Glued Garden Collage: Part One
I’m currently teaching my online class, Sticky Fingers, which is about glued collage. Oh the fun! The technique is VERY fast, and I got inspired to join the students and make another collage, myself.
These are some of the materials I was considering, several of which are thin paper. The purple-pink-yellow piece of paper was my inspiration.
Click any image for a larger view
I wanted to very loosely convey a sky, with foliage below. First, I painted some paper with water soluble crayons. I used these very loosely: just smearing them on (laid flat), spraying with a little water, and moving the colors around with a paint brush.
You can see the dried result in this photo, as I’m considering my next move. Notice also the spotted fabric in the lower left corner. I put the paper on top of the fabric and colored in the circles with those same water soluble crayons. But, no water this time, so the spots stayed in place.
In the photos above and below, you can see the finished sky. I used fabrics, but then overlaid them with colored paper. (All the green is paper, along with various spots of blue.) One of the papers was actually a paper towel, with the layers pulled apart. It was very fragile, but still very easy to use with this technique.
Next, I started adding foliage. Just vertical pieces of fabric and paper,which collectively will give the impression of stems and leaves. 
If I had been smart, I would have extended the sky lower, so it could peek through. Instead, I created that effect with lighter pieces. Here, the foliage is almost finished. I’m saving the sheer paper for later, so it can go in front of the flowers I’ll be adding.
Here’s that inspiration paper cut into snippets and allowed to fall randomly on the glued surface. More glue is added on top – decopage style. I’m loving the results thus far!
This has been so much fun! And, it only took me a few hours to reach this point. Love it!
Ellen Lindner
