Limited palette, vibrant collage

Series: Collage Makers Summit no.3

Collage Makers Summit from Drew Steinbrecher
Workshop: Working with a limited colour palette
Host: Lydia Rink website – Instagram

Just because this lesson called for working with a limited palette didn’t mean it had to be a dull one and, after the previous two neutral collages, it was time to crank up the colour intensity.

The first task was to choose some papers to work with. My bright colour choice was easy: this mix of magenta and yellow was one of a number of sheets of paper that I had painted a few years ago to give me a palette of different colours to use in mixed media work. I love this particular paper, but it is far from subtle and so only a few bits had ever been used. It is, however, perfect as a contrast to the black and white that would go with it in this collage.

Along with the black textured paper (another from my painted stash), I knew I wanted to use some letter shapes. Luckily I had saved some large text from a magazine and just had to choose a few letters and fussy cut them out.

Next task, come up with a layout. Earlier this year I started a sketchbook for mark-making, patterns and shapes. One of the things I started doing in it was picking out abstract shapes from my photos, creating possible layouts for collages or other abstract pieces. Most of them are taken from small details, but the one I used for this layout was basically the view from my kitchen window — the shapes of the buildings opposite along with the clouds in the sky — rotated through 90° anti-clockwise.

I assembled it all, adding some letter shapes to break up the outlines, and finished it off with a coat of gloss medium.

Much as I do like a subtle vintage palette, this piece is my favourite of the ones I’ve made for the summit so far. I like the high contrast colours and the abstract nature of the design: inspired by a photograph, rather than including a photograph.