Surrealistic Collage Painting

Douglas Schneider

Vow, 2004
I sketch the rst visual ideas loosely onto the canvas, setting up little more than structural organization. Every further step toward solidication is also put directly onto the canvas. That means a works nal form is always based on the format and the correlation between action and creative thought, allowing things to happen, as if in a trance and then intervening in the internal logic of the image. This procedure is simultaneously exciting and full of risks, it constantly operates with the unknown and brings to light the mysterious uncensored ingredients of the past and the present. -Douglas Schneider

YOU CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO PROMPTS (OR COMBINE THEM) AS INSPIRATION FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT

MEMORY TRIBUTE

Subject Matter: Your collage should reference a specic memory. This memory could be about:
-a happy/momentous event -a sad event -a moment of achievement -a childhood tradition -time treasured with someone who is no longer around -a childhood memory that sticks out in your mind

Why MEMORIES?

Memories work in layers... Sometimes you can remember concrete, specic facts, while other details become muddled and lost...blurry. Use this concept when deciding how to construct your collage.

Let the brainstorming begin!

Who was involved in this memory? Where AND when was the setting of this memory? What are 3-5 objects you remember that are/could be associated with this memory? Are there any other specic images that come to mind? Are there any specic colors that come to mind? Anything else you can think of that relates to your memory that hasnt been covered? (words, phrases, sayings?)

Tribute

Choose a person
(past or present)

that you deeply care about

List as many things as you can about this person.

Why did you choose them? What are their little habits?
how do you know when they are happy?
how do you know when they are sad?

What do they consider special?

What are their favorite colors?

Where is their favorite place?

What are they proud of?

What do you enjoy doing together? What are their favorite things?

Where to begin????

You will rst be making a small collage (no larger than a sketchbook page), to work out your ideas. You will then make your collage on a larger (much larger!) scale to serve as a portfolio piece.

Schneiders Possible Inuences

Robert Jasper Rauschenberg Johns

Johns

Schneider

Rauschenberg

Schneider

The artworks composition is crucial in making it successful... You will be employing a combination of the following in your painting:
OBSERVATION REFERENCE LAYERS MARK-MAKING (LINES/BRUSHSTROKES) REPETITION TEXT JUXTAPOSITION OTHER MATERIALS

How to get that collage look...

REPETITION

Golconde 1953 Rene Magritte

REPETITION

REPETITION

13 Pistols 2008 Douglas Schneider

REPETITION

The Rehearsal 2011 Douglas Schneider

Compositional Strategies

REPETITION

Compositional Strategies

LAYERING (varying opacities)

LAYERING (varying opacities)

31 Apples 5/6 1997 Douglas Schneider

LAYERING (varying opacities)

Window 2002 Douglas Schneider

LAYERING (varying opacities)

Compositional Strategies

LINEAR vs. PERCEPTUAL (contour line drawings/paintings vs. realistically painted areas)

Merging/Juxtaposition

JUXTAPOSITION

The Last Dance 2006 Michael Maier

Erik Johansson

Douglas Schneider

TEXT

Talk Talk 2004 Douglas Schneider

TEXT

OTHER MATERIALS (EMBROIDERY/YARN)

Color Consistency

LINES

LINES

Color Consistency

Considering SIZE and use of SPACE (composition)

Considering SIZE and use of SPACE (composition)

TEXTURES

Ghosts 2003 Douglas Schneider

TEXTURES

Consider : Odd points of View or mixed points of view

Layer 1: COLOR SCHEME

-Choose three-four colors. (LIMITED COLOR SCHEME) -Water down some of the paint. (VARYING OPACITY) -Choose at least two brush sizes and PLAY! Fill your page! Alternate large bold strokes and washes of paint over one another. Allow some areas to remain solid, while others become slightly more translucent. (VARYING BRUSHSTROKES) Imagine this is an abstract painting that needs to be interesting only through color and brushstroke.

Hans Hofmann

Layer 2: JUXTAPOSITION/ MERGING

-Choose at least two images to juxtapose (either by drawing/ painting them or by combining magazine or printed images together). -Consider the size of the combined image and where you are placing it on the artwork.

Layer 3: LINES and MARK-MAKING

-Choose something to draw, using only lines (no value), and draw it over your colored background. Think carefully about how large to draw it, and where to place it on your paper. -Choose something to repeat (a shape, pattern, word, image, mark)

Layer 4: UNIFYING
-Choose a color(s) from your background palette to bring into the foreground, either by working back into a drawn image, embellishing/altering a juxtaposed magazine/ printed image, or making a new image/mark(s). -Consider using another color from your background to make a stamp or texture in an empty area...OR consider using a different material (in a color that will go with your color scheme). Layer and overlap.