Figurative Painting with Collage E-Book

Rod Judkins

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Collage is an innovative and exciting technique that invigorates the artistic process through unusual associations and dislocated imagery. This practical book shows how collage can be used to portray the figure in new and challenging ways. Written for both novices and experienced artists, it explains the fundamental techniques used to manipulate different paints and collage, whilst encouraging experimentation and individual development.

Leseprobe

Figurative Painting with

COLLAGE

Rod Judkins

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2016 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2016

© Rod Judkins 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 075 1

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Byron Howard for writing the foreword. Special thanks to all my family, This book is dedicated to my daughter Scarlet and son Louis who have contributed a great deal of work and paintings. Their enthusiasm and constant experimenting have hugely inspired me. Thanks also go to Peter O’Dowd for contributing such strong imagery and agreeing to be interviewed. I’m very grateful to Beverley Mason for letting me interview her about her amazing Burlesque series. I am indebted to Monika Malyjasiak for allowing me to plunder her sketchbooks for images and for talking about them in such depth.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1Making Your Mark

2From the Top

3Beyond The Surface

4A Visual Diary

5Taking A Line For A Walk

6The Human Figure

7Starting Points for Experimentation

8Imagining the Future

Contributing Artists

Index

INTRODUCTION

The wonderful thing about painting with collage is that it is not intimidating. People who have struggled with many aspects of painting and drawing suddenly discover untapped ability when they discover collage. There is no right or wrong way to create collage, just guidelines that can be followed if they suit you or tossed aside if they do not. Collage elements can be torn off and pasted over if the work is not developing well. It is unpretentious because it takes the discarded, the leftover and the unwanted scraps of paper and transforms them into a new image. Little equipment is needed for painting with collage apart from the most basic art materials. There is no necessity for especially expensive materials or costly glues, papers or paints.

Collage is an excellent medium for the timid beginner to build up their confidence as a preliminary to painting. It is also an exciting medium for the skilled artist who can manipulate it in a serious way but also reinvigorate their work and thinking. If your work is in a cul-de-sac then collage with painting can offer a number of possible exits. Collage techniques and materials can also offer the key to resolving failed paintings that have been stacked away for months. Painting with collage also enables artists who have been trained using more rigid principles to approach their art with a more playful, less precious attitude.

This book is strongly influenced by the Contemporary Collage short course I teach at Central St Martins College of Art in London, the world’s most prestigious centre for the arts. On the course I encourage the students to explore every possible collage technique and method in order to find the approach that suits them best. The book is the product of a passion for figurative painting with collage as a way of discovery and creativity.

Painting the human figure is the most rewarding artistic experience because other human beings are the most fascinating subject. Using painting and collage together invigorates the depiction of the human figure because of the unusual associations and dislocated imagery created in the dialogue between the two mediums. Collage and painting are the most accessible of mediums, and contemporary collage has brought about a renaissance in the way figurative paintings are created.