Today I had the privilege of helping my good friend Muffy with an all day collage workshop at her senior living facility. I've taken a class from her before....and I shared a beautiful accordion book of sketches and artwork from a nature journal...all...such an inspiration. I jumped for joy at the chance to be her assistant. Muffy wanted to offer a workshop for people who might not think they could ever make a piece of art. Using techniques she learned from Ken Kewley participants worked with lines, simple shapes, and hand painted papers to made dozens of quick collages. My job was to make copies at every stage...sometimes black and white...sometimes color, and attach all the phases of the process on the wall. In between my running around I got to try it myself. I actually want to run through the process again when I can give it my full attention. The sequence is interesting and only because I went through it do I even understand it. Each of us ended up making 96 small drawings or collages and in the end we all had a better understanding of concepts like, value, scale, and placement....just using basic shapes. This is what the curved wall looked like when we were done....it was quite stunning in person. Here's a quick rundown on the process if you're interested....I'd be curious if it makes any sense at all. During the morning session we started with 12 small line drawings (bottom left) in grids that Muffy provided. This got copied....and the original got hung. Each time we did a step...the page was copied and the original was put on the wall. We were always working on a copy. Next we added circles (top left) and finally added one simple shape of color. We could see how simple lines and finally color can change a composition. We spent the rest of the morning painting collage papers in neutral and bold colors in preparation for the afternoon session. I could have done this all day! To start the afternoon session we made small collages in new grids using our more neutral painted papers and simple shapes. These were copied in black and white which turned our neutral colors to gray scale...which made for an interesting background. Next we added another layer of soft neutral colors to the copy. The next copy was in color...and then we added another layer of color...this time more bright and bold. Remember that the original of each step was put on the wall...and we worked on the copy. Another color copy was made and this time we added touches of black...or white. Black would give a punch...and white would neutralize. I only added black. Finally...we made one more black and white copy. Taking the color out makes it easier to see the variety of values, scale, and placement. It was really helpful so see the various stages up on the wall....and there was so much to be learned by studying our own and each others. We all had a great time and learned a lot! Muffy should be pleased.