Finished Mixed-Media Collage With Gothic Arch

I love inspiration.  I love how it works.  Although I'm not all that fond of it on the days when it eludes me, but I've been learning how to make those days a lot less frequent.  I find the more often I create, the more I stay inspired.  Right now I have at least a years worth of ideas floating around in my head, and in various journals and notebooks.  Ideas for art and jewelry, and even sewing...if I ever bring my machine out of "the closet"(yikes).  

This collage came out of one of those inspired times.  This is the one I showed a lil' peek of in the last post.  I tore a page out of "Frenchy" (my new name for my new favorite French book to use for my art...thanks again Melanie!) to use for a card, when I fell in love with the photo of the Gothic arched window on the page. (I am a sucker for beautiful windows, but if it's Gothic AND arched... sheesh... I'm gone...)  So something made me pick up a water-soluble graphite pencil and start sketching said window straight onto the page.  Oooh... I likey! 

 So rather than getting back to the bird card I was making, I started a collage on a 9x9 inch piece of wood just waiting for such inspiration!  I already had all the papers, etc. out for the card so I used those to complete this collage.  I drew details with the pencil, then smudged the graphite with my finger, and wet some of it with a brush to create shadows.  I added Titan Buff (lt. beige) paint to add highlights, then I glued down an embroidered circle along with bits of trim.   I sealed the collage so the pencil doesn't continue to smudge or wash away.

 The beautiful feather was found months ago in our yard and begged to be a part of this collage.  How could I say no?  I love the pop of blue that it adds to this otherwise monochromatic piece.   To hang it, I added copper wire attached with copper tacks. 

Voila!

A wonderful new collage thanks to Frenchy's beautiful pages and a big heap of inspiration!