Thursday 17 May 2012

Photo Collage Workshop

What, another workshop?!  'Fraid so.  A couple of weeks ago now I went to a Quilters' guild regional workshop not far from where I live with Hilary Beattie who specialises in bonded applique collages.  Hilary is an enthusiastic and lively teacher and the day moved along at a cracking pace so that we were encouraged to work intuitively, especially in the early stages.  Below are some images of Hilary's work.





Our workshop was based around a photographic image pre-printed by Hilary on a specialist image transfer paper which she had sourced through Homecrafts.  It is best to ring them to be sure of the right product.  Once the image is printed and the backing is removed the transfer is slightly transparent and when bonded will reveal a lighter coloured fabric below which can be very useful in this collage technique (as seen in the Poppy piece above).



Above is as far as I got on the day.  My photographic image was of a penguin flexing his wings in a penguin pool.  I chose it mostly for the rocks and decided to cut it up.  Ill-advisedly I used a photographic image of my own that I feel is pulling the eye away from the intended focal point but I am working to change that.

 

 A slight state of chaos in my workspace above.

 


 By the end of the afternoon there was a wide variety of collages on the table.


This lovely collage was made by Maggi who blogs here.


 I particularly liked this piece based on Fountains Abbey.


Above are two more versions of the Fountains Abbey image.
 
My piece is still a work in progress but is nearing completion.  I have free machined a loose grid over the surface and added some watercolour crayon marks.  Next is to add some hand stitching to bring back some highlights in the rocks.  I'll try not to take too long over it ;-)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fanastico Julie, love this work, what a workshop, wish I could join in on one of those! xox

sweetypie said...

wish I had done it!!!

ju-north said...

Looks great! Love your 'get up and go'!

Heather said...

What a fabulous workshop and such great results. Can't wait to see yours when it is finished. You must all have worked hard to get so much done, and had a lovely day.

Angela said...

A really interesting workshop. I thought your image of the penguin was lovely and the whole piece fabulous.

Anonymous said...

Looks really interesting.

Linda Vincent said...

What a great day for you and Maggi ....I'm green with envy! All the pieces look fab...
XX

pam said...

Oh wow sounds like a fabulous day - all the different pieces looked lovely.

Emma said...

Wonderful selection of collages. I nipped over to her site & saw the dog with reflection which I've seen before & remembered on yours or Maggi's blog. Lovely style she has & your work is great ;)You can never have too many workshops!

MulticoloredPieces said...

Hi, Julie. What a great workshop. Thanks for showing all the results--very interesting. I especially liked your FMQ workshop and your experiments with stitching. Gave me some things to think about.
best, nadia