Collage Work in Progress

Acrylic on boards, each 8 x 8 in.

I thought I'd keep you up to date on some trial paintings I've started, using collage. Inspired in part by the very enjoyable workshop led by Karen Stamper, I began laying out these two panels last week at Gateshead Art Society, then pasted down some selected bits of collage paper.

Over the week since then I've worked on them both, with a mixture of confidence, trepidation, frustration, and pleasure. There's no doubt that the panel with the most collage elements (the balcony with the washing) has proven to be the most difficult to move along. 

The collage elements changed the original subject in such a way that I had to adapt and change the composition to get it to work. As it is, I'm still struggling with parts of it (not helped by finding acrylic colours behaving slightly differently from my accustomed oil colours). I've no doubt that if I were to allow a greater degree of abstraction the problems would be lessened, but I'm still not much of an abstractionist.