Composition and Collage

 I'm into my second week of a four week Composition for Collage online workshop at Big Picture Classes. The class is being run by Claudine Helmuth, who is a seriously cool illustrator and collage artist and an excellent teacher. I love to learn and I must say that this class has really challenged me, mostly because I often don't think of composition before I do something and also because I normally draw or paint rather than collage. It's been fun though and has inspired me to think about different ways of putting art together.

The first composition I did I used lettering as my starting point. It's an asymetrical composition.This was fun because I haven't done lettering for ages! This lettering is actually a copy of some brush lettering in one of my calligraphy books, except I've done this with a chalk pastel pencil. I've done the lettering on some leftover Basic Grey scrapping paper, and have added depth with a brown Conte Crayon. The embellishments and letters are from my scrapping stash - collage is a great way to use things.

My second collage is a horizon composition using a low horizon. I seriously struggled with this because every time I thought of something it included a real horizon like grass, sky, etc. In the class we are given downloads that we can print and use or use digitally. Many of them are black and white and have a 1920s feel. Now while I love Vienna Design in the 1920s, I don't immediately love photographic images. So, instead of deliberating for too long I scanned in one of my own drawings and re-sized and printed and used it for the basis of my collage. It was fun because I'm still using my own stuff. Everything I do seems to have to have a story and I think by using my own images I'm able to relate the story better, maybe because I feel connected to the artwork I've previously created.

I have two more ideas for horizon composition, one using Bubble Lady shown in this post and one using lettering. The problem at the moment is time. I'm trying to organise my Masters stuff - how is it I accumulated so many random pieces of paper! I also have work I'm trying to churn out before school holiday. So we'll see how it goes. I also have another book to show, this time a Baby Book. So until next time. Happy creating.