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 .....