It's been about a year and a half since I started meeting once a week with a group of friends who happen to be like minded about their art. Most of us met at Yoga class. The yoga class is made up of over 60% creatives. Coincidence? Anyway, I didn't mean to get off track. I started to explain how important belonging to an art group is to artistic growth…. besides forming wonderful friendships, your art friends can encourage, inspire, trade tips and techniques, offer constructive advice and keep you focused on your art. But most important…you learn from each other!!! This is true whether you are involved in an on-line Facebook or Flickr group, an on-line class or if you meet in person in a classroom or with a group of art friends. Art friends are best!!! Yay! Rah Rah! Rah! (The "Art Friends Are Best" cheer. lol)
I just love my art friends! Without them I would be stuck somewhere trying to decide what to do next. Add more color, shading, highlights, embellishments, etc…..
Take for example my collage of the girl with the globe head. Of all the collages that I have done, it is perhaps one of the least inspiring. I don't know why but I had a hard time getting started. So I did what I always do when I feel that way…I put pen to paper and added some dots here and there. If I "prime the pump," unusually one thing will lead to another and before I know it, the collage will begin to take form. But this one….I got all the way to the point where the background needed some patterning and stopped! Then my friend Judy pointed out that she would like to see the lines from the grid below the flower continue through the background. Something that I hadn't thought of. (This is where the harps play and butterflies are released in the universe.) Anyway, I added some lighter curvy lines and fell in love with the piece! Something so simple but yet so powerful…it was the glue that tied it all together!
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| Collage before embellishing |
Let me tell you about some of the challenges with this piece. You can see from the before picture that the collage lacked color and vibrancy. Except for a little pop of red and yellow, the collage is pretty much monochromatic….brown and tans. Also, the collage pieces themselves seem dull….so the first thing that I did was to liven up the collage pieces with pops of neon gel pens and Prismacolor pencils. I added highlights and shading to give them depth. Then I added some cool tones with the touches of blue and the green vine. I completely colored the face and hands using Prismacolor pencils and lastly, I added shading to the background using a dark brown Prismacolor pencil and a red Faber Castell gelato. The light tan curvy lines were painted with a Molotow Paint Marker. I love these markers, they write on everything and are permanent when dry!!!
If you have any questions about the techniques…please feel free to ask! I love to share! Or….maybe you have a technique that you would like to share!
Until next time!
Hugs,
Ginny
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