Montaged Moments

What is Studioworks Creative Academy?

Ever since I was a little girl my imagination flourished parallel to my reality.  One of my most vivid memories as a kid was playing “Superheroes” with the other neighborhood children. 

I claimed Bat Girl because I absolutely loved her and on that day I was Bat Girl and it felt wonderful and powerful in the midst of a not so great real world waiting for me. Fantastical imagination is powerful. It carries our spirit to the endless “what if’s?” and can open doors to a larger mind and life. My art has become my neighborhood playground. In this class, I hope to inspire you to remember and cultivate your past and present imaginations and daydreams and then express them through collage.

In this mixed media class, we will create and capture fanciful moments as we delve into the possibilities of the art of collage. We will use simple editing techniques with beautiful photography.  Together, we will create dreamy backgrounds with acrylic inks and watercolors. We will also become novice fashion designers with the creative papers we choose to adorn our muses with. We will become hairstylists with a wooden skewer in hand. We will add eclectic finishing touches with doodles, line work, marks and indulgent touches of gold.

Lesson 1: Ginkgo Meditation

The Ginkgo Tree is a symbol of resilience, hope and peace.  It is considered sacred in the East. Ginkgo trees have survived atomic bombs that were dropped in the battle of Hiroshima!! There is one growing in China that is thought to be 3,500 years old. So what better leaves could we choose to meditate under with some decked out beats on? 

In this first lesson, we will loosen up and warm up practicing drawing these curvy leaves and play with wet in wet techniques with acrylic inks. We will apply gold leaf to our girl and leaves using gilding paste. Gold paint pen line work will then create more interest to our ginkgo leaves. The collage element in this is simple and will expose you to your first fashion design. We will add a little watercolor for shading, some playful splatters and simple doodling to ground the piece. The color mixes for this piece create luscious denim blues which enhance the decadent gold.

Lesson two: Prairie Keeper

In this second project, we will enter the fertile grasslands of the prairie but in a miniature way! Our girl here exudes mirth and she is a keeper of these beautiful grassy sanctuaries. You will warm up learning how to paint a delicate watercolor flower that can be used in a broad range for your future artwork. The background for this is all watercolors. 

We’ll get a little salty adding it coarsely to the wet paints creating texture. Together we’ll implement loose grasses for our lady to hide amongst.We’ll use acrylic ink and a wooden skewer for this fun redhead’s crazy hair. Cut out butterflies will be her friends and with some craft paper and cheese cloth she’s ready to protect her land!

Lesson Three: Crane Curiosities

I love cranes! So, this piece is a celebration of that delight.  The crane has long been symbolized for happiness and eternal youth. In Japan, they are revered as magical and holy creatures that are a sign of good fortune. It is no surprise that they are depicted consistently in Japanese origami paper and that is my most favored collage paper and will be used completely in this dress. 

The gorgeous woman we use in this lesson radiates confidence and empowerment. In this piece, we will use most all techniques and mediums used in the previous lessons along side new approaches to create an abstract landscape with acrylic inks and some watercolor. We will gift our girl a companion crane that you can collage or paint on. We will be adding plateaus of doodles with water brush and pen. We will get the wooden skewer back out and create her fantastic bee hive up-do. If you have any old film negatives grab one and cut out a landing for our lady and her crane or use anything you like!

Bonus Lesson!! Little Druid

Get out your art journal and create this adorable baby Druid feeding the earth from her soul with vines of golden leaves! I love fantasy fiction and druids are one of my favorite characters in the books I’ve read. I think if I could pick a power to have it would be in line with the earth and the elements! So enjoy this bonus lesson and create a Druid or pick a power you would love to emulate :)

 Who is this class for?

This class is for all levels, whether you're just beginning in your artistic endeavors or you want to be inspired to add collage to your existing style.  Through these lessons you will acquire a modern approach to the practice of collage.  With the knowledge of all the art methods taught in this class you will be able to confidently create your own innovative montaged moments!

• 11/15” watercolor paper

• Masking or painters tape

• Any H pencil and mechanical pencil

• Kneaded Eraser

• Matte Fixative

• Watercolors Used

  • Olive Green

  • Yellow Ocher

  • Warm Red

  • Alizarin Crimson

  • Burnt Umber

  • Payne’s Grey

  • Cadmium Yellow

• Acrylic Inks (Liquitex)

  • Turquoise Deep

  • Burnt Umber

  • Raw Sienna

• FW Daler Rowney

  • Payne’s Gray

  • Cool Grey

  • Crimson

  • Sepia

• Assorted Angle Brushes small flat brush #2 or 4

• Any round Watercolor Brush (Pointed Preferably)

• Detail Brush

• Course Salt from the Pantry

• Wooden Skewer

• Fine Scissors

• Matt Medium

• Assorted Color Pencils for cheeks and lips

• Craft Paints

  • White

  • Off White

  • Sky Blue

  • Aqua

• Paper of your choice for Collage Suggestions

• Cheese Cloth

• Wedge or Credit Card

• Gold Paint Pen Extra Fine

• Posco White Paint Pen or Sharpie

• White Gel Pen

• Micron Pen .01mm

• Gold Leaf (Any Brand)

• Gilding Paste

• Water Brush