ACEO sized postcard collage

I was experimenting with various techniques this weekend. This ACEO-sized collage was made by adhering various InkAid pigment emulsions over collaged and acrylic elements. Each layer had gloss gel over it and once dried, the layers were ironed together under parchment paper to combine them.

The Boy, Digital Mixed Media Collage

My mother-in-law is so funny. She refers to my nephew as "the boy." This is not my nephew, but since I don't know his name I'll call him "the boy." The background came from an acrylic painting. Brought into Photoshop and added the other graphic layers.

Yay! A Digital Printmaking Class!!

I'm so happy! I'm taking a digital printmaking class with Mary Taylor of Mary Taylor Arttechs in February. Today I scheduled the time off from work, so I'm all set. I took so many photos last summer of Artimino, a tiny hamlet in Tuscany, and would love to learn some new techniques that will allow me to produce more diverse collage pieces with them.

945 Stories, a digital collage

Another digital collage that began w/acrylic background and altered with found images and ephemera in Photoshop.

A helping hand...digital collage

Another collage that started with an acrylic background, scanned and added to in Photoshop. Kind of sums up my feelings about the weekends at my house. All I want to do is collage, but as it turns out, the house needs help too!

By the Garden, a Digital Collage

This collage, like many of my others, started with a traditional collaged background with paper ephemera and acrylic washes. Then I scanned it into Photoshop and layered the woman into the image. The original is 5 x 7 and is available as an archival print on Somerset Velvet fine art paper.

Save Time, a digital mixed media collage

This collage started with vintage papers glued onto Sheer Heaven paper, then covered with several layers of acrylic paints and tissue paper. I then scanned that collage into Photoshop and layered the image of the woman over it. After some layer blending, this is the final result. But it begs the question, "Save time by doing what?"

Sweet is not my middle name

Women's Boundaries - Digital Collage

Red Collages in ACEO size

I wish I had the ability to create collages like these without the use of Photoshop, but sometimes it's the only way I know how. Also, once in a while I think it's nice not to add little words to the design...meaning can be in the eyes of the beholder rather than a glued on phrase. Yes?

You Can: A 4x4 Mixed Media on Canvas

The photo of Anna makes another appearance in this mixed media collage. The background is scanned from an acrylic piece that I did, and combined with the altered cabinet card of Anna, and two other found images. Then, using an inkjet gel transfer method, the image was transferred to a gessoed canvas and is selling on ETSY (www.etsy.com) .

Abstract explorations in acrylic and mixed media

I painted a bunch of paper with acrylics, using not brushes, but spreading the paint on with a credit card. I layered colors over colors and loved all the variations. After I was done I peeled the acrylic off the paper and it tore a bit. So I kept pulling and tearing. The result was a pile of various shapes and colors that I adhered to small 4x4 canvases. I liked this technique and will explore it some more. The pieces I made are on my ETSY shop at http://chrisenc.etsy.com

Italy Digital Collage

A combination of two images taken during our Tuscany vacation. A collage sheet with this, and other, Italian imagery can be found in my ETSY shop at www.chrisenc.etsy.com.

Dancer Collage

One of my favorite places to find vintage images is at the Library of Congress (loc.gov). I found an image of a dancer there and combined it in Photoshop with different patterns I created. The patterns were brushed on as the background and the dancer layered over it.

I have found a great way to transfer my digital collages to canvas using inkjet gel transfers, thanks to the "inkjet transfers" yahoo group. Various instructions can be found there.

Wheel collage

The bike is from a vintage image. The funky plaid design was created in Photoshop.

Dreams come true...mixed media collage

The background was collaged with pages from an old play book, and covered with an acrylic wash. Then I altered a photograph of a doll face in Photoshop and made it look etched. I then overlaid it onto the background collage.

Aspirations collage

What would it be like to be queen of the dolls? Do all the little dolls and paper doll clothing aspire to to be queen?

Human Pixel Project

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Fashion collage

It's crunch time...I have a craft show tomorrow. Here is one new design that will be on prints and canvas at the show. It's a mix of things...the shape of an old dress pattern, a flier from a long-ago Paris event, music, and random shapes. For the pieces on canvas I printed this image onto lazertran, then transferred to the gessoed canvas using turpentine (ugh). It smells, but the resulting image is nice.

Another collage for Italy

As we are going to Italy this spring, my thoughts are obviously leaning that way. This collage started out as a digital altered image gone awry. I went over the parts I didn't like with pastel pencils and acrylic paints. Then rescanned. After that I layered the stamps, the statue and the italian words in Photoshop. I think it was a good exercise in not throwing away something that ultimately turns out useful.