In the Make Art that Sells Class with Lilla Rogers, Part A, week 4 was for the wall art market and our assignment was to create an abstract collage piece. This was another first for me, but I really adored the process and had a blast.

Here is one of the paintings I created and photos of the steps. I'm so happy I took these photos while I was working! This must have been when I got the paint on my phone case.

Mood board and drawing

I pinned up my color inspiration for the assignment. Would you believe I've had these magazine pages for quite a few years? I used to be an avid home decor magazine reader.

Background

I transferred my drawing onto the painted acrylic canvas with white transfer paper.

Text collage

I made a collage of various photocopied dover engravings, magazine clippings, and vintage sears catalog pages. I used modge podge to stick it together and seal it on top.

Placing the bones of the piece

I placed the cut out shapes and the beginnings of my heart in place.

Filling it in

I made a quick sketch on my ipad using Procreate to see what the piece's coloring might look like. I referenced the sketch and got started putting it all together.

Getting there

More collage bits

Adding more collage pieces to the heart.

More details

Painting over collage heart pieces to fuse it together.

Black outline

Here I've added my black painted outline to add more contrast and pop out the shapes of the piece.

The finished piece

I found the process easy and fun, so that must mean I should do more, right?

The finished piece that I submitted in class most likely isn't that marketable as far as licensing goes, but based on how much joy I got from making it, I think I can afford to spend more time making more art like this.

I recommend checking out Mati Rose McDonough's book, Daring Adventures in Paint, as well as her ecourse of a similar name. I used her technique for creating a background and transferring a sketch to the canvas.

Daring Adventures in Paint: Find Your Flow, Trust Your Path, and Discover Your Authentic Voice-Techniques for Painting, Sketching, and Mixed Media

By Mati Rose McDonough