I used mixed media painting and collage techniques to abstract the landscapes from the beautiful Blue Mountains where I live. The warming spring earth is where the ideas for this series of mixed media collages came from. Creating an exciting rich color palette of browns, greens, and purples brought cohesion to these paintings. I concentrated on the open views of the rural scenery around me.
I found boldness within my quiet moments in nature.
To start I wanted the freedom to explore without older ideas getting in my way; which brought me to a stack of blank canvases and papers.
Odds and ends and riff-raff didn’t belong with these new fresh surfaces. I didn’t decide on much in the beginning except for some new materials and colors that were exciting to me. The rest fell into place along the way.
This is how my new collages titled Blue Mountain Offerings, 1-12 took shape in My Forest.
As things developed a lot of layers built up. The number one thing I like to do is build a surface. With my new collages on paper cutting and gluing was next level. A painting could never be ruined. It just merged with another.
These pictures also brought back the crisp clean edges from my early painting class days. I worked on them all taped straight to my table. I was happy to discover I could carefully peel them up without losing the nice taped edges. This helped with rotating the paper if I didn’t like how the composition was looking.
I was uncomfortable with these until I found a theme I really liked. I had to trust how I paint and the new ideas I was having. My first tries with these pages were very unsuccessful, but I found my groove. I learned deep violet is my safe color and burnt sienna is my new favorite.
In my new series, these paintings on paper give an outlying back road view of my personal landscape. I like the mix and the repetition I ended up with. I think they go together and also stand on their own.
Thanks for checking out part one of my new series!
Next month I’m showing off my paintings on canvas.
For more details and pictures of this work check out my Etsy shop Hillery Lay Studios.
A series about exploring plus an art show