Collecting the Bits and Bobs
Little treasures all about
Recently I made a start on cleaning up and sorting out my studio, a task that I undertake a few times a year after the end of a productive period of making.
Cleaning up and sorting through my materials helps me to move from one project to the next. It can also sometimes lead to the discovery of little treasures of material that help to inform the next series of work. This time there were lots of scraps of collage paper lying around with loads of potential for art making.
A tiny scrap of paper, with lots of possibilities.
There is just something about these leftover bits, especially the littlest pieces of paper that I just love and can't seem to throw away.
No matter how small and seemingly insignificant I am compelled to store them and save them for later use.
By far the most appealing of these bits and bobs are the small scraps of painted tracing paper used as part of my wet palette set up for acrylic painting. The wet palette is where paint colours are mixed before using them on a painting surface.
When it's time to start with a clean palette, rather than tossing the used palette paper, I save it for use as colourful collage material.
Most often, at the end of a studio day, I just let the palette paper dry as is, but sometimes I spread the paint on the palette so that it is a little thinner and more of a wash of colour.
Every so often, I smoosh the wet paint around on the palette and blend the colours as they are. This technique can make really interesting and unexpected colour combinations and striated patterns.
Gesture and intuition
Once dry, the palette paper yields a mix of colours and gestural marks that have been made without any thinking or planning on my part.
That is really the key for me.
They are essentially hand painted papers, done by my own hand but without any deliberate control on my part. This allows for complete intuition in how the marks are made. Happy accidents happen this way!
When I’m ready to use these scraps in a project, these collage papers readily adhere to a painting with acrylic medium.
And since the tracing paper is translucent, almost transparent, I have the option of using the back of the paper as well. It often has marks on it that are just as engaging.
Once glued down, the collage paper is smoothed in place with a scraper or a brayer roller so that it is firmly stuck to the surface.
Some wrinkling is inevitable...but I don’t mind the wrinkles. It’s textural interest!
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