The second week of Life Book rolled around super quickly and it was another week crammed full of creativity and learning with two lessons on offer. The first lesson was taken by Ivy Newport whose Grace and Ivy blog I follow here on WordPress. The art element of the lesson involved constructing a collage from scraps of this and that, including a figure, painting over collage and incorporating metallic elements. I used pages from a magazine and from a home furnishings catalogue for my collage material. I found I was drawn to deep blues and I also picked out some images with gold detailing. It was late at night when I adhered the elements to the paper and I was tired so that helped me just get it all stuck down rather than being too controlling about it and it ending up looking contrived.
As the photo of the woman was monochrome, I kept the flesh tones cooled down with greys and blues. I then used blue, white and gold paint to cover the rest of the composition, permitting bits of the collage to peek through. I really enjoyed the process of this lesson and am happy with the gold against the deep blue. However, I have given the female figure a rather heavy jawline and I have not managed to get the whole composition to cohere. I think this might be a lesson I return to and have another attempt at.
A Pict in PA 
I think your composition looks amazing Laura, and the gold and dark blue colour combination is amazing 🙂
Thank you very much. I think maybe the whole piece would have worked better had I been able to gradually blend the different colours together where they met but my paint was drying really quickly today because of the heat being on in the house.
Personally speaking, I really like the abrupt change of colours, they are such a contrast. But it is annoying when you are trying to create a certain effect, and something such as the heating stops you from achieving that effect!
Well I’m not sure I would have been able to hold the paintbrush if I had not had the heating on. 😀
LOL!!! 🙂
I think that’s a really smart idea when determining what to paint and the subject matter. I love the interaction between the colors and the scheme you chose too!
Thank you very much. I do like that blue and gold combination and can see me using it again.
I have always wanted to do this exercise and here it is! Your colour choices agree with my eye very much, and while the jaw is a tad masculine, the end result is rather reminiscent of Gaugin 🙂
Thank you for your kind words.
I just like it.
I really like the size of the face you used, Laura! I took too much time flipping pages through magazines looking for just the right images. My girl’s face was too small and the clear gesso kept coming off. I had to stop before I made a hole in the paper. You’ll see it was not one of my best work,
I thought I would struggle to paint over a small face so I deliberately looked for one that was larger. I like what it did to the composition too. I am happy with the face element (other than giving her a heavier jaw) but could have done a much better job with the other collage elements and integrating them with each other. If I somehow find the time, this is one I will definitely do-over. I look forward to seeing your version!
Now, now, Laura, you are being too critical. I think when you outlined the jaw, you took some of the shadow and that is why it looks heavy. Otherwise, you are doing great!
I think your collage pieces blended well with one another. Your choice of colors helped a lot. In my opinion, the paint over gave the collage piece a breath of life and sunshine.
Thanks, Carrie Lynn. I definitely like the colour combination and find it pleasing. I just find the collage elements a bit disjointed. I guess its not bad for a first attempt.
yes, considering that its your first time to do collage, not bad, not bad at all. There is a big room for improvement and I look forward to your next attempt if ever you wish to make another one. 🙂