Canvas to the Imagination » etsy

Paper Cut Collage Designs on Etsy

Rachael — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:42:07 +0000

Presenting a few more of the recent paper cut collage designs. These three are my favorites, especially the first two on the page because of the colour and paper choices. The best part about making these is playing around with origami paper and trying out different combinations together.

Paper Cut Collage 8″ x 8″ | Etsy listing

Paper Cut Collage 6″ x 6″ | Etsy listing

Each one is available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Collaging Into Spring

Rachael — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:24:59 +0000

With all the bird and flowering tree watching I tend do, it’s no surprise both have made their way into these two recent collages.

These evolved even more spontaneously than usual. I chose pieces of sewing pattern paper and glued them down as the backgrounds for each before deciding what else I would do. It worked out very well, especially the top one with the lines suggesting the branches of a Sakura tree.

The materials used in these are the same as previous collages; sewing pattern paper, security envelopes, book page scraps, and red paper. I created the flower shapes using a paper punch rather than freehand cutting as I usually do.

These are not yet listed on Etsy, but will be later this week. Thanks to a conversation with my fellow artists I’m rethinking how I price some of the recent work I’ve created.

Paper Birds Wading in a Paper World

Rachael — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:51:57 +0000

These days I’m switching back and forth between paper cuts and collages as I prepare work for Got Craft and beyond. These two are the latest in the bird collages on wooden panel. I really like them.

I’ve been holding onto a few scrap pieces of book pages I’d cut shapes from and made use of them in these two finished pieces. Note the book page at the top of the Black Oyster Catcher collage, and the one at the bottom of the Sandpiper collage to see what I mean.

Sandpiper Collage | 10″ x 10″ | Etsy Listing

Black Oyster Catcher Collage | 10″ x 10″ | Etsy Listing

Both are available for purchase through my Etsy shop.

Etsy Update: New Bird Collages in the Shop

Rachael — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:53:15 +0000

In preparation for Got Craft? at the beginning of May, I’ve been busy creating new small works to sell. I’m continuing with the series of abstract compositions using recycled materials and birds on wooden panel.

They are very enjoyable to work on. I like the play with movement, colour, shape, and pattern, and coming up with new things to do with the same old materials. I think eventually the birds will disappear from these and they will become studies of only shape and form.

6″x 6″ collage on wooden panel | Etsy listing

8″x 8″ collage on wooden panel | Etsy listing

These four new collages, along with a few older pieces, are available for purchase in my Etsy shop »

From Sketchbook Project to Collages

Rachael — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:29:24 +0000

I really liked the bird collages I created in the Sketchbook Project book so I decided to recreate more in the same style on 6″x6″ wooden panels.

Etsy listing »

Each one is made with book page scraps, security envelopes, red paper, and a bird, then coated with gel medium. These are all available for purchase in my Etsy shop, along with a few other recent collages.

Inspiration For The Home

Rachael — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:30:47 +0000

I’ve been dying to replace the very tacky chandelier that hangs over our dining room table. It’s a brass and glass monstrosity that dates from the seventies, and is a bit of an eye-sore. Because we’re renting I’ve been hesitant to spend money to replace it, so I started looking for ways to make something to replace it.

Here are a few ideas that I’ve found so far:

Zipper8Lighting on Etsy

nellianna on Etsy

TetraBox Light by Ed Chew

This last one comes with a step-by-step how-to, and is made from reclaimed TetraBox packages. I really like the idea of making a new chandelier from recycled materials.

New Imaginary Girl Postcard Designs

Rachael — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:46:16 +0000

Just in time for the Eastside Culture Crawl and Got Craft, I have a new set of postcards available for sale. I selected six images from the Imaginary Girl series of portraits I felt went well together as a small set and threw in one of my self portraits. It’s wonderful to see more of the images from this series in print.

There were more Imaginary Girl portraits I wanted to have as postcards but many of the photos didn’t crop well into the required dimensions, and it would’ve meant quite a bit of reworking to make them fit.

The set of six postcards will be available for sale at my studio next weekend during the Eastside Culture Crawl, and then at Got Craft on Sunday December 4th. I’ll also be listing them in my Etsy shop soon.

Recycling Art Experiments into Collage

Rachael — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:33:30 +0000

If you’re an artist like me who loves to experiment with different ideas and processes, you may have a whole bunch of unsuccessful pieces of not-so-great art taking up space in your studio. Last week I pulled out three of these, all on wooden cradle frames I wanted to reuse. Two of the pieces had heat transfer images printed on the surface, and one was a collage I never felt was “quite right”.

