Friday - Layered Collage Technique from Start to Finish

I'm wondering how many of you really wonder about how it's done? If you are just a little curious, you can see the steps from start to finish here.

A few months ago I asked you all to answer a short survey. You said you'd like to see the steps taken to complete a piece of art, why I choose the colors I do and if there's any special meaning to them. Most of that was in relation to mosaics because that is what I am known for but not really what I now do. Instead, here's the way I approach a layered collage. I learned this technique from Jackie Bernardi, a YouTube hero of mine who teaches painted paper techniques and shares how she does them. She's awesome.

Taking painted papers I'm not crazy about and using them for layering is a great way to use every scrap I have. These are pretty darned ugly and would have gotten tossed out if I didn't learn about this technique. These aren't precious at all to me as is but once finished, these pieces of collage art are very special to me.

 As the photo shows above, I'm putting a layer of ripped and/or cut up pieces of painted paper and filling in the 4 inch wooden block with them. I don't care what papers I use. You'll probably never see them again once it's a completed piece. I'm more than okay with that.

Then I paint each block completely with a slightly watered down version of acrylic (not much water because it too will most likely never be seen but it might). 

Most of the time I just use black paint at this point but this time I wanted to use colors. This too might not be seen very much at the end but it can peek through a little.

 

Once the paint is dry, I add another layer of painted papers.

These aren't as ugly and actually I was tempted to leave them as is ... but I didn't.

 Once these papers are dry from using the matte medium, I sand them, scruffing them all up. That starts the grunge look that I am in love with creating. I have a serious crush on this look.

I didn't take a photo of that step. Sorry.

After that I do another coat of matte medium and then add water, black paint, dragonfly glaze and varnish medium together and paint it on each block.

 

Once completely dry I add cut outs from painted papers and quotes.

I was going to use 3 different cut outs but all three peace signs wanted to be on these. And so it is.

 I did finishing touches by painting the wood around it's edges in black and outlining the peace signs with a paint pen before hanging them.

"Live In The Moment"

"Remember the Now"

"Embrace the Journey"

Signed and dated on the side

I think this a great way to take "meh" painted papers and creating something "wow" with them. What do you think?

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Friday - Painted Paper Fun

I watch a lot of crafters doing their thing on YouTube. I mean a whole LOT! They all inspire me to try new things and not be afraid to experiment and learn. I have the best teachers! I'm one lucky gal!!

Here are the names of some of my favorites people on YouTube (in no particular order):

Jackie Bernardi @PaintedPaperStudio, Catherine Rains (the one who taught me all about painted papers in January 2025 and opened up a whole new world) @catrains.artist, and Laurie Richardson Haley @BlackbearyForest.

 

I'm fairly sure they probably won't see this but I want to thank you, ladies, for teaching me such inspirational artful things with painted papers and collage. You are all rock stars in my life! 🌟 😘

In case you hadn't noticed, my focus right now is painted papers. I like to see how others approach the blank page with acrylics i.e.: art journals. Many use that blank page as the "first" layer, slowly adding paint, designs, drawings, stickers, pencils, doodles, etc. onto the paint once it's dry. Sometimes on paper, sometimes in journals. This is an exciting thing to learn because it really is limited only by the imagination.

I've learned the more I practice, the more I want to practice. The more pages I paint, the more I want to paint. And I LOVE the layered look. Putting at least 3 layers of painted papers over each other might seem like a waste but it really isn't. It's all part of a technique I've gotten quite fond of and use often. The photo below is a good example of a finished piece done on 4 inch wood (coaster size). I discovered this technique through Jackie Bernardi.

Embrace the glorious mess that you are.

I've only been making collage fodder since January of this year. It hasn't slowed down, I haven't lost interest and I haven't been distracted by much other than the normal distractions of other art that I do and it's now August. Pretty sure it's something I'm going to continue to do.

Here's some examples of studio life these days: 

Sorting painted papers during the beginning of the year while taking Catherine Rains' online class. How cool are they?!

Gluing pieces down in an art journal. Scraps never go to waste!

And here it is, the photo above, finished. I might add something else at some point.

Cutting out circles and gluing them together for an art journal or collage. I've been making shapes, mostly circles since I started making painted papers.

SO much to do here ... a full day of fun! Dot painting the black things on the top right, gel pen fun in the center right, cutting out shapes at the lower right, the envelopes on the left hold all the shapes I cut out for journals and collage pieces of art.

A page in my collage practice book using purchased printed papers found online. Kinda love the flower theme on this page.

When I have too much paint on the roller, I use a piece of paper, old magazine pages or book pages. At this point, adding designs, doodles and more paint from brushes and my fingers are added slowly (a few days usually) until it becomes an awesome piece of collage fodder. This is what I learned from Laurie Richardson Haley. Pretty cool, huh.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For some reason the photos I've placed here want to stay on the left side of the page. If I read HTML I'm sure I could figure it out ... but I do not ... so my thought was at least you can see them. And that's that!

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com