A bit more about Line

Following on from my recent post about the drawn line….

This is one of my favourite collage techniques which allows me to re-purpose my sketchbook drawings, or draw directly onto transparent paper so that the background collage remains visible beneath the drawing.

This chair was drawn directly onto lens paper with an artists waterproof fine point pen such as a pigma micron or something similar. Sometimes I use acid & lignin free tissue paper instead of lens paper – it tears more easily but bleeds less.

A similar chair in a more advanced stage of its life…The backgrounds, which are created first, are made up of torn pieces of Greek text, often chosen for their content, carefully composed then adhered to the paper/board/canvas with matte medium and knocked back with a dilute gesso wash. I vary the opacity of the wash depending on how much text I want visible.

Working in this way allows me to make each drawing slightly different, so that if I do repeat a particular image in another painting, as I often do with boats and chairs…I can easily vary the details – changing the size, colour, positioning etc.

The original drawing of this particular chair was done in a sketchbook during an extended period of daily drawing – I managed 1.5 years, before taking a break!

I love the way this technique allows these little- seen sketchbook drawings to have a new lease of life!