Paper collaging is snipping into the creative abyss of endless choices to stick on paper. Collage makes friends with other mediums such as gouache, watercolor, acrylic, art crayons, and foils for the latest multimedia nudes series.
Zen Nude Muse
18” x 24” W/C Arches Cold Press 140lb. 100% cotton
Acrylic Paint, Paper Collage, W/C crayons, Foils
The 'life drawing' nude model named Odessa is the inspirational muse for the multimedia painting'Zen Nude Muse'.
Selecting 3 life drawing poses of Odessa, I combined them into a composition around a circle. Digging through my collection of decorative papers there was 3 different patterns that caught my attention to cut into the figures' shapes.
Decorative Papers, Choice for Nudes
Final Drawing on Tracing Paper
A large sheet of tracing paper is used to draw the final sketch with a soft B pencil to suit the final size of the painting surface. I can easily erase the drawing from the tracing paper to make any last minute changes before tracing on the paintings surface.
I will use this drawing to trace onto the painting surface with cheap charcoal rubbed onto the back of the drawing then put it onto the final surface with charcoal side down and use another pencil or pen to trace the outline needed. This is not a permanent line so I might take a light pencil or thinned out paint to the final surface to make it a more stable outline.
Initial Stages of creating Zen Nude Muse
The decorative paper was traced upon with graphite paper using the original drawing then with an exacto knife, cut out the figure shapes to glue down with wrinkle free type glue on the watercolor paper. I loosely washed over all the w/c paper with watercolor for the first layer of paint around the nudes and will change the direction of these choices but the hues will hover in the background of the final painting layer.
Soft Pastels Used as a Color Palette Helper
If you have a collection of soft pastels, here is another idea how to use them without painting with them; use them as a fast and easy way to pick out the color palette, lay them together, play around with different hues, values and saturations. No need to paint a time consuming palette sample.
Zen Nude Muse, collage multimedia
I changed the color of the yellow circle to dark red and changed the orange into deep blue around the circle. The gold leafing makes a shimmer of reflective light off the dark blue feeling like looking into outer space. An old butterfly calendar supplied me with several butterfly images that symbolize freedom and beauty.
Zen Nudes Muse
18” x 24” W/C Arches Cold Press 140lb. 100% cotton
Acrylic Paint, Collage, W/C crayons, Foils
My method of madness to creating 'Zen Nude Muse' starts with a collection of ideas, creating the final drawing on tracing paper, and then gather all the mediums I might want to combine in the collaged multimedia painting.
I am open to creative ideas along the process, never sure when the painting will want to be finished. I was on a roll, feeling the creative flow after finishing 'Zen Nude Muse', and started another nude painting using paper collage and gouache which I mixed with watercolor, pens, inks, and collage.
Arousing The Garden Dream
18” x 24” W/C Arches Cold Press 140lb. 100% cotton
Gouache, Collage, Japanese Ink, Sparkle Pens, Foils
Painting & drawing nudes is a subject I seem to gravitate to as the figure interests me in all its curves and individual expressions. All my nude subjects are real people that pose in a room and I have respect for their talent of finding and holding the perfect poses.
View on Youtube, a video I created recently, featuring a selection of my nude paintings accompanied by original music, written & recorded by my mate James Hewett and sang by Jenn Miller.
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