So, I find myself doing collage and applying that with some mixed media techniques, more and more now. I came to it really because of life circumstances, how I was travelling a lot and just had to use whatever resources were available to hand. That would quite often be junk and bits of paper I would find here there and everywhere, and being able to marry those together with the very, very limited art supplies I could carry around with me in my rucksack or my small suitcase.
So, it was really that that drove me to look at ‘What can I do if I’ve got very little resources?’ and certainly not a studio. The best I could access was probably a kitchen table if I was lucky.
I investigated, did some research online about creating collage and different approaches. Something else I did was really have a good look through Pinterest. I got so many bits of inspiration from looking at other people’s collage images and how very, very different they could be. From really expressive and Dali-like kind of collage, through to other things that were very simple, or Matisse-like, which is a totally different approach.
I’m still learning really. I did manage to sign up for a couple of collage classes here and there, and every one of those has given me some other insights about the sophistication of glue and applying techniques – putting stuff on top so that your collage doesn’t fall to bits as you move it around and so on.
And I have to say, this is the thing that I’m really, really enjoying just now because it’s so unexpected what comes out. It’s a different approach to painting, where you’re deliberately, usually anyway with me, I’m deliberately applying colour to have a certain effect. That may evolve as time and the art piece emerges or evolves, but it’s very much a conscious choice, mostly of what you place where.
Whereas I find with collage, it’s sort of more accidental and you find putting something on top of something else may obliterate what you’ve just done, totally. Or if you use tea bag paper for example, it may just slightly mute it and so a very, very different approach to creating something. And yeah, just letting it emerge and see what comes out really.
And I suppose that’s a reflection of how life is for me, in a way, really at the moment. Just go with the flow of it to see what turns up and work with what you’ve got. So that’s my, that’s my tip really. Never feel, never feel constrained by your circumstances. There’s always a way to play with creative approaches using different techniques. You just need to be a bit creative about how to go about it. Enjoy.
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