Scrappy Play

Over the last few days I've been leaf and grass printing again with my gel plate.....and putting together a few collages.  But today.....I'm played with the scraps.  

I've been working in two tight color schemes....blues and the greens....and autumn oranges and golds.  I'll share the finished pieces when I'm done....but this post is about the scraps.  I've said it before....but some of the best collage fodder is along the edges of the prints.  Just look at all the color and texture in this scrap.

I isolate part of the print I want for the collage......leaving lots of leftover pieces and parts. 

There are scraps of both the colored papers....and the heavy watercolor paper I'm using as my base.    

I save all the precious little scraps.  That's a Connie line....and I love it when I think of it. She actually had a file with that label.  

At first I was roughly cutting the scraps into squares....and making grids.  This one I added a paper cut and stitched it onto heavy cardstock.  It's a 5 x 5 collage on an 8 x 8 piece of cardstock.....ready to frame.

Then I started overlapping and layering the random smaller scraps onto the scraps of substrate....wrapping the edges to the back.  For now I'm just making them and the use will make itself known when the time is right. They're kind of like little tiles....or quilt blocks....and I kind of love them.  

I going to pull more colors of papers from my stash...and bring in some other colors.  I can always add a little pop of color or a focal point on any of them.....it's an ongoing puttering project

I made a larger piece using the blue and green scraps.  This is also a good way to use the "not so good" prints.  I just realized this is kind of a mastersheet....and the use will present itself one day. Possible next steps:

A light whitewash to unify it

Cut it up

Add Stitching

More collage

Focal point 

Pops of color

My only real goal today was to do a little organizing and cleaning in the studio....but didn't spend even one minute doing that. Just a lot of scrappy play.

The color scheme looks like this photo from my last trip today to the Winslow Farm Stand for the season. The blue sky and orange pumpkins.....the the little pop of green in the photo fit right in to my scrappy play day.