Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

Continuing with my mixed media collage, I darkened the strip of corrugated paper, added a grosgrain ribbon (which I’d previously painted,) and began to audition the placement of the last few collage items.  Click any image for a larger view.

 Later, I darkened some spots, which I think was very important.  I also overpainted the collage items to integrate them into the collage.  (I decided not to use the flower stamp.)  This WAS the finished version:

Eventually, though, I decided I just wasn’t happy with a girdle as the
focal point for the piece.  (Can you blame me?)  Fortunately, I had
some other old patterns, so I replaced it with a dress.  

That’s much better, (although the colors in this photo are a little dull.) 
I’m rather happy with this first mixed media collage, which I’ve named Dressmaking Circa 1950. 

I think I’ll definitely be doing more of this sort of thing.  Several things really intrigued me about it:
– The idea of using TRANSPARENT paint to recolor an item,
– The way that paint unified all the elements,
– The importance of the dark spots.

I’m also pondering how these same concepts might be useful in a fabric collage.  Hmm.

You can see a better image of this collage, along with a link to a detail shot on my website.

Ellen LIndner