(Don't forget to comment on any post between now and February 1 submit your request to win a collage in my one-year blog anniversary giveaway. See yesterday's post for details.)
I have yet to apply one speck of paint to a canvas. . . it's like I have some sort of mental paralysis. I know I need to get to work, but I have no inspiration. I can't even make a decent collage. However, I did take a couple of pieces of scrap canvas, probably about 9" x 12", and collage papers to it using the Liquitex gloss medium and varnish. The collages themselves aren't very good, but I may be reduced to showing them to you anyway, unless I get busy today. But the good news is that should I decide to incorporate collage elements into my paintings, I think they will stick. After the canvases had dried, I tugged and pulled on them in every direction, rolled them up, and just generally abused them and the papers held tight.
Then I had the brilliant idea of trying to recreate one of the small collages in a larger size on canvas. I taped around the edge of another scrap canvas, glued down all the elements, and when I was finished, I used an exacto knife to cut away any stray papers that were glued on top of the tape. How brilliant was that? I not only cut away the stray papers, I also cut through the tape, through the canvas, and into the pink styrofoam surface of my paint table. Then to try to save the thing, I trimmed off all the remaining bits of canvas and turned it upside down on my table. I used my brayer on the backside to make sure everything was flat and attached. Unfortunately the collage was still damp from the gloss medium, and when I picked up the collage, a lot of it stayed stuck to the paint table. So that collage is a total disaster. What was I thinking? Apparently, I wasn't thinking at all.
I saw a tape of John Updike on TV, reading one of his essays, about golf. Updike apparently had the true fanatic's love of the game. We live on a golf course, and our house gets hit with the stray hook or slice occasionally. Updike made those golfing mishaps sound intellectual. I can't believe that I have never read even one of his books. I intend to change that soon.
.jpg)
8 comments:
Hi Mary I have been enjoying your adventures on canvas... I am trying to collage on canvas too. i can't be much help since i am just learning, but maybe we can compare notes. And I'd love to take part in the giveaway.
Well at least now you have a really cool collaged styrofoam surface!
Mary,
There has to be something you can use from today's adventures. When I have a day like you had today, there is usually some little nugget of information I can take away from it to use in another project. Patience is always tested when it comes to drying time. I use papers on canvas all the time. Sometimes I have up to seven layers built up. Where I work on stretched canvas, I sometimes have difficulty pressing to adhere the papers. Your idea of working on unstretched canvas solves this problem. Something to think about.
Of course I want to be considered in the give away. I'm not very lucky with such things but there's always a first time. Choosing a work will be the hardest part if I was lucky.
One of the "rules" to being creative is not to fear failure. I say turning your wet collage over and afixing it to your work table is a great experiement! Sounds like a brilliant day!
Wildeve: Thanks for your comment. I really like your collages, and we can compare notes any time.
Jazz: Your cup is definitely half full, isn't it? Thanks for the smile this morning.
Margaret, you are hereby considered "considered". . . Once again, I think the nugget of information I learned is to at least think about what I'm doing. I mean, I knew that the surface was wet, but I just didn't think it through. I also learned about which ones of my papers are likely to fall apart, and perhaps to try to be neater in my collages so that I won't have to cut five inches deep into my painting table. Yep, you're right, always learn something, even from my mistakes.
Leslie, I do fear failure, at least in a public setting. However, failure in my basement is another story. I don't fear it, it just seems such a waste of time and resources to screw something up so badly. But as I commented to Margaret, I did learn a few things, so all's good, right?
Post a Comment