Collage Mixed Media

This is an excellent book for anyone wanting to take their photos to the next level with mixed media. Angela shows you what each emulsion or process that you might want to try (or hadn't thought of trying)will do for or to your photos. This is whether they are processed at a lab or you use your printer at home. The tips she gives along the way are invaluable, almost worth a book themselves. Angela lets you know what she has used for each project, and has a list of everything in the back, that's very handy. There is a section of other artists taking these processes and putting their own touch to them. All through the book, the pictures that go along with the ideas are beautiful. They are great for encouraging you to get out there, get some photos, come back into the studio, experiment & make some great art!

You're working in your studio. The music is playing. The colors are coming out exactly as you imagined them in your head. The layers of glazes are sitting on top of one another just so. The printing or stamping or writing is going on in the right direction not smearing and they're dark enough. The papers do go with the colors you laid down, but not in a "this picture matches the sofa" kind of way. The watercolor crayons, pastels or other added attractions(!)look great. Oops where are those images you pulled ahead of time, oh yes, here they are. And they are the right size & color, and if you use wax on them, either what is behind them won't matter or won't show. You have used the Golden gel medium to put them down, & everything is straight & your hands aren't sticky because you used your little plastic spreader. You prop the finished piece up under a light & step back. It's done & it's good. You look at the clock. Two and a half hours have gone by! You would have said maybe half an hour. You were In The Zone.

It never fails. I had a book cover I needed to collage & put together by a specific date. Fine. I knew what I wanted to do. I cut the chipboard to size, gessoed it, & had fun painting it. I figured out just which pics I wanted to use for a transparency transfer & did all the computer whiz bang on them. Now we have to keep in mind that I have only done tape, contact paper, & regular injet printer paper transfer. This was my first try at the transparency transfer. But I had no problems with the others, so what the heck, I am in a go for it mode these days. I spread on the liquid Golden gel medium on the cover first, then the image. I laid the image down & burnished. The first bits of the image started to squiggle all over the place. Uh-oh, I thought, probably too much medium. I pulled it up & used water to get rid of the evidence. On to the next one. It was going to be a 2 step transfer. (Yes I'm either brave or stupid). So I repeated the medium process, but even less medium this time. Started burnishing, Yea, no sqiggling. Pulled up a bit on the image to check the progress of the transfer. Rats! It was not going down completely. Now normally, on a transfer, a little "off the image" is okay. But this was a lot. So I laid it back & burnished more. Finally I pulled it off. The image was striped looking. What the heck? I finally realized the transfer had only laid down on the places where my brush strokes were high. Yikes. I didn't know at the time I was painting that I was leaving behind such ridges. So my lessons learned are: 1)Not too much Golden liquid gel medium 2)Smooth painted surface (or any surface for that matter) where the transfer goes & 3) Practise new methods. PS: Got rid of all the evidence & started over on another book cover! Will be practising the transparency transfers on the side until I get it right.

So being collagists & mixed media artists, we spend a lot of time getting into very Sticky situations. Yes I'm talking adhesives. I've ended up with 3 containers full of various brands/types of adhesives. And this is not counting the scads of nails, brads, wax, Xyron machines, screws, sewing implements,and whatever else I'm leaving out. When I look at what others are doing, I look at what they use, so I know that's what you want to know. First & foremost, I reach for my Golden Gel Medium. It holds down just about everything, from the lightest paper, to pretty heavy things. And it drys clear. The plus for it, is I can use a transfer with it, but that's another story. Beeswax is probably a second favorite. Gotta love that smell. Put down a thin layer, add your paper, add some more wax, there it is. And if it's not quite right, heat it up, & remove it. The various Xyron machines get used a bit too. So easy, & NO sticky fingers. Good for transparencys & vellum. After those three things, it usually means I need something hard core like a screw or brad or something sewn. Then I do my favorite thing of rummaging through the studio to find that "just right thing". You know, you've done it.

Sometimes it's the journey, not the destination. There are pieces that sing out to me right from the first moment I think of them. The Muse gets it into my head very clearly & off I go straight to the finish, not skipping a beat. The finished piece looks exactly like I (& The Muse) had envisioned. And then there are the other peices, that seem to start off fine and just break down like a car with engine trouble. I pull over in some strange city looking for a place to get it fixed, & they say it'll be a few says , 'cause they gotta order parts, or their guy is off or something like that. So I am stuck. Well, time to do something. Like take in the sights around me. Get my camera out & take a bunch of pictures. Then come back with my Muse & see is the "car" is ready. A new take on that piece is just what was needed. And yes, it won't look like it started out to look like, & my Muse might be a bit miffed. But once everything is underway, my Muse will be happy & I will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Plus I will have had a lovely respite on my journey to my destination!

I have found after all these years, no matter how much work space I start with, my actual work space seems to shrink down to about 2 square feet. Right now my studio has a 2.5' X 4'drafting table used for painting and a 4' X 8' work table for everything else. Course it also holds a large shelf and many storage containers & brushes & etc. So there goes all that space. But when I really start, I have a 3 foot section that goes back 2 feet. Then all the papers come out, and the printers blocks, & the stamps, and some how the paints don't stay over on the drafting table. Oh that's full of things drying & waiting for another coat of whatever. The light box is out. There's little books with gesso drying in one corner. Back on the main table, I've got the wax out, which means one whole section is covered in metal. Several books have been pulled out for reference in case I need to have my memory jogged on something. I have my lazy susan out with cutting pad so I can trim whatever is going on to the collage. And that's why I'm working in such a small space.