This one is my favorite of the three because I was able to retain some of the previous work with simple additions of Japanese paper and leaves. The face is a statue I photographed in the Egyptian museum in Berlin combined with a photo of lily pads. It’s a style of digital collage I haven’t done in ages (and no longer like).

With this second collage I decided to give it a simple tweak by adding clouds made from book pages and security envelopes. I’ve always like some part of this collage but felt it was more of an experiment than something representative of my “style”. Now I like it much better.

It also ties in nicely with the larger collage I made a few weeks ago with airships (which is sold now, by the way).

The collages are made on wooden cradle frames ready to hang, and are both available for sale through Etsy (and in person).

The Return of the Airships

Rachael — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:32:02 +0000

I picked up two beautiful pieces of round wood from a recent artist networking event and had been itching to use them for new collage work. I’ve never made something round but it seemed like a fun shape to work with. I also haven’t ever made a collage so large.

I decided to reinterpret an old collage from my sketchbook with this piece. I still had the same airships and colourful pixelated paper but incorporated new bits of whimsy. I took inspiration from the layers of book page scraps and security envelopes I used in last week’s mixed media collage to create clouds and suggest a sky for the airships.

Sewing pattern paper with simple lines is the first layer of this piece and it allows some of the wood grain to show through. The last item I added was the tangle of threads swirling their way through the composition from top to bottom. Everything I used in this, except the three airships, are recycled materials.

Materials used: wood, sewing pattern paper, magazine ad, silk thread, book page scraps, security envelopes, and gel medium.

This collage is listed for sale in both my Etsy and Cargoh shops.

Postcards. Get your red hot postcards.

Rachael — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:00:11 +0000

One of the many bits of terrific information I learned in my “Artist Survival Skills” course with Chris Tyrell was about creating a vertical inventory of my work. This means creating a variety of work with different price points that allow me to cater to more than one audience. The idea behind this is to make the most of what I do by taking work that is time consuming to produce and therefore expense for people to buy and reproducing it in a way that is more affordable. A great example given of this was reproducing artwork as greeting cards.

I am a bit of a stationery junkie and write snail mail letters regularly so it was a no-brainer for me to turn my artwork into postcards. I selected five of the collages created in my moleskin sketchbooks, scanned them, tweaked and cleaned them up in photoshop, and created a postcard backside image to compliment the front. My friend Kirsti helped me put together the final print files and then off everything went to the printers. I used Minuteman Press in Vancouver, and I’m pretty happy with the quality reproduction of my work. (They also produced my new business cards and the labels I’m using to package up the postcards.)

The postcards are available for purchase through my Etsy shop as a set of five. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

More Mixed Media Collage on Etsy

Rachael — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:59:44 +0000

Here’s a few more of my recent mixed media collage pieces that I’ve listed for sale on Etsy.

On Wings we Fly, 10″ x 10″
Mixed Media Collage: gel medium transfer, inkjet print, rubber stamp, acrylic paint, and watercolour

This work is listed for sale on Etsy with further detail photos.

Octopus, 10″ x 10″
Mixed Media Collage: gel medium, inkjet print, paper, rubber stamp, book pages, acrylic paint, ink, and watercolour

This work is listed for sale on Etsy with further detail photos.

Ginko Leaves, 10″ x 10″
Mixed Media Collage: gel medium, paper, Japanese paper, rubber stamp, book pages, ginko leaves, acrylic paint, ink, and watercolour.

This work is listed for sale on Etsy with further detail photos.

Mixed Media Collage on Etsy

Rachael — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:56:53 +0000

As mentioned many times on the blog, I’ve been exploring mixed media collage techniques with the goal of creating one piece a week in a moleskin sketchbook. I managed to keep this up for about a year and a half and learned a lot in the process. Earlier this spring I decided the sketchbook format was too limited so I switched to using cradle frames (wooden panels) as the base for my collage work. These are some of the pieces I have finished so far.

Little Birds, 10″ x 10″
Mixed media collage, using Japanese paper, sheet music, book pages, rubber stamps, watercolours, gel medium, and a magnolia leaf skeleton.

This work is listed on Etsy with further detail photos.

Black Birds, 8″ x 8″
Mixed media collage, using Japanese paper, paper, book pages, gel medium transfer, acrylic paint, and rubber stamps.

This work is listed on Etsy with further detail photos.

With this new work I decided to implement a new pricing system based on price per square inch. My pricing technique in the past has been random and often resulted in under selling. Going forward t will be nice to have a proper system as reference. This simple idea was inspired by information I’ve been learning in the Professional Visual Arts Career Management workshop I’ve been taking the last two weeks with Chris Tyrell. It’s been the right kick in the pants I’ve needed for awhile to get on track with taking my art career seriously.