Collage From Monoprint

Image taken from photo of monoprinting plate

I wanted to see if I could further develop this image from the monoprinting session.  I decided to continue to work in acrylic but to use it to create toned paper pieces for collage work.  At a tutorial with Adam we discussed experimenting with colour schemes (complementary, triadic, split complementary etc).  I liked the purple tones used in the previous painting, so I decided to choose a complementary yellow and to use tints and tones of both, using a brush in this case to apply paint to cartridge paper.

Collage composition experiment, not glued

I traced out the shapes from the original image - both the full shapes and the ghost images - and used different tones of painted papers to differentiate between the full and ghost images.  I don't like the colour scheme - I think the yellow is too pale and lacks drama; the balance of purple to yellow is wrong; and I think perhaps I could have mixed the paints better to achieve a better contrast.

However, I do like the fragmented central figure and the resulting negative space cut outs and I think that this is an element I would like to experiment with and develop further.

Second attempt at background

I wondered if adding a more textural element and white highlights would make a difference so I used a natural sponge to apply partially mixed yellow and white acrylic.  I think the texture is interesting, but I am still unhappy with the colour scheme.

Working on composition

I don't think this was a particularly successful piece, either in colour scheme or in composition.  I do however, like the shadows formed where the collage pieces were not yet stuck down, giving a three dimensional, tonal quality.  I will experiment with this further.