Using Ephemera as a Collage Layer

Lay out your canvas and torn decorative papers to cover the surface. They don’t have to cover perfectly. Hand-torn edges give nice interest to the art.

Glue the papers down, making sure all edges are attached completely to the surface. Bits that stick up will hinder the flow of the paint and look sloppy. Push out any air bubbles from under the papers.

I gathered four colors I wanted to use to paint over the background. Choose the combo you like best.

Smear the paint around (I used a baby wipe) until you are happy with the result. I have left areas thin to make sure the papers show through.

I used raw sienna and unbleached titanium white to smooth over everything gently, especially the edges to darken them. I made sure no bits of blank canvas shone through.

As some gold paint to part of the project. It gives the art a nice glow. You can also still see the darkened edges.

Draw a simple bird shape on white printing paper. You can also cut out a bird picture from a magazine and use as a template. It’s important that it’s scaled to look good on your canvas.

Cut out your bird and move it around on the canvas to find the best position for it.

Use a permanent marker to trace the contour of the bird. Permanent markers won’t smear.

(I decided to use a blue.)

Sketch some simple flower shapes. I drew some simple outlines of poppies so that I could figure out how to draw them on the canvas. You can cut out those templates too, or just draw them where they fit best around your bird.

Paint in your bird and flowers. I painted the bird white with some green shading. Then I painted the poppy flower shapes. Perfection is not important since we’re going for a soft look.

Choosing a flat brush, add some stems and leaves. (I used a dark green.) Again, don’t worry about perfection. Then I added two round shapes, like pods, in yellow and ocher, also with green stems. I outlined the bird with some dark green paint on a small flat brush. A marker would be too harsh of a contrast. I also outlined the stems with some raw umber and painted the bottoms of the poppies the same raw umber. I used a black ballpoint pen to outline the pods. I brought out my black Staz-On ink pad to darken the edges of the art even more.

Hold the ink pad upside down and rub it along the edges. Be careful not to get too much black applied if the ink pad is new!

Finished art project. So much fun! Many layers applied and you can still see the decorative collage papers shine through.