Mini Tutorial!

Hmmm, I am writing this post, but as yet unsure whether I will publish it or not!
A few people have asked me how to "do collage". This is like asking someone how they paint! I don't know how I do it - I just do it! But, I thought I would have a little try at a blog post, to explain - mostly through pictures. I am no teacher....but I will do my best!

So I decided I would do something simple: a lemon. Except that a lemon did not turn out to be simple at all - not least because yellow seems to be the least common colour in my whole stash of magazines!! Nevertheless.....here goes!

So, this lemon! If you look at it, you may see as well as yellow, there are shades of orange, lime green and ochre there.

I started by drawing the outline and began to fill in - start with your basic light and shade. I often end up with layer upon layer of paper or fabric, so you neednt worry if its wrong at this stage (this is why I am hopeless at watercolour - when you have to get it right first-time!)

I like to use pieces of paper with a bit of text on. I try and use the line of the text to follow the form of the object.

Personally I prefer to rip my paper, but you can create lovely collages using little squares cut with scissors.

White tissue paper is a staple for me: I often use it in landscape to make the background seem further away, or take the vibrancy down a notch.

Almost finished. I feel that I overworked this, normally I would use half as many pieces, but hey-ho! I never claimed to be perfect!!

And there you have it! Not my best piece of work, but hopefully you get the idea!
Maybe I have inspired you to have a try? If so, I would love to see (yours will probably be better than mine!) Leave a link on here if you make a collage of your own!

Happy creating folks!!

Latest collage work

It's been a while since I've done any collages, and it has been great to work in this way again: using scraps of old magazines to build up scenes like this one of Polperro.

It's the second one I have done of this popular harbour village - you can see my first effort here.

This one was commissioned by a friend of mine who is moving away and wants a reminder of beautiful Cornwall.

My favourite bit is the reflections....

I have a couple more commissions in the pipeline (which I will share will you in due course, naturally!) and I also have to produce a couple more, because I am going to exhibit in a real-life exhibition!! This is a big deal for me, because I haven't exhibited in a real-life exhibition since my degree show......um, 18 years ago!

So, I'm going to be busy.....but of course, that's the way I like it!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

2012

Well of course it has been for over a fortnight now, but it has taken me a little while to get back in the swing of things! I hope you all had a fun/relaxing time over the festive period (already feels an age ago!) Seems a little late to be wishing you all a Happy New Year - but I do hope it will be a great one for you guys!

Of course, as soon as Christmas is over, we are bombarded with gumpf about Valentines Day! I remember this time two years ago, I made this seahorse mobile (thought it was quite a nice, non-traditional theme for Valentines, as seahorses mate for life) but never took it any further. So this year I have tweaked it a little and popped them in my shops on Folksy and Etsy.

The colours/fabrics in this one were requested by a customer...

The mobile casts a gorgeous shadow on the wall....
Other Valentine offerings include the caged love-birds which seem to be popular all year round!
I have 3 orders for them at the moment, and while I should have been finishing the first one last week, I had the urge to make this little fellow...

...and then a little racing friend for him!

Not sure what inspired them exactly, I think it was the gorgeous fabric ('Echo' by designer Lotta Jansdotter). Anyway people seemed to like them and they sold after I posted a picture on Facebook.

If you are anything like me, then January is definitely time for home improvements! I think it's because the house looks so bare after the decorations have come down. Last week I painted the lounge (looks so fresh and clean now, doubt it will last long!) and Steve sank this fab piece of driftwood into the plaster above the fireplace, which had always seemed a bit stark before - the wood really warms it up, I think!

I picked up this mirror at our local junk shop for a fiver - gotta love a bargain!! The knitted corsage hides the nasty brass picture hook!

And finally, look at what lovely Steve made me as an extra Chrimbo pressie! Authentic lobster markers are available from Bringing The Outside In.... but I love my "pretend" ones just as much!