Reviving your art- Unleash your creativity with the magic of collage

Funky Medusa

  Reviving your art

Unleash your creativity with the magic of collage

     Over several months in 2023, I did quite a lot of artistic experimentation. As I closed out the year, I made a few discoveries about myself. Some I feel I already knew; some took me by surprise.

     My one big surprise was that as much as I love viewing realism, I don’t love making it. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a learning curve for everything and there will be growing pains with any new endeavor, but it became quite clear what I did, and more importantly, what I did not, like to create.

     Then I started watching artists create collages. At first, I wasn’t sure how I could incorporate it into my work, I do figurative pieces and everything that I was seeing was either a total abstract or a landscape. How could I take such a hodgepodge of torn paper and recreate it into a human form?

     What I found that works for me is to use it in conjunction with other mediums like acrylic and oils. I had been feeling restrained in my creativity and found that if I loosened up and started with a free-flowing approach like intuitive painting with acrylics and then switched to collage and then finished up with oils, I not only revived my interest in the art process but also my creativity. Art was once again fun!

     So far, I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. I’ve started using Mulberry paper and printed tissue paper in the environments surrounding my figures. It gives a warm depth that paint alone doesn’t achieve. Now I find myself thinking of all sorts of things to add. Paper doilies, torn pages from old poetry books, fabric, and failed paintings on watercolor paper. I’ve even thought about making my own printed tissue paper, that way I know the colors will merge and mix in harmony. There is no limit to what can be accomplished once you get started.

     Now, when I look at some of my earlier paintings, I have to fight the urge to go back and add collage to them!

     For now, the strips of paper have been confined to the surrounding environment. But I know that sooner or later I’ll be attempting to add collage to the faces and bodies of my work.

Will it work? Or will I find the lack of control to be distractive to the overall aesthetic of the piece?

     I like my faces to be clear, the focal point of the work, but who knows? Maybe I’ll find a way to please my desire to accurately portray the human form while incorporating the unpredictability of collage.

     With most things I’ve started, I’m attempting to tackle collage on the timid side, adding only small amounts of paper to my canvas. My first attempt: Funky Medusa, has only a few layers, while my subsequent work, Down Among the Flowers, has layer upon layer of paper. Each one adds to the depth and overall feel of the work. I realize now, that just like with acrylics and oils, the more you layer, the more satisfying the result will be.

     There are no mistakes, just opportunities to learn and reflect on the layer before. I try to keep at least a small window open to the past, to the layer beneath, but only if I feel it adds to the work.

     During all this experimentation, I’ve also been working on more in-depth videos to show you the process, like the one I just released showing the time-lapse of Down Among the Flowers. I managed to condense four and a half hours of painting into just under an hour. To be honest, I’m not sure how many people will want to sit through that long of a video, but it’s a learning curve to see what hits and what doesn’t.

Down Among the Flowers

     Everyone learns differently, some like listening to a lecture, some like reading a “How To” book, me, I learn so much better simply watching someone work than I ever have reading about it. I’m a visual person, and I would love to help others learn this form of art by watching me. I also want people to know that you can use collage for more than just landscapes and abstract work. The human figure is illuminated using collage!

     When all is said and done, I think that artistic experimentation is how we all grow as artists. You, like me, might surprise yourself when you see that what you thought you wanted to create turns out to be something completely different. Not wrong, just different, and that’s okay.

     We all need to realize that without pushing ourselves, without questioning our prejudiced views about what is and isn’t art, how will we know what truly makes us happy? What processes give us joy, and what just ends up feeling like work? We should all be creating the kind of art that sings to us and makes us excited to step into the studio. The kind of art that we would make if money wasn’t an issue and we had no expectations of creating the next Mona Lisa (unless you want to!)    

     I think if we all did this, if we created for ourselves and the pure joy it gives us then that would be something worth seeing –in my opinion, that’s what makes good art, great!