School's Out - Last Class Collage

 

The last composition in the Composition for Collage class was the grid format.  This is pretty straight forward - work arranged in a linear, grid format.  What did I learn?  I learned that  I'm not comfortable with linear.  It's too rigid, too well-organized for me.  Guess it's not surprising; those gardens where everything is laid out in perfect rows and plots make me uneasy.  Rigid stripes - same problem. ( Although I do have an unnatural affection for grid paper - go figure).

 

I've had these little file folders for ages and thought they would make perfect grid-dwellers.  I started by stamping swirls with acrylic paint and then rubbed a few colors of Distress Ink over the swirls.  The acrylic paint acts as a resist, so the ink doesn't stick to the swirls.

 

I added a few scraps of text sticking out of some of the folders to give the idea that there were secrets stashed inside.  Most of the folders were  tied with string and a couple taped closed to keep all those secrets from enquiring minds.

 

Glued the folders onto a piece of artist paper and added a title - grid accomplished and kind words from Claudine - sweet!

 

But all that linear, lined up, straight edge thing was unsettling, so I tried out a looser grid format in my journal.  I call this the "grid - ish" format!

 

 

I gathered up blue bits from my stash and cut them into squares or rectangles to satisfy the linear thing.  But the arrangement is loose and much less structured and feels better.  I stamped a few things - the sofa, the Versamark resist on the tickets and some text over chalk.  I liked keeping to one color and since I'm in a blue phase, blue it is.

 

I've been playing around with doodling and added some to help unify all the unrelated scraps.  I kept the doodling in straight lines to reinforce the grid-ish format. 

 

I'm hoping Claudine has a follow-up class on composition.  I've learned just enough to know I need to learn lots more.