Category: Collage

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Pear Lady

Shelly

Red Pear
Red Pear (detail)
collage with watersoluble crayon and eraser stamp on 90lb Stonehenge paper
9 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches

I had to buy a new batch of pears yesterday (the old ones went into the food dehydrator this morning). The kid at the checkout said, “Hey, you’re the pear lady!” Okaythen!

And pears, they are everywhere. Marsh has dragged out the holiday crap, and there are posters all over the store of little green pears with looped, silver hangers on their heads. There’s a large poster of one in the front window of the store. From the back of the parking lot, it looks like a pear, then when you get to the middle of the parking lot, it looks like a glass Christmas tree ball, then when you get up close to it, you can see the little pear speckles. It’s cute.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

d’Anjou Pear and an Instant Review

Shelly

D'Anjou Pear
d’Anjou Pear (detail)
collage with acrylic and eraser stamps on 90lb Stonehenge paper
9 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches

And, an instant review: The Wild

I love kids’ movies, but this one was a little bit meh. It did have one redeeming factor, though: Eddie Izzard. And, it was worth watching (or, listening to, as I was painting while it was on) solely for the line: “Do we not have the party hats of death?” I laughed so hard I nearly choked. Teh Enb.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Little Fatty and the Bean Pole

Shelly

Asian Pear and Bosc Pear
Asian Pear and Bosc Pear (detail)
collage with Neocolors II, eraser stamps, and acrylic medium on 90lb Stonehenge paper
9 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches

I didn’t mean for this to be quite so busy! That patterned vase on top of the checkerboard stamp looks like really bad Op Art. I’m blaming the cold NyQuil. I’m also not happy with the way the Asian pear turned out, though I do like the bloom on the Bosc.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings, Pets

Bosc Pear and Asian Pear

Shelly

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Bosc and Asian Pear
Bosc Pear and Asian Pear (detail)

I like the watercolor bloom that happened when I did the undercoat, so I left as much of it as I could.

The Asian pear in the photo was upside down, because Harriet knocked it over. I put it back in the wrong position and didn’t notice until I went back to painting. At least she didn’t leave bite marks in it, this time! The banana she swiped off the kitchen table did not fair so well. I came back from taking out the trash to find it squashed all over the kitchen floor. Brat.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Bartlett Pear

Shelly

Bartlett Pear
Bartlett Pear (detail)

I took some serious liberties with the color on this one (Bartlett pears are bright yellow), but I really like how it turned out. I did a bit of a collage-y foundation, with torn bits of pages from an old patent book, glued down with acrylic matte medium. Then, I cut out (tore, actually) a pear shape from another piece of the same paper and glued it on top. It has a slightly 3D effect that’s nice.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

d’Anjou Pear

Shelly

D'Anjou Pear
d’Anjou Pear (detail)

This is another one done with Neocolors II over an acrylic medium ground. Only this time, I blotted the acrylic with a piece of waxed paper, to create a mottled texture. A single layer of watersoluble crayons were blended once with a very wet Q-tip, then left as-is. The only other thing I did to the sketch was to add a tiny bit of black to the shadowed area, blended with my fingers.

I also carved two new eraser stamps for this one.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Bosc Pear

Shelly

Bosc Pear
Bosc Pear (detail)

I had some small scraps of denim left over from the book I bound yesterday, so I used one in this spread.

Again, I spread a thin ground of acrylic matte medium on the paper with a credit card. I find it fiddly to work with watersoluble crayons on top of acrylic, but I love the effect. This time, I used Neocolors II, because they harden to a more durable, waxy finish than Portfolios. I also find them easier to work with in most situations, because they aren’t so mushy.

For the first, all-over layer of color, I used a really wet Q-tip to blend. The second layer–medium and dark shadows–was blended with a damp Q-tip. The third layer–dark shadows only–was just smudged with my fingers.

You can see the pencil sketch through the crayon, especially in the light areas, but I kind of like the way it looks.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Asian Pear

Shelly

Asian Pear
Asian Pear (detail)

I like the way today’s pear turned out, which is good, because yesterday’s was a bit of a disaster. I reworked it a bit and rescanned it, but I’m still not happy. Sometimes sketches just don’t work out, and that’s okay.

Today’s drawing (painting?) was done by first applying a thin layer of acrylic matte medium to the paper with a credit card. Then, I used Neocolors II watersoluble crayons, working in layers, wetting them with a Q-tip, blending with my fingers, then blotting with a paper towel. I’m usually a slow worker, but this sketch went very quickly.

The recipe is one I’ve actually had, though I’ve not made it. It is delicious.