Some artists like to position all the torn and cut paper shapes on the backing sheet of paper or card before gluing any in place. This allows them to consider the relationship between the different shapes, and make alterations if necessary, before committing to a particular arrangement. owever, I prefer a more intuitive, direct approach. I start with one shape and fix that in position, and then I add other shapes in relation to the first one.
Although I make some reference to the location sketch, as a starting point, I am only thinking of very basic shapes and divisions at this stage. I might overlap some of the paper shapes, and I try to avoid placing them exactly parallel to the edges of the painting paper. Rather than having lots of right angles and parallel lines, I prefer more subtle angles and diagonals. These create a more dynamic quality in the design.
Consequently, once I have decided on a shape and glued it in place, I cannot alter it. But ironically, by adopting this approach, I am able to keep the initial stages of the painting fairly undefined – so allowing me different options in terms of the way to proceed. Generally, I start with just four or five shapes: these, as I have explained, will indicate the key divisions within the composition – for example, where a telegraph pole intersects a field, or the top of a harbour wall abuts a building. I often emphasize such divisions and extend them right across the image.
To secure the collage shapes in place, I use a matt acrylic medium – usually Spectrum Copolymer Emulsion. Essentially, this is the same medium that is used in the manufacture of acrylic paint. An advantage of this medium is that it is waterproof, whereas PVA, which is equally suitable as an adhesive, is water-soluble.
I dilute the acrylic medium with water for use with thin papers, but apply it undiluted for gluing materials such as corrugated card, mountboard and fabric. An alternative method, which I sometimes use, is to impress a paper shape into an area of wet acrylic
This might imply that I am only thinking about the subject matter in literal terms. However, I am also considering the way that various shapes interrelate and begin to create interest and balance within the design. For instance, you will see that I have placed some tissue-paper shapes at the top to balance the ones in the foreground. Equally, I am thinking of the textures and how these could be used later.
Next, as in Stage 2, I sometimes develop the collage further, before starting to apply the two main colours that I have chosen for the subject. I decided to use a blue and a golden sand colour for this painting, working as usual with acrylic inks and applying them with a soft-haired 5cm varnishing brush. The collage must be dry before starting on this stage, for which I first wet the paper by spraying it with water. With the painting held vertically at an easel, I apply the colours randomly, allowing them to create haphazard effects.
With the entire painting surface now covered in some way, either with collage or colour, I begin to think more particularly about textures. For those areas in which a rich textural quality will be useful, I use white acrylic paint, which is applied quite freely with a linoprinting roller, as shown in Stage 3. Again, I aim to create a sense of unity by repeating the texture in different areas, although avoiding those passages of the initial blue or golden sand colour which I estimate will relate to specific parts of the subject matter. As well as adding texture, the white acrylic imparts a luminosity to the painting later on, when coloured glazes made from diluted acrylic inks are applied over it.
During the next stage, with a fresh look at the location drawing, and where appropriate exploiting the divisions, marks and surface effects that are now part of the painting, I start to resolve the essential elements. As you can see in Stage 4, I have now defined the main house, using white acrylic paint, and with black acrylic ink offset from the edge of a piece of card, I am putting in some fencing posts. The challenge is to balance areas that give meaning and definition with those that are left as textural, abstract qualities.
Finally, as shown in Stage 5, I draw with a dip pen and some black or brown acrylic ink to add any further outlines and details that I think are necessary.