"New Beginning" Bird Collage

It's Monday morning.....at this moment....10:24 a.m. Usually, I am at the downtown studio at this time, but I've had a revelation....and it is this - I need to be home on Mondays! Nothing much happens down there on Mondays and I am having a terrible time getting anything done at home, so staying home seems a really good idea. I'll still be downtown on Wednesdays, Fridays and the Second Saturday of the month..plus 'special' times, like May 5th, when we are participating in the Downtown Sidewalk Sale.

I couldn't let this particular Monday morning pass without posting. I always feel like I'm behind in posting...so I'm showing you my latest bird collage. It will be followed this week by two other collages...neither with a bird motif. Imagine that.

As you can see in the second photo...this collage began life with a painted canvas and paper napkins. I wish I had left the napkin on the right out of this photo, as I decided not to use it, then forgot to take another photo with it removed from sight. I did decide to use the white napkins with birds on it...just so sweet. Notice the canvas is not in my usual color scheme. Here's the story on that - I had some yellows, reds, oranges and one of my favorites, called "Apricot".....they were left over from something else I was doing and since I hate wasting paint, when I finished the other project, I just painted this canvas with the leftover paint. Not knowing what I was going to do with it...I saved it for 'another day' and that day was the one I decided to use this paper napkin with it's cute bird's nest. Other colors were added and here we are...the basis for this collage. I also used one of those vintage ledger sheets I have and, as always, WORDS.

Using these paper napkins is so much fun. You can use bits and pieces of the napkin, or the whole thing if you want to. (Remember to use only the top layer of the napkin, removing the back two, or you'll make a mess as the printed layer won't stick!)

Last Fall, I found the leaves I've used on this collage blowing down the sidewalk in front of the studio and I've saved them 'til later.' And, later is now....in Springtime! I've chosen to paint over them using oil pastels. I've also used the oil pastels to add some color to the birds and the nest. Again, I've drawn, then painted a vine. I've no idea why I like adding these to my collages other than I draw these kinds of vines on embroidery all the time and I guess I'm just so crazy about doing it, I also feel the need to include them in my collages. Who knows?

I always paint the sides of my collages....add my name and the year. Sometimes I had little bits of print or decorative paper too...then paint over them. Making these collages are so much fun. As you know, I'm not really an artist...but I like to pretend I'm one!

In my next post, I'll show you my other two new collages. One is red tulips, the other will be another of my 'new vintage' ones. I'm going to do my best to show you those two THIS WEEK....meantime, I hope you have a great week and thank you so much for visiting me!
take care, pat