Painting With Paper: Collage Art by Linda Bladholm
A collage is an art technique and resulting work where different materials are glued on a flat surface to create a new image. The word comes from the French coller, which means to glue. Collage art can change the way you see. In my process I collect images from magazines, newspapers, photos I take and old books to create something new. My aim is a beautiful, strange, even a bizarre juxtaposition of unexpected, startling images incorporating shape, line, color and movement with space, value (lightness and darkness to create contrast and focus), and texture. After collecting paper elements I cut the images out and layer them, glueing as I go to create a unified construction.
The tools of my trade are scissors and various materials to glue my cut out images on including paper, mat board remnants and recycled book covers from books I have composted that make for a dimensional canvas. I am inspired by nature, animals, the ocean, space and the planets and constellations and the varied cultures I have experienced living in other countries and traveling the world. I am also inspired by residing in a rainforest on the Big Island of Hawaii where I am surrounded by nature. My collages may resemble paintings but they are made from scraps of well designed paper.
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