This is the second completed page in my “rainbow art journal”. Right now, of course, it isn’t very colourful since I decided to start with absence of colour in the form of black. This page was inspired by my friend Krisje over at her blog, Art is my Favorite Color. She recently blogged about an art journal page where she painted over collage which reminded me that I have not attempted that sort of approach – using a collaged figure as scaffolding – in ages. I, therefore, decided that would be the technique used on this page and I actually remembered to take progress photos. First I laid down a pretty random collage comprising the interior of a security envelope, washi tape, text pages, a figure clipped from a magazine advert, and the labels from a bottle of wine I had consumed that week.
What became evident fairly quickly was that the collage elements became all but lost beneath the black paint, even when it was thinly applied. I just went with it and made a mental note to revisit this technique when using a lighter colour of paint. Perhaps because of the nature of the material, the Honey Beast wine labels were the one collage element that really came through the collage. I was glad because I loved that honey bee design and that then provided me with a theme for my art journal page. I picked out the bee design a bit more by filling it with white gel pen. This was definitely the “ugly stage”.
Once the base layer of acrylic paint was dry, I used other media to layer, refine, and add detail. An art friend had passed me a collection of little stamps on an insect theme and among them was a bee. I stamped this throughout the hair of the figure to tie her to the honey bee and then I used white Posca paint pen to give her bee-like wings. While the technique was not wholly successful, it was fun to do something I had not done in a while and useful to learn that painting over collage does not work so well with very dark colours. That is what my art journal is all about after all – experimentation through fun.
A Pict in PA 
It looks like you had a lot of fun! Love your honey bee girl and it was fun to see your process!
Thanks. I’m glad you like it.
Thanks for sharing Laura. I love that Honey Beast wine label! I will have to pay more attention to our wine bottles. I love how you tied the bees into her hair. Thanks for sharing your process! Deanna
Thank you, Deanna! I actually normally don’t pay much attention to wine labels unless they are particularly striking but I am going to pay more attention in future – and might even choose wine based on the label.
It’s like looking into your own art magazine. By coincidence, I was reading an article in Wine Spectator magazine this weekend, and it discussed “critter label wines.” Guess Honey Beast could be included among the dancing bulls, goats, and yellow tails?
Oooooh! Now I need to track down other beastie wines – just for their labels, of course. 😀
LOL and Vicktory Dog Wines look like you could have painted their labels.
Your finished piece gives a whole new meaning to ‘Beehive’ hair style 🙂
Thank you! I am glad you see the wit in it.
This is just fantastic.
Thank you!
Good job!! It’s a fun piece! Did you put a barrier between your collage and the black paint? I often put a layer of gel medium between my collage and any paint I put on top because the gel medium allows me to “wipe off” some of the color on top to reveal elements below most clearly. I’m with the commentators above – need to drink more wine and look at the labels! Lol!
Yes. Gel medium and some clear gesso. I find it stops the various papers from pilling since there’s a variety of qualities and it does make it easier to wipe off excess. Despite that, the black paint was too saturated to allow much of the collage layer to show through. I may try again with watered down paint.
I think you did a great job! I like gel medium too – not tried the clear gesso yet. Looking forward to seeing what you do next!
Clear gesso is a bit grittier than normal gesso. That can make it a bit of a pain for layering on top of. It’s useful stuff though. I’m going to treat myself to some black gesso at some point too.
I’ll have to try the gesso! Thanks for the suggestion!
This is a success! I love the bee cloud around her head!
Thank you. I enjoyed just letting this one evolve on the page.
creatively made!
Thank you.