"Hope"

Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.


Emily Dickinson

Another Bird!

This is a larger collage, still following the "Hope" theme as in my earlier series of mini-collages. I used a 9' x 12" gesso board, again with a combination of collage, image transfer and fun paint techniques. My first image transfer attempt failed, so I painted over it with acrylic paint and did an acrylic paint transfer. To get the droplets and texture effect in the background, I sprayed dishwater suds into the wet paint. I love the effect it creates!

The first photo shows the partially completed collage, with the image transfer in progress. I used an inkjet print, painted the collage surface, and the surface of the image, then pressed the image down into the paint to dry for a few hours. 

Next you can see the completed collage, with the transferred bird image. I used a meadowlark because I often saw and heard their beautiful song in my childhood. 

I love the paint image transfer technique. It's quite easy to do and the end result is not too perfect nor is it immediately recognized as a photographic image. To me the effect is quite interesting and visually pleasing. The vine and leaves to the left of the bird were stenciled on a page from an old book, then enhanced with drawing. I also drew and painted, as well as collaged some other similar, but not identical leaves to balance the composition. 

A mixed media collage series

I've recently been in a collage and mixed media frenzy! At first, I was primarily experimenting with techniques and materials, as some of them are new to me. Sooner or later, it comes time to take the next step and create some finished pieces. The following are a series of collages, loosely based on a lovely Emily Dickinson poem entitled "Hope."

I used 4"x 4" canvases, so these are definitely mini-collages. I used ink-jet image transfers for the bird images, together with a variety of other papers and paint effects. It was definitely a satisfying endeavor to move beyond exercise to creating finished collages!