Paper collaging is a process of snipping into the creative abyss of endless choices to adhere to paper. Collage collaborates with various media, including gouache, watercolor, acrylic, art crayons, and foils, for its latest multimedia nude 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, 3 different patterns 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, ensuring the final size of the painting surface is accurately represented. I can easily erase the drawing from the tracing paper to make any last-minute changes before tracing on the painting's surface.
I will use this drawing to trace onto the painting surface with cheap charcoal rubbed onto the back of the drawing. Then, I will place it onto the final surface with the charcoal side down and use another pencil or pen to trace the necessary outline. This is not a permanent line, so I suggest using a light pencil or thinned-out paint on the final surface to create a more stable outline.
Initial Stages of creating Zen Nude Muse
The decorative paper was traced onto with graphite paper using the original drawing; then, the figure shapes were cut out with an Exacto knife. These shapes were glued 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 for using them without painting with them: use them as a fast and easy way to pick out a color palette. Lay them together and experiment with different hues, values, and saturations. No need to create 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 creates a shimmer of reflective light off the dark blue, evoking a sense of 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 for creating 'Zen Nude Muse' begins with a collection of ideas, followed by the final drawing on tracing paper, and then gathering all the media I might want to combine in the collaged multimedia painting.
I am open to creative ideas throughout the process, as I'm never sure when the painting will be finished. I was on a roll, feeling the creative flow after finishing 'Zen Nude Muse', and I started another nude painting using paper collage and gouache, which I mixed with watercolor, pens, inks, and collage materials.
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 gravitate to as the figure interests me in all its curves and individual expressions. All my nude subjects are real people who pose in a room, and I have respect for their talent for finding and holding the perfect poses.
View a video I recently created on YouTube, featuring a selection of my nude paintings accompanied by original music written & recorded by my friend James Hewett, and sung by Jenn Miller.
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