Inspired by William Morris
As a big fan of art nouveau and arts and crafts pediod, it may not be a surprise that I adore William Morris designs. Our home has William Morris curtains in two rooms. I love how detailed and decorative elements are combined to create repetative patterns in the two fabrics.
The little collage of this post was created after browsing some of the old William Morris designs from a book. I wanted to express the beauty of repetitions without creating absolute symmetry. The dark colors in the background change to shiny yellow to give the expression of hope and warmth. William would have used perfect symmetry and more muted colors. I tried to compensate my lack of technical skills by adding self expression.
Being too self-critical is not a good thing. It stops us doing what we really love. I know I cannot be the reborn William Morris. However, in my imagination I can go back in time and pretend to be his apprentice!
Wrapping Paper from Newspaper
Did you know that newspapers are treasures? Neither did I before I began to wrap Christmas presents and realised that I had ran out of wrapping paper. I solved the problem by creating decorated gift paper from newspaper sheets!
Here’s the sheet in the beginning of the process.
I had three various reds of india inks which I used to color the background. Any ink would be suitable. And if you do not have ink, paint a thin layer using acrylic paints.
After the background paint was dry, I painted round shapes with gesso. If you do not have gesso, use white acrylic paint. Thin, even layers are better than thick and bumpy ones. Let dry.
Finally I took a correction pen, some markers and india ink to decorate the white areas.
Ironing makes the papers smooth and shiny.
I could not help making some more. I varied the shape of white areas to make different designs.
I was pretty pleased with all the three of them!
Who would have guessed these were just newspaper sheets in their previous lives!
Copying a Pattern on Hand Decorated Paper
My collage art is strongly based on my own handdecorated papers. Making my own papers changed a lot. I began to feel more happy and content with my art. Even if it’s imperfect, it’s all mine.
I feel sad when people tell they hate their handwriting and say that they can’t draw anything. Putting pen to paper is very important. I believe that it’s our connection to the subconscious. For me, drawing and painting has always been a part of self-discovery. Despite of that, I have felt bad with my drawing too. But I have got rid of that by drawing so much that I have found my own style and accepted it’s imperfections.
The little collage shown here consists of my own papers and doodles. But some of the papers are made with the help of a machine. I used ink jet printer to combine layers of doodling by photocopying. Here’s how I did it!
1) I took some of the papers that I had made using watercolors and color pens. (You can see the instructions at the blog post Frugal Crafter’s Guide to Hand Decorated Papers)
2) I put the paper to the printer’s tray. At my printer (Canon MP550) you have to put the paper backside up to get the printing to the right side.
3) Because I love doodling on white paper I have a small pile of these wildly doodled sheets. I opened the lid and put it upside down to use it as a photocopy.
4) Then I pressed the Copy button and here’s the result!
I could not help making more of these!
Some extra directions: Make sure your papers are completely dry before inserting them to the printer. Use fairly thin paper. When making the colorful papers, do not use very dark colours so that the copied doodles will show.
Have fun using those odd doodles again and again!
Art Nouveau Houseplants
I love my houseplants and many of them appear in this collage. Its style is a mix of art nouveau and the 1960s. It is the result of staring some art nouveau tiles and the works of Birger Kaipiainen. Namely, not too long time ago I went to see Birger Kaipiainen’s exhibition in Espoo, Finland.
This decorative plate was one of my favorites. I love the way the artist used textured surfaces to show off the details. And I have always loved ceramics, one of the favorite materials that I like to think of when making art. I am constantly inspired by materials and I try to imitate them by using inks, markers, and other supplies.
Creative Process
I took some photos of the phases when making the collage.
I began with india inks.
Then I randomly added some cut pieces of hand decorated papers. In the beginning, I work very systematically but for a while, I start to get impatient.
I have reached the point where I want to do something crazy. This time I just made a mess with a correction pen!
I added collage pieces and doodled with markers. Then I decided to add black acrylics to add contrasts. Looks pretty awful but I do not mind. It always looks terrible at this point.
India ink looks great over white doodles.
Here’s a detail of the finished work. I love to use thin markers, it is like sharpening a blurry image!
Let me be your mentor in art: Subscribe to my weekly emails!