September 6, 2024
Collage Botanica Diary, 11
Behind the scenes during the past three weeks:
• application of tinted gesso on a previously painted birch panel;
• addition of warm-color gesso followed by some neutrals;
• linework in the form of quasi-asemic writing/journaling plus posca-pen leafy stem and flower shapes;
• scanning for and selecting a floral arrangement photo to use as a reference for approximate loose gestural direction (turned out to be really fun to work this way);
• collecting fodder from my stash of hand-painted collage papers to stock my metaphorical walk-in cooler with blooms and greens;
• tearing and gluing into place some greens to provide preliminary structure and architecture for my nascent arrangement;
• adding collage greens, adding more linework, adding cool colors, and creating drips in multiple directions, still focusing on underlayer, underlayer, underlayer;
• watching Amanda’s videos repeatedly, in small increments;
• watching them again;
• finding excitement in following Amanda’s lead, i.e. taking steps, going in directions, and using techniques other than my default go-to’s;
• planning my color scheme in advance of collaging (shocking, that!);
• assembling my floral arrangement by layering, layering, layering with the overarching guiding principle of greens/colorful blossoms/more greens;
• feeling summer air on my skin;
• having long days of light;
• hearing late summer cricket cacophony;
• feeling the back and forth of my paintbrush;
• tearing shapes from painted paper;
• working both intuitively and with close attention to instructions;
• unwittingly creating countless challenges;
• diving in to resolve the challenges;
• making bold intuitive decisions;
• fussing and finagling;
• listening to audiobooks;
• trying something experimental and changing my mind;
• trying something experimental and holding fast to the result;
• feeling the combined energies of not knowing and of tapping ten years of lived studio experience; and
• stepping out of day-to-day routines into the entirely engaging world of this painting each time I worked on it.
All of it—joy, joy, joy!
Truly, a distinct standout creative adventure.
12 x 12″; acrylic, ink, and collage on cradled birch panel
semi-abstract floral
2024
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9 responses to “Collage Botanica Diary, 11”
Wowser! I had to read your behind the scenes play by play list a couple of times to fully absorb it….and smiled all the way through it….both times. Then I looked…then looked again more closely at your fabulous floral arrangement. What a journey….and what a result! The touches of text in the collage are perfect! Well done Dotty! A Joy Journey for sure!
MaryAnn, totally fun that you picked up on the snippets of print collage—embedding print collage was one of the pleasing-to-me ways that I tapped into knowing what brings me joy when I create and bringing that particular joy to this particular piece. I’ll count again when I have “Shakes Out Wonder” live in front of me instead of just a screen image, but at first count looking at my laptop screen I noticed at least 27 snippets. I love color-matching the snippets to colors already in play in a piece.
Thank you for reading through my play by play list twice!
I actually didn’t notice the text on the first look….because it was perfectly placed texture. But when I looked closely the second time there it was in all its Dotty joy! I know how much you like that matching process so I can just picture you smiling all the way through it.
Funny thing is….now I’m really seeing the stars….also perfectly placed!
Yes, Yes, YES! Thx, Sheila : )
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