Collage paper Archives - Page 2 of 2

Pet portraits from photos

I recently finished two new pet portraits. A portrait makes a wonderfully personal keepsake to remember someone who has passed to to commemorate a beautiful moment in your life.

The portrait of Allie below was completed some months ago but was only just given as a gift over the weekend for the owner's birthday. I knew this cat personally - I used to cat-sit for Allie as she and her owner, my good friend Barbara, used to be my neighbors. Allie had the most beautiful blue eyes, so I chose a bright blue background to really make her eyes pop. Barbara's mother commissioned the painting so I had to keep the portrait on the hush hush until the gift was received but now I'm free to post it. We all miss you Allie!

The dog portrait was a gift I gave to my good friend John this weekend. He lost Bernie (the dog on the right) just a month ago. I had already planned to do a portrait of the dogs for John's birthday - I took the source photo back in November. But now that Bernie has passed the gift is even more poignant. Bernie - most wonderful of dogs - you are greatly missed!

I personally love doing portraits and love to try and find the soul in each subject. I have recently offered a donation of a series 9 pet portraits to Felines & Canines, a nearby pet shelter, to serve as featured art in their new facility currently under construction. Stay tuned for posts following my progress in creating these nine images.

Allie - portrait, monoprint with watercolor and collage

Nina & Bernie - portrait, monoprint with watercolor and collage

By Rochelle / Collage paper / Masa paper / Materials / Monoprints / Original portraits / Paintings / Pet Portraits / Portraits from photos / Watercolor - 02/14/2012

Valentine's Day at the Galleria

Woot! Thank you to Scott and Ken at the Andersonville Galleria for featuring one of my Valentine's paintings in the front window display.

I've just finished 4 new small lovebird paintings in time for the upcoming holiday. New greeting cards will also be available soon. Looking out the window right now with the snow coming down I can see why Valentine's Day is so well placed this time of year - everyone could use a warm-up!

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By Rochelle / Collage paper / Gifts / Masa paper / Materials / Monoprints / Paintings / Watercolor - 01/20/2012

Fun portraits for special events

Portraits make great gifts. Our lovely Bonnie just celebrated a milestone birthday, so I created a portrait of her as a birthday present. I found a great fun pic of her on Facebook and created this portrait from the photo. Went over very well at the party - Robin even found the hat from the photo and put it on Bonnie's head! Everyone laughed for a good ten minutes and Bonnie seemed genuinely touched! It was great!

This style of painting which is a combination of collage, monoprint and watercolor, is a fun and interesting style to use for portraiture. I've mainly used it for pet portraits but lately have tried a few people portraits and I am really loving the effects.

Happy birthday Bonnie!

Bonnie Huber - portraits from photography

Our lovely Bonnie! - portraits from photography

By Rochelle / Collage paper / Gifts / Masa paper / Monoprints / Original portraits / Paintings / Watercolor - 12/04/2011

Sweet attack

Wayne Thiebold made a name for himself during the pop art movement by painting cakes and pastries - and I can see why he chose them. They're so pretty! Like making a painting of a sculpture, it's art inspired by art.

While the Pop movement was about glorifying objects of mass culture, my inspiration is more of an homage to the work and talent that goes into making a beautiful cake or pastry.

These were way too fun to paint, and I have lots of ideas to continue the series. However, the fall out is a pretty hefty sugar craving. Uh oh!

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Art show / Collage paper / Inspiration / Masa paper / Materials / Monoprints / Paintings / Watercolor - 10/29/2011

Pet Portraits R Us

I just finished a commissioned puppy portrait of Maya - a gorgeous Great Dane. My client purchased this painting as a birthday gift for her friend, Maya's owner. I always like to have a few paintings going at once so I'm not sitting there watching paint dry, so, while I was at it, I also did two other pet portraits. One is a portrait of Juno, a lab mix puppy owned by my good friends the Carrolls, and I also did a portrait commemorating my much missed cat, Daisy.

All three of these paintings are combinations of monoprints, collage and watercolor. I love the unexpected effect created by both the collage and the monoprint. You never know what you're going to get, but it's usually something good!

Collage paper / Masa paper / Materials / Monoprints / Paintings / Pet Portraits / Watercolor - 09/25/2011

Cleaning house and inspiration

Featured above: "Up early" - watercolor painting inspired by Milly's garden

For every finished painting, there are also a few that are started and then set aside. They're always in the back of my mind as I am working on other things, waiting for the day I am inspired to finish them up.

I finally took some time this weekend to give some attention to five paintings that have been sitting half finished for a while. Quite a sense of accomplishment. Most of them were started back in August when I was on vacation in Canada.

One of them, "Up early" (pictured at left) was started a year ago and based on a photo taken of my Aunt Milly's garden - a splendid and remarkable place. Forty years of nurturing have gone into her creation of this masterpiece which surrounds her home on the coast of Lake Superior in a little town called Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Many of my paintings are inspired by Milly's garden, including all the images in the presentation below.

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Collage paper / Materials / Paintings / Watercolor - 09/11/2011

Nuts for fruit and veg

I've been working on a series of fruit and veg for the last couple months and finished them up over the weekend. I was going for fun and funky, and certainly colorful.

These are the same technique I've used for florals in the past - a mix of monoprint, collage and watercolor that I learned from Karlyn Holman this spring. I love the element of the "happy accident" you get with the collage paper and the monoprinting process. You just never know what you're going to get!

I'm going to frame up a few of the originals as groups of two or four I think, for placement at the Galleria. And I just sent scans of all of them, and the little birdies, to get prints in time for the Sept 2 First Friday event at the Galleria. Which are your faves?

The fruits

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The veg

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Art show / Collage paper / Masa paper / Materials / Watercolor - 08/24/2011

For the birds

I've been seeing them everywhere - birds have taken over the interiors and fashion industries in recent years. My head has been turned - so many cute little tweeters everywhere I look. So, inspired by what I'm seeing around me, I thought I'd jump in and try some monoprints with birds as the subject.

For the birds? You tell me. Below are the series finished this weekend.

Collage paper / Masa paper / Monoprints / Paintings / Watercolor - 08/22/2011

Size counts

(Pictured above, "Roadside daffodils", watercolor painting, measures 22" x 30", framed original $800.)

For a long time I've been trying to "get big" with my paintings. If you're not familiar with watercolor paintings, it's kind of hard to work big.

First of all since the medium is watery, it makes it mostly impossible to work on an easel - the paint just runs right off. Ok, good for some effects but for the most part it's important to work flat. So, a big piece of paper can get unwieldy, not to mention it's difficult to keep your perspective on a large sheet lying flat in front of you. Best solution I've found so far is to start with a really good drawing which you complete upright on an easel and then when it's lying flat you just follow your drawing.

The second issue is that you have to work fast to make sure the color you put down doesn't dry before you get a chance to make sure you've had a chance to achieve the affect you planned. Trick here is to work big very wet, then put in the details in smaller manageable sections.

However - I love big paintings. The bigger the better. And I have the impression that gallery owners appreciate scale as well - the bigger the painting the higher the ticket price. All good. So - I keep trying to work bigger - practice, practice, practice.

Following are two large scale paintings just finished this weekend.

Title: "Yellows", watercolor painting, measures 22" x 30", framed original $800.

Collage paper / Experimentation / Materials / Paintings / Watercolor - 07/04/2011

Now showing in Lincoln Park