Three mixed media collage paintings that I finished up recently. Hope to sell these at the Bellefonte Art Gallery.
Butterflies and Flowers Mixed Media Collage Painting by Trilby Works
Butterflies and Flowers Mixed Media Collage Painting by Trilby Works
Butterflies and Flowers Mixed Media Collage Painting by Trilby Works
If you like these and want to make your own, see my directions for a similar piece here.
I paid my first visit to that “Gallery of the Peculiar and the Bizarre,” the Oddporium, on Marsh Road in Arden. Wow! I happened to have my kids with me and we spent quite a while exploring the weird and wonderful finds that owners Ken Schuler and Beth Ann Busch have collected and displayed. Some of the unique oddities include:
vintage embalming fluid bottles • a one-eyed pig in a jar • mourning pins • cabinet cards • medical tools • creepy photographs • old dolls • a real human skeleton • an embalmed cobra • old skulls, bones, and teeth • insects mounted in shadowboxes
The Oddporium not only carries objects suitable for a cabinet of curiosities, but also sells original artwork from local artists. I quickly discovered my new favorite artist, Gus Fink. I took photos of my two favorite pieces, as seen below.
Gus Fink artwork at the Oddporium
Gus Fink artwork at the Oddporium
While there, I asked Ken if he thought my painting, Memento Mori #1, would be suitable for consignment at his shop. He said yes so we started the paperwork.
Memento Mori #1, detail
Memento Mori #1, a mixed media painting by Karen Furst of Trilby Works
Now, off to create more in this series. Sorry, husband, you’ll be seeing more of these soon.
On my easel right now is this painting, in its final stages, that I’ve named Memento Mori, which means remember death. It’s got a sort of fiery palette with reds, yellows, browns, and orange. I’ve embedded some numbers and used tissue paper to add texture. At the bottom are three rows of skulls.
Memento Mori, Detail, Mixed Media Acrylic on Canvas by Karen Furst of Trilby Works
Memento Mori, Detail, Mixed Media Acrylic on Canvas by Karen Furst of Trilby Works
Memento Mori, Detail, Mixed Media Acrylic on Canvas by Karen Furst of Trilby Works
It’s not finished yet but it’s getting there, yay. Check back soon – I’ll post images when it’s done.
Texture is one of the elements of design that refers to the surface quality in a work of art, whether two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Texture in painting is often expressed with layers of paint built up in various areas to indicate form or to supply energy or movement to the work. In collage painting, texture is very easy to achieve using any number of found materials as texture tools, along with different acrylic mediums.
Here are a few examples of backgrounds I’ve created for my collage painting:
I’ve used layers of paint and acrylic mediums like soft and heavy gel medium, glass beads medium, and stucco paint effect medium. I used found objects like toilet paper rolls to imprint circle shapes, bubble wrap to stamp dots on my canvas, and cardboard, sticks, plastic, and more to incise lines or patterns. And that’s just the background! I then continue on, adding more elements such as scrap papers, photos, tape, and embellishments.
Of course, texture is also evident in other forms of art, including fiber art, pottery, jewelry, furniture-making and more, as seen in my Etsy treasury, Texturium.
Texture also exists in nature and in many aspects of our lives. See my Pinterest board for the many examples of textures in life, nature, art, and our everyday world:
Please pin this!!!
Texture in Art and Collage Painting Graphic by Trilby Works
I decided that last week’s Friday Freebie canvas did not suit me so I gave it a wash of blue paint – awesome!!! Now I love it and I think it’s done. Here are the new panels. You can use them in collage or for any kind of scrapbook background. They are high resolution (300ppi) tiff files. Drop me a link if you use them – enjoy!
I am finally able to get back into the studio to finish up some canvasses I started earlier this year. I made these backgrounds without really knowing what I would put on them, but then I remembered that everything is better with a hippo on it!
The Hippo Jumped Over The Moon Collage Painting
I make these with acrylic paint on a stretched canvas with old French dictionary paper cut outs for the hippo shapes. I color the dictionary pages with colored pencil, acrylic paint, charcoal pencils, or alcohol ink.
Zen Hippo Sits Quietly Collage Painting
Happy Birthday Hippo With Balloons Collage Painting by Trilby Works
These panels were created with leftover paint from another project. I am so cheap that I did not want to waste the paint so I slopped it onto three new canvas panels. I really like the way it came out. Here they are for your downloading pleasure.
You can print these out and use them for collaging or scrapbooking backgrounds. Or bring them into Photoshop and layer on your favorite graphics. Please use these for personal projects only. Do not redistribute or sell these images. If you find these helpful, please leave a comment below with a link to your project. I’d love to see what you do with them!
Cloth Paper Scissors, May/June 2013 Issue
Incite, Dreams Realized: The Best of Mixed Media, by Tonia Jenny, North Light Books, 2013
Art Doll Quarterly, Spring 2015. My Sorrowful Sister doll was chosen for the "Mothers and Daughters" challenge.
Prims, Fall 2015. My Griselda Hippo Witch doll was chosen for publication.
I just finished up some collage paintings. I make these with acrylic paint on a stretched canvas with old French dictionary paper cut outs for the hippo shapes. I color the dictionary pages with colored pencil, acrylic paint, charcoal pencils, or alcohol ink.
I've just completed my first art dolls and I'm unveiling them here first! They are made from paperclay with styrofoam balls and wooden dowels as an armature. They have yarn hair and coffee filter skirts. I call them my Sorrowful Sisters.
The Servants of Ord are finished! I've been working on these for most of 2012 and am happy to be done with them. They are the servants of Master Ord, who I haven't created yet, but I believe will be small and round and powerful, and possibly amoral. Find out more...
