I often use a collage type technique to make my art works, cutting shapes and fusing them in place, but as I discovered this week, collage can be so much more!

Wikipedia defines collage (from the French: coller "to glue") as a technique where an artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms to create a new whole. At last weeks drawing class we made 5 quick drawings of coats, shawls and draped fabric forms, some using ink with a calligraphy brush and one using a permanent marker, to create a set of source material.

Our task .... to tear or cut up these drawings to create a new work with a variety of tone, shape, texture and line. Here is my effort .....

This was a very fun project and the results so different from the subject of the source material. The process was to start by gluing down a couple of torn pieces and then seeing what was needed without any image or specific content in mind ..... very liberating!

Now I'm contemplating how I could use this type of process in my textile art ... and it seems it might offer some interesting possibilities for my recent monoprints .....