Pastel Collage with Layers

 'The Romance of Flowers' Blossoms and blooms declare spring has arrived and sets the pace for something new and fresh to inspire my creative mind. 

The Romance of Flowers (Pastel, foil, papers, assemblage) by Minaz Jantz

The challenge with this work of art is to use left-over pieces of painting materials, build a foam core display box and use found objects to collage a multi-dimensional pastel painting. 

Photo of tulips by Minaz Jantz

Years ago I took a photo of the white tulips from the perspective of laying on the ground. The sunlight shone through the hugging tulips that are reaching for the sky. I decided this was the perfect image to inspire and create the next multi-media painting.

Making use of paper & board scraps, I will take the time to have surfaces ready to paint for spontaneous creative explosions when in the mood for mixed media explorations. I had previously made a circle shape on a scrap board with gesso paper and spread two layers of Golden Pastel ground with the intention of using the circle shape. I had prepared surfaces with carmine ink washes brushed roughly to take away any white and unify the black ground.

Digging through my collage box, I found a rubber butterfly that had fallen off someone's shoes. I have scraps of colored wire and a chopstick that came in handy for the stem of the flower. Framing art & using foam core has me a stash of bits that I can use to build dimensional artworks.

The circle-prepared sandboard was ready for soft pastel to paint in the tulips. The surface is rough but I like the texture. The gold petals surrounding the tulips use two types of foils to create those flower petals. The outline is the bright gold foil that has a thick glue and the gold petals are a mix of acrylic medium & gold dust.

Next was the fun part of building the painting into a dimensional work using my favorite material, foam core. The box will be designed to fit the frame, and the glass, and fill it with bits of this and that!

The fence has two parts to prepare. I stacked foam core bits to get the level needed then painted them black.  Out of more prepared scraps of paper on board with the Golden ground, I prepared a cut-out pastel rendered fence that will sit on top of the black foam core bits. This fence sits just above the chopstick stem.

Three layers of foam core are stuck together with archival double-sided tape, a quick, no-mess way to assemble a paper collage. The wool fabric is felted leaf shapes from a previous project and stitched some embroidery into the felt. The felted leaves are wrapped in wire and glued to the green painted chopstick to be secure. I did some hidden stitches into the back of the foam core to make sure none of it was going to get floppy. 

The foam core box has to fit perfectly into the deep blue frame and have enough space for the glass on top but under the frame. 

I had purchased the decor paper on a sale a while ago and found the natural paper color with gold polka dots a lovely neutral supporting the colors of the pastel painting.

The finished work of art makes me smile with joy. Looking into the flowers, I fall into the romance and soar like a bird high in the sky.

May you have a ROMANCE WITH FLOWERS!... Minaz