Springmaid Watermedia Workshop 2014 - Days 3, 4 and 5

On Day 3 Jerry showed us several of his finished collages, ranging from total abstracts, like shape in a shape; semi-abstracts like his hill towns; and realistic, like Monet's garden.  Then he sent us off to do our own thing.  I started three collages and worked alternately among the three of them, finishing this semi-abstract of the Blue-Ridged Mountains with a field of weeds first.

I went more realistic with the Curtis Island Lighthouse, although there are some abstract elements in this one too.

My final collage was a red hibiscus, which still needs a bit of tweaking.  I will post that one tomorrow.

Springmaid Watermedia Workshop 2014 - Day 2

On the second day, the assignment was to do two floral collages by "making flowers without making flowers".  LOL!  Jerry told us that if he saw a stamen or a pistil he would give us an "F".  These were a little harder to do for me, who is used to painting flowers that look like flowers.  But I was game.  My sister Joan and I had prepared for this workshop by purchasing some washi (oriental rice paper) in several interesting textures.  Some had threads or fibers running through them, some had holes or a lacy effect, and one had swirls that reminded me of "Starry Starry Night".  These all came in handy for the floral collages. 

Springmaid Watermedia Workshop 2014 Day 1

Last week I took a stained paper collage workshop with Gerald Brommer.  This was my second time taking this workshop.  I enjoyed it even more this time. 

The first day we did small 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 abstracts in Bridge, T or Tau, and Cruciform designs, using two colors and black and white.  This year Jerry gave us some pieces of black paper to experiment with.  (The colors on these three collages are more compatible than they look in these photos)