Collage Discovery Challenge, Lesson 1

Canvases from the first "lesson" of the TreasureArtTrends Collage Discovery Workshop Challenge. We are using the book by Claudine Hellmuth's book, working thru trying each technique. The first four techniques are for backgrounds.

"Dance" started with the paper-pulling background technique. Learned some interesting stuff on that one, like if the paper is wet, you can scratch a lot easier. The paper was a piece of music. It was a bit too busy and that threw me, and it didn't end up as well as it could have, but I do love the lady dancing!

All these use acrylic paint. The top left has an opaque layer of dark cherry and a transparent layer of a mix of fuchsia and coral. Love that dark cherry!
The top right demonstrates using petroleum jelly to give a "peeling paint" look. That was interesting even just getting petroleum jelly since I didn't have a clue where to buy it. What does it get used for? Found it in the same aisle at CVS with the bandaids. You have to seal the opaque layer with gel medium before you smear some jelly where you want the paint to come off. Then use a wash on top of the whole thing. It was fun using the heat gun on this, the paint moved around on top of the jelly. I'll definitely use this technique again as it was high on the funmeter. CH is very into using fingers, even with paint. Clearly I'm going to enjoy her workshop in Bonita Springs! Better take my apron...
The bottom left should have turned out better. You use a big blob of titanium white and smear it around. Then use deep stamps (I used some metal ones that I got on Granville Island a couple years back at Maiwa) and whatever else to make impressions in the thick layer of paint. You can write, use your paste paper tools, whatever. Then it has to dry overnight. The top is a wash, and here's where it didn't quite work out. Since I left ridges in the white paint, they obscured the stamp images. Also, the fuchsia wash isn't quite dark enough, the colors she used in the book are much more interesting with this technique. But I shall try again with different colors.
The last canvas shows my favorite technique, paper pulling. This makes a terrific background and, dear reader, you are sure to see it again! This was an old dictionary page, starting with an old piece of paper adds to the whole effect, something that would have helped in the piece "Dance".

Hope you have a creative day,
Barb V.