Acrylic Paint and Collage by Joyce Lieberman

Acrylic Paint and Collage by Joyce Lieberman

What's so great about Acrylic paint is that it can take texture and act as a glue. The French term "Collage' means to cut and paste. It is exciting to reuse and repurpose acrylic paintings that didn't work out well the first time around. there is a wonderful acrylic glue that is great for collage and used for a medium for the paint itself. They range from gloss to matt with satin in between and can be pourable or thick as paste.

I started a large body of collage works I like to call the"Personal Archaeologies" because they were an attempt tot clear off my work table. it seemed like it would take an archaeologist to dig through all the bits of things I found so splendid and saved.

The "Personal Archaeologies" series of collages have been ongoing since 1990. Early versions were in response to great stamps collected from participation in "MAIL ART", ongoing since graduate school in 1980. Work with interior designers left the studio cluttered with bits of fabrics and scraps of paper that seemed to beg for a creative resolution. Parts of monoprints, older paper paintings that didn't quite "Work" and general special pieces of paper from travel and various interests made their way into the fabric like woven surfaces of the collages as I cleared a path through the studio desk top. These collages are like a history and intended to be mood pieces.

Joyce Lieberman

"Spring Essence"

Acrylic and collage on paper

16x14" mounted on 30x22" Stonehenge paper

"Spring Essence" has a cut out crown on top which adds to the irregularity. Again I am using 'edge consciousness' to showcase the beautifully deckled edges of the paper which I have saturated with acrylic paint. It is a very luscious effect.

Another group of collages that I have been working on are mostly painted but have shapes organized and overlapping on them also . That is the 'Venn Diagram Series" which in itself means, overlapping shapes. The Venn Diagram series came from a grade school concept about overlapping sectors. I was experiencing a situation where everyone had a different perspective and was trying to organize where we could intersect with our sensibilities. The Venn diagram came back to me. It is a chart of you and I, and the other and how we can agree, but also have our areas where we don't overlap at all. The materials are acrylic and collage on paper.

http://www.liquitex.com/awardprograms/aotm/200609/artist.cfm

Now that we recognize that acrylics are glue themselves in addition to beautiful color, let me give you some advice about working with these glue like paints.

Never leave your brushes loaded with paint out of the water. Clean the paint off thoroughly with soap and water before leaving them to dry. They will dry to a yucky solid that will render them unusable. I also prefer using jars or bottles of paint rather than paint from tubes. If you put acrylics on your palette, you must use them in the current session, They won't save. They will become plastic hunks of unmanageable yuck. And now my best tip for all acrylic painters. When you get your jars of new paint home to your studio, open them up and put Vaseline on the rim. Yes, Vaseline. The reason is your paint jar will never not open because you have let some paint dry on the rim and the darn thing is glued together. This is very frustrating and worth the attention of putting vaseline on the rims.

Things to make me happy, lots of beautiful paints, things to cut up and jars that open.

Happy painting and collaging.