Bird Collages

Here are some of my recent bird collages grouped together. Apart from the subject matter and the format of these 6 x 6 inch panels, I'm not really thinking in terms of series, but it's fun to see which ones work with which others in terms of color and degree of abstraction. I guess of these the only pairing that doesn't really work for me is the last.

Trying something new

I recently saw work by the artist Rogene Manas. She uses paper clay to create bas relief art work. I don't know what her recipe for the paper clay is, but I decided to try doing the same using the mixture I had made up for making my little 3-dimensional birds. It was on the wet side and tricky to use. I know there's a commercial product available that I might try another time. But in any case here's my design in paper clay on a wood panel. The white round the edges is from gesso that I applied to the sides of the panel.

I painted the whole thing dark grey, making sure to get my brush into all the nooks and crannies.

I then brushed the blue background just on the surface so that the grey would show through. The surface was quite textured. Some of it is just the way the paper clay is, but some was added by rolling it out between layers of plastic wrap.

And here's the final piece. The 3-dimemsionality is less obvious now that the color is there. Part of me thinks I might prefer the all dark version. What do you think?