working toward collages
Lately I feel like I’ve been stuck in neutral, trying to get some new work going. Since I need to get collages finished for the cancer research fundraiser (more on that two posts down) by the end of the month, I decided to do some experimenting on different media to hopefully spur some ideas for future artwork and may be use some of what I make into the collages. So, for the past few days, I’ve been giving myself a little time each night to work on some ideas.

I started with a line digital line drawing and printed it on fabric that I discharged with bleach.

I then tried some different colorways, making the color adjustments using Photoshop.

And another.
And another.
This is another try, on a larger piece of fabric. I printed it using my Epson Stylus Pro 7900. The printer is fussy. If it senses one thing off, it spits out the paper. In other words, it’s important that the bottom and sides be perfectly straight. I’m always a bit nervous using that printer. At times I think I should have kept my 7600. At least with it, I didn’t worry about whether I’d break something. However, I am hoping that eventually I come to love the printer and stop worrying about breaking it. (Did I mention my good lens was just returned from Nikon? I dropped it – again. My latest camera body is also at Nikon getting fixed. And I’m on my third flash because, well, I dropped one and can’t find the other.) Initially the printer only printed about 4 inches before kicking out the paper. I then went back to the digital file, tried to estimate how much printed, sectioned off that area, and filled it with white. I then printed on the same piece again. I like the overprinting.

This is the same design but printed on tyvec cloth. On this, I added some random squiggles.

The same image again, but printed on a thin lutrador. It’s very sheer, so I put it top of the other print and placed a piece of watercolor paper that I painted with Procion dye in a bright yellow mix between the two.

Here’s a close-up. I like what’s going on here and am pondering what I can do with this stuff.

I also printed several pieces of thin metal. Some I bent up, like the one on the lower right. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them, if anything, but my goal was to print a variety of things on different media.

Here’s the same design again, printed on a light weight lutrador. It’s sitting on a piece of cloth tyvec that I painted with metallics.

Here are some of the cloth tyvec with metallic paint pieces, but I hit them with heat to scrunch them up. I may over-paint them, depending on what, if anything, I end up doing with them.

This is a double print on tyvec. The first time, the tyvec was used as a base when I printed a sheer.

At this point I’m playing around with things. The color of the tape measure add a good splash of color, and I like some of the sections of print have some possibilities. I can see some of the lines being extended with hand stitching and paint. I’m pondering all kinds of things. Will I get any of it into a collage? No idea. I may end up tossing it all in a pile with other experiments. But at least I’m doing something to get the juices going. And, because I have a due date for the collages, I also got sidetracked and continued on with another series of designs that are still on paper and in my computer. Will any of it be made into new artwork? Who knows.






December 8th, 2010 at 7:13 am
Wow Gloria. That seems like alot of work, I hope it helps.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:04 am
You and me both, Melly!
December 15th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Hello Gloria,
My first time to your blog, I love all of the information. Thank you for sharing so much, you truly are a “giver”. I purchased your book as soon as it was published, it is wonderful.
This post is great, I love seeing the progression and how the designs/colors are changed. Can’t wait to see what you do with these pieces.
I will have to link to you on my blog.
Best to you,
Sondra
December 18th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Thanks Sondra!