collaged atc's; cut it up, stick it down

Collage is mostly about cutting ( or tearing) up an image and using it in a composition to create a pleasing or meaningful piece of art. This weeks challenge in Artful Ideas on Flickr, was to cut up an image and then rearrange it to create an ATC.

I toyed with the idea for some time and decided to use images of some old paintings for this challenge and repurpose ( if that's the word) the art. I printed out some small scale images ( atc size) from some larger works ( of the order of 12 x 16 inches) and played around with the possibilities. There may be more to come having got this far, but the entries to the challenge are shown below:-

For the first atc, I simply cut up an image of a pastel portrait and then stuck the pieces down on a background paper. I did not consider actually taking out any of the original image so that what you see is a sort of expanded ( or exploded) image. I could have taken out some of the image from the cut areas and left the overall size of the image intact, but with bits missing. I intend to try this with the same image and see how it compares. I have been told that the emotion in the face is changed by this first procedure, I wonder how it will be affected by the second.

The second atc was more involved. I cut up two different landscapes, a welsh village and a seashore scene and then put them back together fairly randomly. The main image was a figure study cut up and reassembled to seem as if it is floating on the backdrop.

I enjoyed this challenge and as I said will be playing with it to create a few more atc's in different ways, thanks for your time.

getting down and digital

Still not able to get to my "srudio" because of the knee so have taken to using the PC and doing a little digital art work. Both of these were for  challenges on PDA ( paper and digital art by Kim) and make use of the free images offered by Kim Newberg. One of the useful things about these challenges is that Kim gives a months worth of themes in advance and therefore there is plenty of time to get to grips with the composition and then the business of actually doing the work.

I call this "Das Eugen Haben Sie" my poor translation for "The eyes have it". It is in german because the background text ( lyrics) are in german - seemed right, somehow. The background / eyes and the vintage gentleman are available free on PDA. The girls faces are from the Flickr collage group

This one I seemed to go mad with. The background is actually a montage of 4 images from the flickr collage group, by ArtByChristi and luvs2create2. I rather liked the way it turned out and for a while wasn't sure that i wanted to cover it - always a danger for me. The vintage lady was from frannie60, and the borders and tags from Norma Frances, again from the flickr group. The ivy and the vintage doll image was from PDA.

Hope to get back to sticking things down soon, but I have an X-ray arranged and may have to have a knee replacement. keeping my fingers crossed. In the mean time I guess that there will be more digital art work coming from me.

PS just realised the german is worse than I thought... eyes is augen not as I have spelt it on the card, oh well I will correct it asap.

out of action - almost

I am currently suffering from a knee which won't do as it is told. I recently twisted it in a fall whilst gardening and it has set off my arthritis. A problem because my craft space/studio is in my roof space and requires an athletic ladder climb. In other word I can't reach my bits and pieces. Oh nasty missus!

But today I managed to get along to a spring fayre at the residential home where MIL is now living. All profits go to the residents to provide the littlte extras, so one has to spend, spend and spend again on these ocassions. Now I have recently bought " Secrets of Rusty Things" by Michael de Meng. Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art I was knocked out by his approach and the art works he creates; I would recommend this as a good read even if you never intend to do more than papercrafting - it is so inspiring. I have decided to try out some assemblage art and aquired a few frames and an old barometer at this fayre. I also bought another old book, a book of poetry from 1920. Just the ticket for adding textual background material. Here are a few photos of my aquisitions:-

 The largest frame is about 6 inches high

 The diameter of the barometer is about 4 inches

 An awful colour but some nice vintage poetry


I will of course be posting details of my experiments with this "NEW" art media. My first real attempt at real 3-D art was the mermaids garden - I feel I have learned a lot since then, so am expecting great things a la MdM - watch this space.

return of the atc's

Not getting too many atcs done of late but here are a couple that you may like to see:-

I called this, "A shadow of his former self". It was an entry to a challenge/swap on PDA. the theme was to use a map, which I decided to put in the background. I then used a female sillouettee and the image of the male to form the main compositional elements. This image actually show up the pencil marks where I attempted to cover a little white around the edge of the sillouette - thanks to the flash, shucks. I then used a die cut hole ( in the shape of a butterfly) in a thick card as a stencil. But I shold have used paper... it was difficult to get the acrylic paint fully up to the edges which has left very poor images. I will know next time!

This was an entry for the Artful Ideas group on Flickr, the theme was to use stamp(s) and painting to create the atc.I spread purple and yellow acrylic paint using a plastic knife for the background and then used a home made stamp to create the swirls. I layered an old scrap of "serendipity" background paper to form a base for the head and added the initials O.K.

The last card utilised this image which I was sent along with a traded card. I have had it for some time and couldn't quite find the right time to use it, but a theme of "Funny" on PDA gave me the right opportunity. I don't know if you have the same problem but I index ( what a grand way of stating it) bits and piece in my stash according to subject/colour/theme / etc and lose track of where things come from. Does anybody have any advice as to how this may be achieved efficiently? If this was you then may I thank you very much it does seem to have gone down well, see my Flickr site for more comments

thanks for looking

An altered matchbox - WIP

So, my first craft post in a while, it has been busy and of course I have been visiting the Eden Project with my wife. A long enough drive to warrant a few days away.

The original item was a sort of "treasure box", which I had started and put aside many moons ago; I had to alter a matchbox by prising it open and reconstructing it inside out. I finished the construction and decided that rather than one maiden which was the theme for a challenge on PDA, my box would have one on each page and a surprise in the box.

sorry about the focus but as a work in progress, I was in a hurry to post the image and .....
 

The box was painted and stamped ( an african theme but who cares), and an accordion-fold book added which was tied with thread ( wool was all I had in those far off days of yore). I have now added an image of a maiden to each page and have my thinking cap on as to how to finish it. My first thought was to add a little title; i.e. coquetish maiden, grateful maiden, cheeky maiden, shy maiden, pensive ....etc. But for some reason I have fallen out with that idea. I do however think it needs something and will hopefully come up with something after I have slept on it. Here are the other pages:-

Hope to be able to post this set again when I have completed the piec. I do hope it doesn't sit on one side for as long again before I decide what to do with it, LOL. Thanks for dropping in.

Yet another new blog for my photography

http://artyfaxphotos.blogspot.com/Just back from a three day trip to Cornwall to visit the Eden project. I took rather a lot of photos and of course some were more than just holiday snaps. In the spirit of my recent discussions about blogs I have started a blog for what I hope will be considered some of the more interesting shots. Maybe you would care to pay a visit and bookmark the blog for future reference.

I shall not be repeating posts or notifying of posts to the other blogs once I have them up and running. These past couple of posts have only been to make the division of my art work and other interests plain to all my readers. The newer blogs will be linked to on the side panel but otherwise I will not be cross referencing. The intention is to write separate posts for each blog. They may not be daily updates but hopefully will be regular. I need to work at building a disciplined approach.

hope to see you at the other place, LOL

new blog - painting with john

Couldn't think of a catchy title but this one will fill the bill, for now; Painting With John

This is the first of my new blogs which I mentioned a couple of posts ago. This one will cover my painting, mostly with watercolour and pastels ( although I do use virtually any medium that is on sale and some that aren't, LOL) new ones and from time to time I will drag up an old one to remind myself that I can draw as well as paint. However now that it is separate from this blog I will feel OK about posting new of my art group and possibly some of my collagues work as well if it illustrates a point that I would like to make.

I hope that you will be able to find a little time to pop across from time to time and see how I am getting on.