This Sunday, May 20, there’s an annular solar eclipse, partial in our area of Oregon and beginning about 5pm. Be sure to watch shadows, especially from trees and vegetation for interesting and unusual patterns. They could make for some interesting photographs and art ideas.
I’ll be at the Corvallis Arts Guild meeting on Monday, May 7 to give a presentation on Textures in Painting, Real and Implied. Various techniques and materials will be discussed, including making a variety of stamps and painting with them, and collaging with hand-made papers and flower petals.
Finally getting to the final stage of the collage…
After getting the paper surface covered with petals and letting the acrylic matte medium dry, I like to lay things out enough to get a feel for where I will place petals to comprise the main subject of the collage. In this case I have laid out petals without adhering them.
I got ideas for the image and pose from a studio drawing that I made, but I changed the pose considerably while I was applying the petals.
I found during the layout that I wanted to add some different petals of nearly the same value as the back ground at the bottom of the page. This gives some depth and added complexity without being distracting.
The shine in the above image is due to the matte medium being wet. Since it is a matte medium, the shine disappears when it dries, as can be seen in the upper part of the collage.
Below is the collage with the figure added. Unfortunately the images taken during the application of the petals did not come out well. I had hoped to show more of the process, but hopefully this will give enough info to get you started on your own collage or at least understand more of the process that goes into this kind of artwork.
In the previous two posts, I talked about gathering flower petals and pressing them for collage. This time, the actual collage process begins. I like to use 7 1/2″ x 7 1/2″ squares of heavy watercolor paper (300lb cold press) for these collages. The paper is expensive, but you can get 12 sheets out of the full size 22″ x 30″ watercolor paper by cutting it to these squares. I use acrylic matte medium as an adhesive and inexpensive, fairly stiff bristle brushes to apply the medium and brush the petals flat into place. You can see these tools and materials along with some clematis petals, a bowl for the medium and some water to moisten the brush in the two photos below (click on the images to see larger versions).
As you can see in the next two photos, the top and underside of the petals can differ in color and value, so that is something to keep in mind while placing the petals.
Clematis petals – top
Clematis petals – underneath
In the collage I will make for this post, I’ll first cover the entire 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 sheet with petals to serve as a background. Below, I have painted acrylic matte medium on a section of the paper large enough to cover the area where the first petal will be placed. Then I paint more medium on top of the petal to seal it to the surface.
I continue across the sheet, placing petals to cover the surface, watching the pattern that is created. In the corners, plenty of medium needs to be used so the petals will not pull free of the surface. It’s the trickiest place on the sheet.
The petals are adhered in rows until the sheet is covered. While wet, the petals still have a shine.
You’ll notice that I let the petals overhang the edge to make sure the surface is covered. Once the matte medium on the petals is dry, the shine disappears and the petals appear matte rather than glossy. It is possible to use a gloss acrylic medium if a glossy surface is preferred.
When the medium has dried, I trim the petals at the edges before continuing with the collage. (The collage is sitting on top of a sheet of illustration board in this photo.)
Next time – Collaging the subject….
This post is the second in a series on making collages using flower petals.
After collecting petals for collaging, the next step is to dry and press them. If the petals are wet from dew or rain when I collect them, I lay them out in a single layer on newspaper to dry before putting them in my flower press. This will help keep them from molding. My flower press, which I was lucky enough to be given by my brother, is a large one so I can press a large number of petals at once.
The press is 12″x18″ and about 4 inches thick in the photo. Wooden slatted panels are on top and bottom with sheets of corrugated cardboard and newspaper for separating layers of petals. Two sturdy straps are tightened to apply pressure to the contents. Thickness of the press can vary depending on the number of sheets of cardboard and newspaper needed for the petals on hand.
As you can see in the photo, the petals are placed on one side of a sheet of newspaper which is then folded over the top of the petals. Then the newspaper and petals are sandwiched by sheets of the corrugated cardboard. When the press is closed, the straps are pulled tight and fastened. I usually wait a couple of weeks to open the press and remove the petals, but that length of time may be overkill.
