Fun with scissors and glue!

Last week I went to a "Collage Art and Mixed Media Workshop" at the local community college, AB tech. It was taught/facilitated by a local artist, Ursula Gullow and there were just 5 of us in the workshop, so we had plenty of opportunities to network together and explore our creative sides.

I came away with two collages, both using some copies of old postcards that I had brought with me.

This first collage started with some woven paper, a technique that Ursula demonstrated, however by the time I completed it, there was very little of the paper weaving showing. Another technique that we were encouraged to explore was stenciling and I used this extensively to fill my background space. I also used some printed lutrador and then finished the entire piece with a wash of diluted glue tinted with some brown paint. I found that the wash tended to "antique" the entire piece and that seemed to enhance the overall "aged look" suggested by the vintage postcards. The collage was mounted on a canvas board which I chose because I felt that due to its size, a piece of poster paper would have been too flimsy.

My goal was to try to use collage in a piece that was primarily fabric, so I had brought a piece of white muslin taped onto a piece of foam core and I used that for my second piece. This piece uses painted fabric, printed lutrador, some ribbon and some paper strips. I attached everything with glue and then when I got home, I removed the fabric from the foam core and fused it to a piece of batting and did some surface quilting to make sure everything was attached. I did a little bit of thread painting to extend the brown paper lattice. It is approximately 11 inches square and I'm not sure what the next step will be. I would like to embellish it further... maybe some beads?

I enjoyed the workshop very much. Ursula did a great job inspiring and encouraging us. She demonstrated several techniques that she finds useful when constructing mixed media pieces and encouraged each of us to use them, if we chose, in our projects. It was a fun day!