Ed. note: The creative process is a mysterious thing. Inspiration comes and goes; realization is often haphazard. We don’t often get a chance to view the creative process of an artist up close, but Cyndee Starr of Eloise’s Collage has opened the door to her imagination here. She is detailing in this post and at least one to follow what her creative process is as she works from start to finish on a collage. You can see Cyndee’s other work at her Etsy store.
INSPIRATION: I’ve been gathering my thoughts for a new project. The ideas started coming together after I started playing with what I call collage samplers on 8” x 8” canvas. I gather buttons, trims, paint, and paper, whatever strikes me. I’ve really been enjoying putting these together. So I’ve been buying everything about mix media collage I can find, looking for more ideas.
What really jumped up and grabbed me was a collage by Sharon McCartney in the book An Exploration of Contemporary Artists, Methods, and Materials by Holly Harrison. I really liked the multiple pieces hanging from one hanger–here she used a yard stick. What a cool idea. I also liked her use of beads, both on the collage and dangling below. Wow! What could I put together?
This collage stuck in my mind for weeks, and then when I was visiting my daughter at the coast I made a quick trip to my favorite fabric store, Creative Fabrics in Wheeler, Oregon. I knew I wanted to do something with multiple pieces hanging from something, and with beads/embellishments hanging from the bottom. As soon as I walked in the store–I barely got in the door–I saw the fabric I had to have: a whole table of oriental prints, many of which would coordinate well in a collage. I’ve always loved the oriental designs, so I knew that was going to be the basis for my project, and I went no further. I selected several different fabrics that I thought would work well together: reds, greens, with black and metallic accents–even a blue piece. I also got a black with a small dot, to accent or trim with.
Now that I have the fabric, a basis for an idea, what will I do with it? So the next step was to gather the embellishments. Several trips to the craft store, and the antique consignment store, and I came up with several items that I thought would work on this project. I got the idea to use black chopsticks to hang the collage from, but I’m not sure how I will do it yet. I found a letter from Japan with the postmark and postage stamps that I’d like to try to incorporate into the project. Also a stencil–I can see the happiness symbol stenciled maybe in black on the fabric somewhere. I found a black and white button, some red beads and a black frog fastener.
I have the beginnings for my collage, now the next step is to decide the shape and cut the backing.
Stay tuned.
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