Autumn's Call

I mentioned last week that I was playing around with semi-transparent and translucent papers - and here's another example. A brown, flower-patterned vellum sheet recycled from an invitation covers the antique scrap and sheet music, as well as the autumn leaves from a vintage greeting card. It mutes everything with a painterly kind of wash.

At the moment, I'm trying to get as much as I can from my papers before resorting to paint, ink, etc. It's fun but challenging, because vellum, tissue-thin papers, etc. are difficult to glue down flat. I work them from the middle, bit by bit. Even then, I sometimes have to go back in with a razor blade to cut bubbles and wrinkles, then slip more glue underneath and burnish them until they are flattened - praying all along that I don't tear anything.

Originally, the bird - cut from an antique Christmas post card - was also going beneath the vellum. But I liked how vibrant it appeared when it was when plopped atop the vellum and decided to keep it there. What doesn't show in the scan is the glittering gold paper behind the leaves. But, trust me, you can see it in person. Stop by the studio and take a look! 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 8" x 10" frame.