AUTUMN GROVE & A TASTE OF THE COLLAGE PROCESS

I just completed a landscape panel I've been working on for a bit and thought I'd share the process of creating it with you. 

​Inspiration comes from everywhere, but the New England woods in autumn are particularly inspiring! I was excited at the idea of working in a variety of colors again, after having worked for months in the more subtle variation of denim shades. I missed my nature colors!

Early Autumn Woods. ©2011 Julia R. Berkley. New and repurposed fabric on canvas board. (20" x 16")

The woods reminded me of a piece I loved creating before. With a slightly Asian woodblock feeling to it, Early Autumn Woods has images that come right up to the surface, while still supplying depth through layering and the background. That collage was the first time I explored a particular cut fabric method, and it gave me results I really liked. Early Autumn Woods found a home with a collector in 2011.

For Autumn Grove I decided to use a tall 30" x 15" panel. I searched for the right fabrics to use for the landscape background, and came up with these. The sky and water were both fabrics I'd overpainted. If you follow this blog, or visit me on Facebook, you may have seen this image before...

Next I auditioned fabrics for the tree trunks and cut them out. I forgot to take a picture at that point! When I began cutting out bushes and tree leaves from stiffened fabric, using a super sharp little pair of scissors for the little holes, I took a photo of the scrap pile and posted it on my Facebook page. If you don't follow me there, I hope you'll "like" my page so you can enjoy the art I share there.

Autumn Grove, background

Tiny, sharp scissors

Cutting scraps from Autumn Grove.

Once I had many pieces cut, I began moving elements around on top of the background to create my finished layout. This step takes a long time, because I try out many versions, taking photos along the way so I can see the image from a distance on my computer. 

So it's position, photo, view on-screen, reposition, photo, screen, etc. If you're not me, you probably wouldn't see the difference between many of the versions. I made about 25 of them.

5 of the 25

At last, I was happy! I took my final layout apart and laid all the pieces in clusters on another table. Then I started to assemble the collage, referring to the photo of the finished layout and used drafting tape for positioning. When you're gluing by hand (vs. using fusibles or stitching), you have to continually lift long pieces out of place to apply glue. You need a way back to your original plan! The drafting tape becomes my guide.

Using drafting tape for positioning each piece before gluing. See the tiny scissors I mentioned?

All trunks affixed in place.

I added the layers of bushes at the base of the trees...

... and then I worked on the leaves at the top. It was hard to reposition them after taking them apart, and there were a few places where new decisions had to be made to get the scene I wanted. Sometimes this meant putting a cluster of leaves behind another cluster; sometimes it meant adding a little tiny cluster further down a trunk for a shot of color. 

In the end, I'm really happy with the final collage. I hope you can feel the uplifting energy I want it to convey!

Bushes added to the base.

Autumn Grove ©2015 Julia R. Berkley 
30" x 15". Overpainted and commercial fabric on canvas board.