It wasn’t difficult to find a messy corner to take a photograph of as inspiration for this collage exercise, they seem to be everywhere! Once I had a picture I printed it off and went on the hunt for coloured papers to match the colours in the photograph. My local Art Shop has a wealth of different handmade papers and patterned papers and I also had some bits and pieces already so soon had enough to start creating.
My first project was to make a simple collage based on my photograph. I thought the best way to do this was to simplify the shapes first. The picture was easily split up into blocks so then all I had to do was simplify the colours so that only the most prominent were used. I split the photograph into sections and picked out colours in each section to use.
Photograph of a ‘Messy Corner’
Simple Collage
My next project was to create a collage with an unusual colour scheme. My initial thoughts were to put colours together that wouldn’t necessarily go together or in other words clashed and gave a sense of unease when placed next to each other. I liked the idea of keeping the dimensions and style of block shapes, I felt like I would be able to control the colour more easily that way. I used colours that were already present in the original photograph including the use of metallic.
Unusual Colour Scheme
Complex Colour Scheme
The final collage in this series of three was ‘Complex’. I pondered this for a while, thinking about what could constitute a complex collage/colour scheme. I thought about the picture in its original form and thought that this in itself was complex as it was messy and unstructured. I thought I could introduce some different patterned paper as well to make a more complex piece. I decided to use the structure of the photograph in more detail to create this collage and as you can see, and also added newspaper print to give it another dimension. I’m pleased with the effect of the Complex Collage, adding the different shapes to create the shadow and reflections of the plastic in the original photo I think worked really well.
The next phase of Collage Studies involved choosing one of my previous pieces and making a further three collages, including Monochrome, Black and White, and Multicolour. I wanted to be able to recreate these quite simply but also see the effect of changing to monochrome and black and white would have on the composition, so I decided to go with my unusual colour scheme collage.
I scanned the image into the computer first and changed the colours to a greyscale image so I could get a sense of tone. I managed to find some nice papers to create my black and white image with but wanted to get a more accurate tonal quality to my Monochrome collage so decided to paint papers to use in that piece.
Black & White Collage
Monochrome Collage
It was quite interesting to see how some hues were so close together in value and saturation when painted in monochrome.
My final collage was to be Multicolour, able to use patterned papers and given some freedom from the original form. As I had been using geometric shapes and cutting with scissors for all of my previous collages I decided to try ripping my papers instead and create something based around the original structure but with a totally new dimension. I found some lovely floral papers with texture designs on them that I found interesting so based my Collage on flowers in a hedge.
I wanted to keep the dimensions and shapes identifiable from the original but not have it so regimented into blocks and give it a wild hedgerow feeling. I kept the colour palette simple as there is already a lot going on.
This is the last project before I start my Colour Resource Book. After working through all of the projects I have loads of ideas about experimenting and exploring further, so I can add content to my book. I feel like I have learnt a huge amount about colour but that it is only a very small beginning to my studies.