Our Sled: Mixed Media Collage

11x14 mixed media collage: Our Sled

It's November, and even though there are still leaves on the trees here in southern Wisconsin, the sky is dim and cloudy, and it's apparent that we're headed in the direction of winter. 

That perhaps, is what may be driving my recent experiments in collage.  I want to send one to a local hospital for their winter show, and I decided to include some of the vintage photos I've collected the past couple years.  Something about this old snapshot, printed here on a paper grocery bag, spoke to me.  I simplified the image by going over part of it with gesso before I sealed the image with polymer gel medium.  The gray rectangle on the left is also a paper sack, spray painted with fallen leaves and then with some gold webbing spray over that.  I also added a real piece of birch bark toward the top, because I liked how the color went with the stenciled kraft paper.  There is also a bit of an old diary, and some bits of maps I washed with blue acrylic and gesso.

I'm enjoying this series.