I find the concept of ‘holiday’ difficult. Whilst I love to travel, visit new places, enjoy different cultures the idea of sitting and relaxing is something I do not relate to. Before politics and pandemic got in the way we would spend many months a year in Spain where I had a studio (above) that we have now sold. But it was never ‘holiday’, it was home and work. I would come here during the winter months to make work and to exhibit. For many years I took part in Art Walks and made many friends in the creative community. I now have to view Spain as a holiday destination, and get used to the concept if ‘holiday’.
When we decided it was time to return to Andalusia for a few weeks I needed to consider what I could take to keep me busy. When I am travelling I always have my camera, my sketchbook and a basic kit to hand but what else could I travel with? We had booked an airbnb and unless there was suitable outside space paints and inks were out of the question, particularly given how messy I am!
Collage was the obvious solution! Those of you who have done my courses know I use it a lot, not just in combination with painting and printmaking but to explore compositional ideas. I make my own collage papers using paint, ink and rust. When I’m working in my studio I always have marker or tissue paper to hand to paint the remains on. But this time I took a different approach. I scanned some of the many pieces of mark-making papers I have in my studio, along with some of the recent prints I had made. In addition I printed off photographs of a few of my paintings, some of which are 1mtr wide.
As well as exploring collage for its own sake….to play and create, I wanted to dig deeper into potential ideas. I am intrigued by ideas around reworking, reusing, recycling. Finding interest in the found object and revealing the hidden are threads that weave their way throughout my practice. It is an aspect I explore with my printmaking using packaging and book covers as plates, but it is also an aspect of my painting practice; I intentionally work on large canvas and papers so that I can find smaller more dynamic compositions within the large one, once found they are cut out!
All I needed to take was my print outs, scissors, a glue stick plus black and white posca pens. I also took a sketchbook to collate my work and reflect in. Reflection has become a major part of my practice, the need to consider where we have been, what we have made, and what we could make is as important as the physical act of creating. Witnessing how we feel about our work, our actions, our ideas enables us to find our voice.
Once we had settled in I started with the mark-making printouts, considering shapes and values. Working with parameters provides a freedom, the choice had been made: monochrome and marks, leaving me free to explore the endless permutations. I only stopped when I ran out of paper! Over a couple of days I had created over 30 small collages and filled 10 pages of my sketchbook. I took time to sit back and think about which ones I liked best and why. I found shapes re-occurred; curved and angular, I was intuitively ensuring each had light, medium and dark values, were balanced and harmonious. This level of intuition only comes from practice. Talent, skill and intuition are not a gifts from the gods, they are the result of knowledge and practice. Which for those of you starting out on your creative journey is good news….intuitive composition can be learnt*
Having warmed up I use some of these to further inform slightly larger ones using the printouts of my paintings. This was harder! Adding colour and implied texture meant I had more to play with but added another consideration….I felt less free that before as the parameters had widened. I soon realised that mixing them up made them too complex, too many colours, too much texture lost any sense of harmony and simplicity. I found by cutting up and rearranging one painting, with maybe just a fragment of another as contrast, I found maintain the original paintings intrinsic balance. Interestingly I found working on a black base enabled a more dynamic composition and filled in the gaps between collage pieces with strong negative shapes.
I was struck by two things. Firstly these paintings are about Spain, they were painted here in my lovely studio overlooking the mountains, and many of them are now owned by collectors here. Now I was creating smaller versions of them, mini siblings. Surely a poignant metaphor for change and new beginnings. Secondly I realised that my creating these small collages here in Spain in the country they originated, meant whilst we no longer have a house here, this place is in my heart. I only need paper, scissors and glue to revisit it.
I love playing with scale. The large paintings became small collages. But they could be large paintings again!
Finally I moved onto the printouts of my recent collagraph prints. They already have strong shapes, values and textures. My aim was to purely play, to see what I could make from them. I usually crop compositions to make them stronger but with these I decided to cut up the shapes and rearrange them. I soon found the shapes too small, I wanted larger ones so joined some together. It became a game, like a jigsaw puzzle. The black areas of the prints held the design together and created new negative shapes.
