My First All Paper Painting

 

"City Girl"

36" x 36" Collage on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas

 

A messy process - stand by with a shop vac

 

Instructor Derek Gores works with a fellow artist

 The group is hard at work on some amazing art

 

 

Derek Gores is a wonderful young artist from Melbourne, FL. A very accomplished graphic designer, he has done work for many well-known companies and people. He is teaching us his wonderful all-paper collage process, which he does on gallery-wrapped canvas. All you need is canvas, lots of glossy magazines (fashion are especially nice), glossy mat medium, a flat brush or your hands, gloss varnish, and a good image with strong values.
 

This is a very demanding process and Derek warned us we would be tired. We drew our image on the canvas with a Sharpie, set up our color paper palette, and began from large to small working all over the canvas. The first sheets that went down were full sheets. We tear the paper and do not use scissors. Derek prefers to find his edges using paper rather than having the torn edge of the paper at the edge. For example, the lip is black, but it's made up of small pieces of paper that extend above or below the lip and has both the black of the the lip and the off-white of the skin next to it. The edge is on the torn paper. That is what makes this type of art so demanding. You are looking at the magazines and saying where can I use this or searching for the perfect piece.

The picture is made up of surprising elements. Text and pictures are all integrated into the image. Can you see people and a leg in this art? Derek says he depends upon randomness to create the picture. Pages with text and patterns are especially helpful for values and transitions.

By the end of Monday, we all had half-complete work and it was difficult to see how we were going to "get there." Derek says it's a leap of faith and he has self-doubts, too. When I arrived home, my brain was so tired, I was almost comatose! Today, though, the process was  beginning to gel for me, and Derek is great about coming around and giving individual attention. He tore some pieces and suggested where to use them a couple different times and got me over the hump when it came to shadows and the eyes. By the end of today, I had finished my piece and most folks were close to done. I have to say, we could have a fabulous show.

I chose to use black and white as my color palette because it is the easiest. I didn't want to have color in the mix to confuse me during the learning process. I will tackle color tomorrow when we do an 18" x 18" stillife.

Bob and I hosted Derek for dinner this evening, in spite of our remodel mess. He thoroughly enjoyed seeing our neighborhood and home. We enjoyed getting to know Derek.