Painted Paper Collage with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

It was a Fabulous! workshop with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer at Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook on Sunday, March 15.  See pictures here on Julie's blog.  The first series of photos are of Saturday's "Art Journal Playground" so scroll down to the "Painted Paper Collage" group photo which begins the pictures of the workshop I attended.  You won't find me in the picture because I was called away before the photo was taken. (A story I won't tell here.) But I am visible (in miniature) in several photos . . . wearing a light denim shirt . . .

We spent the morning making the papers that we would be using in the afternoon for our collages. We put two colors of paint on sheets of deli paper and spread it around with a defunct plastic credit card. We were told by Julie to make a bazillion sheets of paper (I made about 25). Then when those were dry, we used stencils, stamps and gelli plate printing to add contrast, pattern and texture to the papers.

While the papers dried, we covered the surface we had chosen (mine was an 8x10 canvas) with book pages for a neutral background. Then we cut sections of our papers into shapes to make a simple design and using matte medium, affixed the shapes to the background. The thin deli paper seems to melt into the background and looks as if it was painted right onto the canvas. When the design was complete, we added some black "painterly" outlines. My masterpiece . . .

Meeting Julie was delightful . . . I've been following her blog for several years and it was a thrill to be in her workshop.  She is very open, has a sense of humor, commands the room easily and put everyone at ease.  Her demonstrations and suggestions as she walked among us were helpful and positive.  

Only two things I would have changed  . . . 

One - the size of my canvas. I would have liked mine a bit larger - but the supply list said "8x10" so Miss "Takes Direction Well" procured that size. 

Two - I would have squeezed out more paint on my papers - some were more translucent than I think was the intent of this technique. But I made another dozen or so papers on Wednesday afternoon (after the Sunday situation was finally over) and my technique was better.  I also learned by watching my more experienced table mates.

This was my first experience with paint . . . yes, I have painted objects but had never actually painted a picture or "made art" with paint (since grammar school, anyway). It was a pretty fun experience. I may have to do it again.

Oh wait . . . I am doing it again  . . . on April 19 with another celebrity mixed media artist - Dyan Reaveley. Stay tuned!

Cheers!