Composition is important to the success of a piece of artwork. And yet sometimes the concept seems so hard to get a handle on. It is abstract and subjective.
Collage is one way that I create pleasing compositions from less than perfect prints.
Today, I am working with soft block plates. I pieced together some soft block relief prints and thought about the principles of repetition and variety. I put together several pieces of some original prints to make one pleasing relief print.
A couple of ways that I embrace the ideas of repetition and variety are:
- I allow myself to use simple circular shapes that I like
- I play with making those shapes with different tools
- I make a lot of prints and that way the elements reveal themselves
For example:
I like circles, so I use wire, caps, pencils and other tools to make circles with different quality of line. This way I repeat the simple shape and create variety by the different types of lines. This helps compose a pleasing print. It helps bring it together and make sense.