"Life's Events" mixed media collage demo by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Life's Events", 16 x 16" collage and acrylic
$475 -on gallery wrap canvas, no frame needed -click here to purchase

This is my latest collage painting, and I thought I would share the steps this one went through on its journey.

In the first step, I gathered together relatively neutral hand painted and altered papers, which had been coated on both sides with polymer medium. The illustration board that I used as my support also had several coats of gloss medium on it. Then I randomly arranged the papers, aiming for repetition of line throughout. Then I ironed them down with a tack iron set on high with a silicone sheet (from labels) between the work and the iron.

I continued to add more papers to get a colour theme going and to break up some of the larger shapes. I was going for composition at this stage -a way to guide the eye through out the painting.

I kept turning the painting around to see how it best worked. I then applied some titan buff fluid acrylic paint with a foam roller around the exterior of the painting to keep the interest in the centre, rubbing some of it back while wet.

Lots of time thinking, turning and painting was spent between the last 2 steps! In the end I decided to cut into the design with a solid yellow background, forcing the collage bits to become one unified shape against the background. I added some balck and white deli paper that I had painted through a stencil to get some bold contrast, and painted over a lot of the paer from the initial layer. Adding the stars (taken from some of the original papers) seemed to create a story for the painting. I began to think of life's events as stars, some big, some small, some that stand out and change the path of your life, while others are just small moments in the overall plan of a life. I just love it when the work speaks to me and guides me to the finish. The joy of pure creativity!

I will be teaching a Mixed Media Collage workshop at Swintons Art Supply in Calgary April 11-13. Please click here for the details and to register.

Enjoy!
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