Digital Collage - Memories of Home

Summer always reminds me of lazy days. My parents use to drop my brother and I off at my grandmother's so they could have a little break. I remember getting up early before the heat to work in the garden. Fishing on the lake in a little row boat. Trips to the library followed by reading on the porch. Afternoon visits with family and friends. Vases of flowers scattered around the house. What kind of summer memories do you have?

With One Palette...

My original photograph.[number stamp by Robin Marie Smith]

The past week or so I ran across a pad of very old 120 lb. watercolor paper. Hmmm. What to do? what to do? I decided to pick two colors of paint, a glaze and give myself black and white for highlights. I picked Golden's Titan Buff, Raw Sienna, and Golden's Aquamarine Glaze. These are colors I rarely use.

I tore out all the sheets and began applying paint randomly. I grabbed a plastic bag and blotted paint with that to give it shading and depth. Before the paint dried I applied glaze with the plastic bag. Then, I added another layer with dictionary pages torn randomly and applied to the paper. More paint was added to cover the dictionary pages, pounced again with the plastic bag, added glaze, then I let all the pages dry. Then I picked some random stamps and stamped in black along areas I felt would benefit.

After everything had dried I went back and added circles, more paint, and more glaze. I then grabbed my handy studio toothbrush and splattered some of the pages with black paint. When all of this had dried I cut down the sheets from 9" by 12" to 8.5"by 11" so that they would fit through my printer.

The images to select was a much harder process. I was not sure how well the ink would sit on the painted paper or if I would get the "look" I saw in my head. I selected images from my own photographs, a couple of digital collages I had made, and some Library of Congress images that speak to me.

Once the images were printed and I was satisfied with them. I took my Derwent Inktense pencils and added some highlights to certain areas. You have to be careful when you use your water brush, as you do not want to disturb the ink from your printed image. If you are going to highlight a lot of areas then do this before you print your image. After all had dried I went back and added some stitches in a blue thread with my sewing machine, again sticking to the palette I had chosen.

This was so much fun and a real learning process for me. It has inspired and given me several other ideas as I went through the process. I love the way the paint highlights and sets the mood for the images. So, this is what I did on part of my summer vacation...