Monday, October 8, 2012

Okay, I'm back --

As you can imagine, the last couple of weeks have been very hectic!  Now I have a breather until the 20th, when I do Open Studios again.

The people who came were lovely -- all very nice and interested in art.  I talked about my work for hours and hours, which is a very nice thing, I can tell you.  I sold some pieces, which is great, but they told us that the money isn't really an important thing -- it's nice, but there are other benefits, such as making contacts with people who can help you get to the next step.

So today was pretty much a day of rest, though I had to get going on the work for my new collage class.  I'm in the second quarter, so we're supposed to choose a theme; mine is "illuminated manuscripts."  The teacher told me to do three quick collages as a warm-up, and I decided to do them digitally.


This is the first one I did -- my idea is to combine my photography (the dahlia in the center) with other elements.  I want to include text and border elements that will give a nod to the decorations of illuminated manuscripts.  Other than that, I'm wingin' it.

 
This is the second one I did -- it combines a picture I took of cows, text, barbed wire looking like grasses, I think, a border of names of cattle breeds, a sunflower and cowbirds in the corners.  I'm happy with this one.

The third one is full of flowers -- for some odd reason, the very favorite post of all time on this blog is about Flora, the Goddess of Flowers.  Every week, people search for that term and wind up at my blog.  So here's my thanks to all those folks who have stopped by:


I'm not sure that this one has a real focal point, but I'm pretty happy with the energy in it.

Here's my question -- I did these digitally, which is great as far as it goes, but I'd like to do them non-digitally.  The thing is, what's cool about making it in Photoshop and you can vary the opacity and use the various blend modes.  How would I do that with paper?  I guess I could try using transparencies, and tissue paper and so on, but I'd have to do a lot of experimenting.

Anybody have ideas for me?  Who's done collage?  

9 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

i recognize that cow and calf. they hang on my office wall. :)

Elise Ann Wormuth said...

:) Those cows have gotten me a long way down the road . . .

momto8 said...

I love your work! illuminated manuscripts at its best!!!

Buckeroomama said...

This class you're taking sounds like fun. I like the first one you came up with,

Anonymous said...

I've never done collages like these so I'm not the best helper. I love what you did but my favorite is the cows collage. so warm colors, so much details. I'm happy you're making contacts, your non-digital work must be very interesting too. xxo

Candy C. said...

Very nice work! I love the cows and the barbed wire looks like grass to me! :)

Mary said...

Those are some lovely graphics. Very well done. I like the Asian look with flowers particularly.

Tammy said...

These are really cool. I especially like the one with the cows.

Tammy said...

This post has been on my mind since I read it the other day. I have been thinking how fun it would be to make a poster/ collage of our trip to Yellowstone - so much better than a photo album! So, you have inspired me and I thank you. I must admit, though, I have no idea where to begin, and have limited expertise with photoshop. Open to suggestion :)