The Big Collage part 2

Having just reminded myself of where I'd got to in the last post, I'm going to explain the next steps I took in creating one of the biggest pieces of art work I've yet attempted. As a side note on that, the canvas I worked on was a present from Matt and Fran and it had been sitting in my cupboard, intimidating me forover a year. It looked HUGE! However, after being on the Foundation course for nearly three terms, and getting used to working on A1 (shock, horror!) size paper, the canvas almost (almost!) seemed to small! Anyway, here's the next step.

I had to work from the back forwards for the next part. These flowers are photographs taken by me and Adrian at different times. I didn't worry about scale, but did try to get a balance of colours. The shape was also important.

To make the tree trunk look textured I started with corregated card, but I didn't want straight lines. I used gardening string to create the bark including a knot hole!

Next step was to add the photographs that I wanted appearing from with the foliage. I also added another secret message, which I will not reveal even now.

I sketched out the extent of the leaves using white pastel as it could easily be removed from the painted surface.

The trunk of the tree was painted with acrylic paint.

I then started to add the leaves, which are made from screwed up tissue paper in two shades of green.

The finished leaf canopy. I left the gaps to make it seem a little more realistic and less like a lollipop.

The flower beds seemed odd. There was no demarcation between them and the lawn, so I decided to add some stones.

Keen to use what ever was to hand I used a cereal packet to create stones in a range of different sizes.

I then painted to stones with acrylic paint. I tried not to mix the colours too much, so I could get a stone effect.

The picnic table was created using fabric and wire that came from a wine bottle. I twisted three strands of the very thin wire and then made the legs. I tried to get a sense of perspective but realised I should have made the table top more rounded.

The table was positioned on the lawn.

The tree trunk looked too unifrom in colour so I used oil pastels over the paint. This helped create a real depth to the trunk.

My favourite of the ten abstract collages I had done at the beginning of this project included lots of little pockets. I wanted to use the same here, but it just looked like someone had dropped a load of litter in the garden. Time to think again.

I decided to use stones around the tree trunk.

I also decided that instead of packets I would make some evnvelopes. I found a net on the web and made green envelopes in 3 different sizes.

Although the envelopes originally had flaps I cut those off as they seemd to be intrusive. I wrote little nots to put in the envelopes which included the date of my marriage, the first paragraph from The Wind in the Willows, Bible verses and some thoughts of my own.

This is the nearly finished piece! It is awaiting photos of a teapot and our favourite cups to go on the table.

 I was so pleased with this collage. It is colourful, romantic, whimsical - things I have always longed to have in my art work. I love that there are hidden messages which can never be seen again, other than in photos. I love that there are messages which the viewer is invited to read, and which can be changed. It is a very personal piece and I feel that it has helped me develop greatly as an artist. I would definitely work in this way again.