Scrappy Silhouettes
A combination of two collage prompts
Welcome to this week’s collage prompt - times two!
Since I missed sharing a prompt last week, I thought I would combine the next two prompts - feel free to choose one or both as your next collage challenge! And hopefully, I’ll get back on track with regular Friday prompts! (If you need more reliable weekly inspiration - skip to the end for a new collage community recommendation. Don’t worry - I won’t be offended. There’s room for everyone at the collage table!)
Getting Scrappy with Prompt #7
I noticed my little pile of paper scraps growing at the edge of my collage table and decided to make them into a fun little collage background by “painting” them onto a 5x7-inch piece of 300-lb watercolor paper using a gel medium. I brushed on an undercoat and an overcoat and let it dry. (Feel free to use your own favorite adhesive method.) By using heavier paper, I didn’t have to worry about the paper buckling as it dried.
Celebrating the Silhouette with Prompt #8
Once dried, and after I trimmed off the edges, I proceeded to pick a shape that I thought would be easy to cut out. (I thought about using the moon, a tulip, bird, tree, boat, or even a bison as my inspiration, but I finally decided on a monstera-styled leaf.)
After drawing the shape on some scrap paper, I cut it out to use as my template.
I used the template to draw the shape on the back of my scrappy collage and cut it out. And that’s when the fun began!
Hopefully, you can still see the leaf cutout from my original scrappy collage glued to a vintage postcard to fill in the empty space. I then overlaid the cutout leaf onto the bottom, letting it run off the edge. To hold it all securely together, I decided to add some patterned machine stitches. I then embellished it with a lion head and a vintage piece of papyrus drawing (just for fun!) before finishing it off with some hand-stitched French knots and a wash of white watercolor ground to push the background a little further back. I added another layer of backing with a second vintage postcard to mirror the scalloped edge on the left and bottom made by the first postcard.
I love how a simple prompt (or two) can take you down an unexpected path. This piece will become a part of a growing “Oracle Card” inspired series of collages. I haven’t quite unwound the stories from this funny little composition, but I know they’re there, just waiting for my imagination to take hold.
Happy collaging!
~ Jennifer
BONUS Collage Community recommendation
Have you tried working from a Paris Collage Collective prompt? This France-based group has been offering weekly collage prompts since 2019! Free and open to the public - it’s a welcoming community with plenty of ways to inspire your next collage. I hope you have a chance to check them out at ParisCollageCollective.com.
BONUS Silhouette themed collages
These collages were made using old promotional postcards featuring my digital drawing of a silhouette from 2020.
p.s. Did you know the history of the word Silhouette? (I know I didn’t!) In case you missed it on my Prompt card (above) - I’ve also dropped it here for you.
A silhouette is the solid shape of an object’s outline (traditionally created from a figure). Named after Étienne de Silhouette, an 18th-century French finance minister known as a “penny pincher,” at a time when shadow profiles proliferated as an economical portrait alternative. As the phrase “à la Silhouette” was used to imply something was “on the cheap,” this new art form became known as a “Silhouette.”
~ Collage Prompt card #8
Additional information about the history of “Silhouette” can be found at AmericanArt.si.edu
This makes me want to create a collage! You provide easily actionable ideas.