Winging It

One of the video collage instructors said,  as she was spreading colors on a page: "I don't know where I'm going; I'm just winging it."

Winging is not my style in some things, but  that is exactly what these projects have taught me to do--which has expanded my way of thinking about all kinds of things, not just paint on pages.

Yesterday I did three things:

1.

While gel printing with my mini Gel Presses (little 2-4 inch shapes, circles, rectangles, etc.) I decided to use them as stamps directly on a cardboard box meant for holding recipes (which I rarely consult any more.)

My palette was chartreuse, yellow, red, and turquoise--and I can see patches of the original black and white pattern of the box underneath in spots.

I touched it gingerly with a spiral foam stamp, then I applied a few strips of black and white Washi tape, then covered it all with matte medium.  The final touch was to adhere a button onto it for a knob--not that a cardboard box needs a knob.

As I was falling asleep, I decided to add a coat of gloss--and voila!  I had myself a shiny box, all squiggly and colorful.

2.

The second project of the day was my Bingo series.  I found some antique Bingo cards a few weeks ago and am collaging over each one, leaving some of the Bingo elements exposed, and adding as my focal point black and white vintage photographs.

When I go to antiques stores, I usually focus my search on papers--old letters stamps, memorabilia,  sheet music, and photographs.

3.

My final project was playing with Neo-Colors (water-soluble crayons) and oil pastels.  I prefer the former because it reacts with water and wet media and it smudges when you add anything wet on top of it, like matte medium.

I scribbled all over the page and watched the colors get soft and muted after the wet layer was applied, and I realized: I'm winging it!  It feels good to wing it.

When I was teaching at U.T.S.A., after many years, I began to wing teaching.  I'd have a general idea in place for the day, based on what I'd asked my students to read or write, but driving there, I'd often come up with a wing-it idea to make it all more interesting--at least from my perspective.