I tend to keep similar colored petals together on one sheet to make sorting easy. On this sheet are tulip and rhododendron petals which have been pressed. You can see that some of the rhododendron petals have molded and turned dark during pressing. I throw those in the recycling bin to avoid problems later. It is a good idea to swap out sheets of newspaper too when this happens.
When the flower petals are removed from the press, I place them in air-tight plastic containers for storage until they are used in collages. Again I separate the petals by color. This just makes things easier during the collage process.
The petals in the photo above, left to right and top to bottom, are:
yellow rose — blue hydrangea — white peony — burgundy orchid and rose
white rose — purple clematis — a mixture of orchid, peony and others — white orchid with some yellow tulip beneath
As shown in the photo, the petals can change color during the drying/pressing process.
Next time – Using the petals in a collage.
As soon as I saw collages made by other artists using flower petals I knew that I wanted to give that a try. The collages I had seen tended to be formal geometric patterns or something similar, but I wanted to try something different, like a figure study. Having made many collages with various papers and other materials, the process itself was simple enough once I figured out how to prepare the petals.
To make flower petal collages like the ones below, first you need to gather the raw materials of course – flower petals.
I usually wait until the petals are about ready to fall or have already fallen to gather them. This way you get to enjoy the flowers longer and it makes them a bit easier to dry as well. Some of my favorite flowers to use in collage are shown below…
Click on any of the images to see larger versions.
Rose petals come in many shapes, colors and sizes and are plentiful in this area. They tend to have a texture that works well in collage also.
Clematis is a favorite of mine because, for a large petal, it lies flat very well and provides darks for contrast with most other petals.
The peony has translucent, supple petals that let color show through them when used in the collage. This is a good way to add depth and complexity to the surface.
The hydrangea has rainbow-hued flowers that develop a darker metallic look when pressed and dried. Petal color can vary quite a bit with blues, golds, browns, greens and others. I tend to use the four-lobed flowers rather than pulling these apart for individual petals. I like the patterns they make.
Below are several more flowers that have petals which are good for collaging.
Columbine, Blackberry, Rhododendron, Sunflower
Daisy, Day Lily, Tulip, Christmas Cactus
Then there are some flowers that don’t work so well. Irises can turn into a gooey mess. But experimentation will quickly show which flowers will work well and which don’t.
Next time – pressing and drying the flower petals.
With limited time to travel, I think it is time to change the focus of this blog. Instead of presenting images from travels around Oregon, the odysseys will now involve the adventure of the process of making images – paintings, collages, drawings and processed photos.
By special request, the first of the blogs in this new direction will be about the process of making flower petal collages like the one below.
Flower Petal Figure
Collage – flower petals on paper, 12″x9″ (30x23cm)
I have some interesting new papers to use in my collage now that are prepared with used coffee grounds. A how-to for making the papers is in a Carrie Burns Brown video workshop that I watched, “Watermedia Collage Workshop.” The video was produced by my friends Lynn and Jim Powers at Creative Catalyst and you can see a short video about it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJT4L1Dp2vw.
The papers provide a lot of texture (and a way to re-use used coffee grounds) and have a very topographical look.
Coffee Paper
Coffee Paper
More photos from Lavabeds National Monument. Some of these are taken from within Lavabeds looking out at features in the surrounding area – Tule Lake and Mt Shasta.
Lavabeds (north)
Juniper texture
Firetower, Schonchin Butte
Bunchgrass at Sunset
Mt Shasta at Sunset
Mt Shasta from Tule Lake
It is not quite part of the Oregon Outback, but Lavabeds National Monument was one destination on the trip back in September.
Color and textures were abundant.
Lavabeds Sunrise
Lavabeds Color
Lichens
A very interesting attraction of Lavabeds is the number of lavatubes you can explore. The one below was once filled with molten rock that drained away, leaving the tube. The height of the cave is about 10 feet in this section.
Lavatube
