COLLAGE.
My interest in making collages from watercolour paintings was sparked by two things.
Firstly, the pile of rejected paintings that I had accumulated due to failed areas in them & some parts of the painting appeared fresh and lively which needed tearing out and saving.
As it is almost impossible to rescue a fresh lively watercolour when something goes wrong, the only option is to repaint it. However, often when repainted there will always be an annoyingly good area in the rejected painting that can't be recreated, hence the birth of my collages. Tear that bit out and stick it with the other good bits. This can cause another problem, one has then to maintain fresh loose looking motifs across the whole work. Some pieces I paint loosely over and again if I can't find an already perfect shape.
Secondly, I was also interested by David Hockney’s photo collages. His use of space and repetition inspired me to use portions of recognisable shapes (buildings, trees, vehicles, people, etc.) to reconstruct stories of a particular place
I have employed this technique in collages depicting life on the river Stour mostly in an early series entitled 'Living on the Edge'. This title refers to the water’s edge and the edge of the cliffs.
In making collages, I have found that adding parts of paintings next to each other have helped fuel my creative imagination. It reminds me of playing with Lego bricks when I was a child, when everything always turned out differently. Composition rules do have to apply.
Winter on the Edge - 1100 m x 1500 mm
Autumn on the Edge - 1000mm x 1650mm
Bonfire at Willow Farm - 1000x1200mm (Sold)
Suffolk Landscape
Fixing Mistley I
Fixing Mistley II
Breathing Salt Air
Alresford Creek
Barbies on the Beach - 1200x800mm (Sold)
Set Aside - 16" x 16" (Sold)
Bread Basket - 32"x46"
Amber Morning - 1000mm x 12000mm (Framed)
Torn Tarpaulins - 1000 x 750mm (Sold)
Birch Reflections - 47" x 29"
Winterloper - 48" x 31"
Dinghies on the Edge - 35"x46"
Wild Fires - 26"x26"
Collecting Pebbles - 23" x 30"
Stubble Field from Above - 26" x 30"
Black Earth & Stubble - 28" x 32"
method.
Once the main shapes are tacked to a canvas, I will then consider the potential of the composition. Tacking it up gives me a chance to move shapes around. When I am finally happy with the first structure I glue the parts in place.
Once this is done, I sort through my unwanted pile to find gems to fit into the gaps, hopefully matching figuratively and colour-istically.
Surprisingly, there is nothing more joyous for me while sorting through bits than finding a totally unrelated subject and finding that if I turn it upside down it fits perfectly in this bit and forms part of that jetty or shed.
This happens because we paint in a style which is mechanical to a certain degree, therefore making a match more probable regardless of subject matter.
In recent years I have been making collages from watercolour paper that I have stained, I also use flat toned paper. I employ this method when making earth-based subjects, such as in the Tractor Art Series and some of the Erosion Series.
These series concentrate more on contours and landmass as opposed to lively block paintings with a narrative theme.