But I wanted to push them further. I decided to use the white of my sketchbook paper as the base. These felt more dynamic, more decisive.
A lighter painting or print always has more potential than a dark one. Light areas can be glazed over with transparent colour, colour can only be added to darks with opaque colours which obliterated detail and texture. I had a play on my phone with one of these collages.
In conclusion it’s been a fabulous few weeks away. I feel I have had a break, caught up with many old friends, created work that I can develop further back in the UK……. and look forward to returning in the Autumn. Maybe I can do this holiday thing after all!
Abrazos
Sally
NEXT COURSE; My 6 week scheduled course Approaches to Abstraction starts on the 18th April, booking opens at the start of April.
*If you want to learn how to intuitively use the principles and elements of composition then my Confident Composition course runs again in June.
Hi Sally, thank you! I really enjoyed your blogpost. Wow, a studio in Spain! Lucky you!
Thanks! It was lovely, ground floor of a 300 year old ruin we spent 10 years renovating. The new owners are going to teach English there😊
Really fascinating and enjoyable post, Sally. Your investigations of space and scale are so interesting, and the outcomes just great! Love that bricky red, and the collagraph effects. I’ve holidayed in Spain several times and like it so much…… What a fab place to work and play you have there!
We had a beautiful, sunny day here in Worcestershire yesterday, so warm we were out in the garden all day, and I was able to sit en plain air with my paints and sketchbook, producing nothing much, but very happily because I was warm!
Thanks again for your post!
All good wishes,
Sue O
Thanks! Amazing how a little warmth makes all the difference 😉😊
Thank you! It’s the first time I’ve managed to read your blog uninterrupted. Loved it! Thanks!
Thanks for reading❤❤😊
Oh Sally! This has been such an inspiring blog. Thank you. I am moving into an adjacent studio near my old studio. Now I don’t have a wall of southern windows to bake me in summer and freeZe me in winter (and curdle some paints). Instead I have 4 wonderful walls. So I am getting busy!
Onwards! 😊😊😊
Enjoyed reading your blog and newsletter. Having sold our French holiday house during Covid after 20 years, I can empathise with the wrench! Collage is such an easily portable medium! Love it! Happy new holiday adventures!
Thanks Maeve! 😊
Your work is so inspiring thank you Sally
Thank you😊
I enjoyed hearing what materials you chose to bring on your vacation. We often go away in the winter with only carry-on bags, so there’s no paint allowed. I took ink-tense blocks, caran d’ache crayons, posca pens and washi tape, all of were water soluble. Add a pad of watercolour paper and I was set.I love your idea of collage and photocopied prints, plus working with smaller versions of paintings
Thanks! Yes a brush pen with water-soluble is great. I like ArtGraf too… 😊
Enjoyed reading about your holiday collage explorations, Sally. Now.. I wonder if therein lies the makings of another course ? Hope so😀🤞🏼🤞🏼
Hi, now there’s a thought! A mini fun one…….
Do you have a large printer for the copies you took? Ours is only A4, I feel I’d need something bigger to provide more options for cutting up.
They were all printed A4, The collages are not big and the smaller the collage the better the composition, keeps it simple!
Great to hear of your trip Sally. My husband and I have a couple of your smaller works bought at the Frigliana Art Walk a few years ago and, like you, we also have our house on the market due to the restrictions of spending time in Spain due to being out of the EU. So we are also having to think about a holiday rather than it being our home. Your work really encapsulated Andalusian Spain for us, the colours, vibrancy and the moorish influences, which we saw in your paintings. Really enjoyed the ideas around collage and how to capture the moment. Inspiring.
Hi Ann, How lovely to hear from you! It’s an odd situation isn’t it? We had thought about keeping it just for holidays but it’s too big, it takes a couple of days to get it warm! But we will still be coming over as often as our quota allows..So glad your pictures give you pleasure. Abrazos😊