Art,  WIP Fridays

Of hazy dreams and wind tossed hair…

January 30, 2009

IMG_3458

I love, love collage illustrations. There was a recent article in Somerset Studio (I think) that really inspired me. I've seen illustrations like this in books or print (The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a great example), but I've never really thought about the process. The article in Somerset was eye opening, and to whit, the illustrations were printed large enough that you could actually see the different layers. I think this sort of gets lost in translation when pieces like this are converted to screen printing. Anyways, I knew exactly what I wanted to "play" with this week. It's a lot of fun. For the third week in a row, I've wondered to myself why I've waited so long to give myself permission to explore and play with art…

I definitely want to use this technique again…the cutting and paper is surprisingly forgiving. I know to be a bit more careful with matching different patterns, and to use a glue that is not permanent immediately- a glue that allows a bit of re-sticking before becoming permanent would work much, much better. All the paper pieces came from my scraps from bigger scrap booking projects. I think I will use an x-acto knife next time- the regular scissors didn't allow for a lot of precision. But I am immensely pleased with it- James, watching me at first, was absolutely puzzled as to what I was trying to make. He was so surprised at the end result. I've noticed that no matter how hard I try, I keep leaning towards soft, pastel sort of colors. I've always wondered what my "style" was (at least when it came to scrap booking) and now it is becoming much more apparent with these ATC explorations. I really try not to "think" as I am working, just going with shapes and colors and lines that move me. I evaluate after I am finished…and does this sound strange? I am often surprised at the finished product, because I didn't have a particular goal in mind when I started. But I definitely have a soft, vintage-y/modern thing going on…

One Comment

  • tonia

    January 30, 2009 at 9:25 am Reply

    i hope you’ll keep going with this, Joy. it’s really special!
    isn’t it amazing how freeing creativity is? and yet we stifle it in ourselves…one thing i hope with homeschooling is to help my kids retain that freedom of creating and exploring all their lives.
    keep going! i love your work!

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