Collage: As Fun As It Looks!

"La Chatte Orange" 12 x 16 Mixed Media on Paper
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This piece isn't too much different from my mixed media works, except for the text. It was adding the text, however, that made this piece an official collage for me.

It was originally just a little mixed media cat, but I wasn't too excited about the finished look. Layering tissue paper, acrylic (including some metallic gold paint), and chalk pastel, I thought the piece would have more punch when it was finished. I gave it the title "Chat Orange," which got me thinking about what influenced the piece in the first place.

Toulouse Lautrec has always been one of my favorite painters, and the "Chat Noir" prints have been regulars in home decor and greeting cards in my family. I was disappointed to learn as an adult that the Chat Noir was actually a bar, not a character that would appear in more of his pictures.

When I started my "Chatte Orange," the initial sketch was based on one of my male cats, who happens to have a larger than average head and was sitting in a very "Chatte Noir" pose. As you can see from the finished piece, the subject went from a chat to a chatte (male to a female) and retained none of his original gray color.

For the text, I've had some very strong, purple striped tissue paper I've been saving for the right piece. This seemed like a good time to break it out, so I hand-cut the letters and applied them with matte medium. I added a little of the paper to other parts of the painting to pull it together.

I'm feeling inspired to do a cat for each color-- hoping to start a blue one next.

To see original works for sale, click here:
http://artbynikihilsabeck.blogspot.com/p/original-works-for-sale-through-paypal.html

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