If you haven't heard of Elizabeht St. Hilaire-Nelson, you should check out her blog. She does a form of art she calls 'paper painting'. I think her things are gorgeous and, lucky me, she lives in Florida and is putting on a couple of workshops in the next couple of months. I am going to the one in February in New Smyrna Beach and can't wait. I first heard of Elizabeth in Cloth, Paper, Scissors, my new favorite magazine. She gives some directions in the article and I thought I better try it a few times before going to the workshop since I am not exactly a gifted artist. SO..
This is my first attempt.. It was a lot of fun, although I am still rubbing glue off of my fingertips. I didn't do this completely correctly - I used a heavy watercolor paper instead of wood for a base, since I new it was just a throwaway project. I used magazine pages for paper (mostly) and a couple of Christmas cards. If I had it to do over, I would make the blue background much paler to make the bird, the subject, pop a lot more. I learned how to tear the paper so I would get so many white edges, I learned that I like texture with my color, and this was probably to complex of a picture to start with, even though it seemed simple when I chose it. I didn't worry too much about the drawing I started with, again because it was a throwaway, but it didn't occur to me until later that I could put the paper wherever I wanted, regardless of what I had drawn or painted... duh!
And here is a parade of Ibis that were annoyed by my attention on the course. This is what I like about playing golf in Florida - it's like being IN a zoo.
