Layers in a composition can move in mysterious, unexpected, and wonderful ways.
Little unassuming scraps, like these on my worktable, can add transformative depth to a composition. (Note: one of these pieces is tissue paper, one is sheer polyester fabric. They collage together well.)
Making layers is simply a matter of putting one thing on top of another. Now there is a foreground and a background.
Finding them and placing them, for me, is a matter of experimentation. I tried a lot of other things in a recent paper collage, finally settling on these components.
Here’s a finished-work detail:
The area marked 1 is a little scrap of sheer polyester, much like the one on my worktable. It had some paint on it – some solid graduating to a watercolor wash appearance. When I collaged it on top of the burnt-sienna hue of the rice paper behind it, a nice richness was added.
The area marked 2 is the yellow-olive monoprinted tissue paper from my worktable. I cut the top edge with a clean edge, which provided a ledge for that little sheer fabric piece to rest on. I used a torn-edge roughness along the bottom where the tissue overlapped a piece of yellow muslin.
I think all those pieces talk to each other nicely.
The area marked 3 is another piece of painted sheer polyester. The background is a semitransparent teal blue. The white lines in it are a screen-printed pattern of branches. This was the outside of a big circle I had cut and placed in another collage
I love being able to see the printed oval pattern of the paper behind it showing through the teal. And this shape made a nice corner.
Finally, one more section of this work with a different method of layering:
This pattern is one of my hand-cut stencils, printed directly onto the almost completed collage. I think it adds both energy and a unifying presence across several unrelated areas.
The vertical column of squares is stamped in the same color. Together, they push the other elements to the back. I also like the way those squares provide a corner element in the whole composition.
What I discover in small paper-fabric collaged works influences my way of thinking when I return to large quilted works. Almost always, when a section or a whole piece just isn’t working, it’s because it’s just not done. A layer or two on top can be just what’s needed.
. . . .
Two-week countdown for me till DeLand’s Fall Festival of the Arts. It’s always a top-quality and enjoyable event. Please come visit if you can.
One more thought for those readers with whom I have commiserated over the last several years about our nation’s politics: Tuesday’s election was a breath of much-needed hope. Good things are possible!
. . . . . .
For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.
Be part of doing it.
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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