …

I commented elsewhere that I fear Australia is much like the canary in the mine … and can’t help wondering if humankind will wake in time to save our world, or if it is already too late.

Getting there

~ Liz A ~ 12 Comments

The challenge prompts came easily, much like the journey from working life in Virginia to retired life in Texas …

Today I played with map grids and my our newest toy …

Coloring in places I traveled to or through during my 35 years in Virginia. It was stunning to realize how much I didn’t see or do …

But that chapter of our lives is done and in the books …

Then it was on to Acey’s Day 4 Collage Challenge to “plant a tree.”

I started with a little 4×6 inch landscape created last June during a workshop with Nan Henke, my first serious encounter with watercolor …

and I pulled out yet another book cover (I have three cartons-full from my the years working at the Texas State university library, so they are my go-to resources for now) …

I tore away “faith” and “religion” (yes, that had a real life resonance), leaving “instinct evolved endures.”

Having very much liked the look and feel of Grace’s collage bits, I tore the watercolor into tiny leaf-like crumbs …

then started puzzling through the pieces and glue-sticking them down, until they were mostly gone (now wishing I had taken pictures as I went along, but I was too in the groove to think of that) …

It feels done, although I confess to wondering if I should fill in the “instinct” letters or just leave well-enough alone …

Any thoughts on that?