Collage Chicken - Trying Something Different

We've been learning about Henri Matisse lately, which led to experiments with collage and it was but a short hop to try collage illustration.

I'd never really tried to use collage for anything more than a few simple kids projects with my daughter until now, so we both turned to Skillshare for inspiration. After watching the course through, my 11yo and I both got to work.

Collage chicken - work in progress

This is my first attempt as a work in progress. Until now I'd always assumed collage was a simple art form, but designing, making our own papers, preparing a background surface, cutting, piecing things together and finally assembling this small greeting's card, was an incredibly involved process.

I opted for a small, square format card which I prepared using gesso coloured with a little acrylic paint. I added some glitter marker over the top to give more definition.

The papers are prepared with either watercolour or water soluble pastels, just playing really. Rather than copy paper, I used really cheap and thin watercolour paper from Hobbycraft.

Collage chicken greeting card - several days work!

Overall, I'm pleased with the way this turned out. It took much longer than I thought it would, with cutting and sticking alone taking three nights! Not a technique for when I'm in a hurry, but the results are very impressive. Fun, but like stippling, something for when you have plenty of time to do the technique justice!