Collage #65

My good friend, Linda Friedman, gave me an used envelope that she thought I could incorporate into one of my small, quick collages. She was right!

I cut the envelope into uneven triangles. The envelope was very formal. It's a bit hard to see in the photo but it has gold accents. I liked the idea of the formal designed envelope against the neon card stock. Here is Collage #65:

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Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists

I'm excited to have artwork in multiple exhibits with the Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists group.

 Mission Viejo Library 

100 Civic Center Drive

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

949-830-7100

August 1 - 30, 2015

 "Eye of the Artist"

"An artistic eye is unique to each individual artist. The subject matter is created from the artist’s life experiences, their artistic style, and how they see the world. The fiber art in this exhibition shows the diversity of each artist, as seen through each artist’s eye."

Thank you, Laura, for sending me a photo of my artwork hanging in this exhibit!

photo by Laura Bisagna

Cerritos Library

18025 Bloomfield Avenue

Cerritos, CA 90703

562-916-1350

August and September 2015

"Boundless"

Features fiber art presented on stretched canvas. Each artist was given an 18" x 36" blank stretched canvas to use as a base for their artwork. Fiber artwork was prepared for the canvas and stretched around or adhered to it. The artwork in some instances extends beyond the boundary of the canvas.

"Frayed #1" and "Frayed #2" by Mia Bloom

"Shaped by Fiber" 

Features fiber art that goes beyond two dimensional wall hangings. The artwork in this exhibit includes 3D forms, vessels, mounted fiber art and hanging pieces.  

"What's Next?" by Mia Bloom

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Collage #64

Collage #64 was inspired by Henri Matisse. Now that I have posted a photo of this collage, I see that the light blue element would work better if it was a darker blue. I decided to leave it as is. With these collages, I want to work quickly. Like a warm up exercise to see what develops. It's a process and not all collages are completely successful. 

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Collage #63

I used newspaper headlines for Collage #62. It wasn't as successful as I had hoped so I thought I would give it another try.

Collage #63 uses the stained bleeding tissue paper that I distressed for Collage #62 ground. Using Yes Paste, I glued the tissue paper and random newspaper headlines. I'm happier with this week's collage. There's more contrast in color and elements. 

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Collage #62

Well, "life got in the way" last week and I wasn't able to eek out time to make a quick, small journal collage. Today I made the time to create Collage #62.

It's made using a ground that was slightly stained using bleeding tissue paper. I decided not to use the actual tissue paper on this collage. I have a pile of newspaper waiting to be recycled and decide to cut up some headlines and randomly glue them using acrylic gel medium in gloss. It was created in under 30 minutes. There isn't too much contrast between the ground and the newspaper headlines. If I decide to try this style of collage again, I'll add more variation of colors to add contrast.

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Collage #61

Collage #61 is another small, quick collage. The ground is the inside of a security envelope. The minimalist in me would have been happy to just use the security envelope and that's it but I knew I had to add to it. Using more of my saved fortunes, I glued them to color paper using Yes Paste. The design is a bit off center but it's more interesting to me. 

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Collage #60 "This and That"

My goal to make more small, quick collages during the week isn't going as planned. I'm giving myself a break and plan to make a minimum of one a week. If I make more then it will be a bonus.

Here is Collage #60:

I didn't start with an idea of what I wanted to use for this collage. I just wanted to make something. First, I painted the ground using Blick's Studio Acrylics in Yellow Oxide and Red Oxide. Then I started grabbing random pieces of small papers such as a losing lottery ticket, fortune, parking ticket, etc. Quickly arranging these items then gluing them down with Yes Paste. I kept thinking...a little of this and a little of that. I usually don't title my small, quick collages but I thought "This and That" fit. 

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Collage #59

Collage #59 was made with seemingly unrelated papers. The white gauzy paper was found on the sidewalk. Yes, I tend to look down when I walk. It fit perfectly on my small (5.5" x 8.5") journal that I've been using for my quick sketch collages. I used matte medium to glue the white gauzy paper on top of a piece of UPS envelope. To the upper right is the inside of a security envelope. The bottom right is part of a magazine insert. Separating both sides of this collage is a piece of colored paper. All pieces are glued with matte medium.

This collage is not my normal style but it's growing on me. Pushing myself to create quickly without thinking too much ahead of time is a great exercise.

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Collage #58

Due to my new day job, I usually don't have much time to create art Mondays through Fridays in the evenings. I've been getting back to my original premise to make small quick (30 minutes or less) collages in a journal. Click here learn more. I need to create art during my work week to unwind. 

Collage #58 is made from randomly torn bleeding tissue paper glued with matte medium. I had a string of navy embroidery thread leftover from another project that I glued on top.

I love the transparent look of the bleeding tissue paper where the pieces overlap.

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Impromptu Screen Printing Session

There are many deadlines looming for me but I had a wild hair to screen print some fabric just for fun. Very impromptu. A way to loosen up.

Recently, I bought some Speedball Screen Printing Ink for fabric from Dharma Trading Company. I grabbed a roll of paper towels because I didn't have any newspaper. Also, I didn't have a clear plan of what I wanted to do. I started tearing the paper towels haphazardly and laying the pieces on the fabric. More than halfway through the process I realized that I should be taking photos so the lighting is a bit off.

Adding the final layer of ink
using paper towel stencil.

This screen has a 11" x 11" opening.

I'm happy with the results of this impromptu screen printing session. I love how the marks look imperfect. Almost dry brush looking.

The total size of this fabric is 31" x 50". 

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