2020 Topic 14 - Mash UP
with Lynne Perrella * Gwen Lafleur * Ellen Vargo * Alison Bomber
with Lynne Perrella * Gwen Lafleur * Ellen Vargo * Alison Bomber
Hi everyone, Keren here with round 3 of
our 'mash-up' series. The designers we're featuring for the next few
weeks are well loved and well known but putting these 4 together?
Anything could happen.
We'll
begin by reintroducing them to you; some of you might not know about
their style or be as familiar with their designs as you are for others.
First
up is the first-lady of collage stamps; Lynne Perrella. Having designed
for PaperArtsy for several years now, she is one of PaperArtsy's
exclusive Signature Designers. If you delve into Lynne's career history
you'll see that she trained in Fashion Illustration and spent 30 years
as a corporate graphic designer and illustrator.
You
can find 5 books that she's written including 'Beyond Paper Dolls'. She
also was the mastermind behind the seminal Stampington publication
'True Colours'; a round robin journal collaboration that Lynne
masterminded and co-ordinated. Many people have quoted it as the biggest
eye-opener in their creative journey for colour, composition,
journalling and much more! In fact Seth Apter has interviewed many of
the contributors, including Lynne on his blog, here is the beginning link. Lynne has continued her long-standing relationship with Stampington ever since as an editorial advisor, and pens a monthly column in Somerset Studio 'Collectors Choice'. You can find out more about Lynne here http://www.lkperrella.com/
Lynne
is best known for her collage-style stamps, both from her original
stamp designs released under her own brand Acey Deucy and also her
newest designs under the PaperArtsy umbrella. If you want to see more of
her original designs and artwork, head over to LKPerrella.
Being the pioneer of the collaged stamp design, she maintains her love
for this with collage art, assemblage, art journals and one-of-a-kind
books.
Here's some of her abstract artwork that has been compiled into a video
Aren't these decorated letters amazing?
How do other artists use her PaperArtsy stamps?
This recent eternity flip book by Etsuko Noguchi is a beautiful example, full of colour and life.
Or this fabulous art doll from Jenny Marples.
A subtle and gentle treatment from Jennie Atkinson shows a different side to these wonderful images.
The
next designer joining the mix is Gwen Lafleur. Gwen joined the
PaperArtsy ranks in September 2019 and brought her beautiful boho style
of images full of magical ephemera she's collected during her travels
around the world. She combines patterns, textures, textiles and shape.
Gwen comments about her art,
'I
work with intent and intuition simultaneously. I don't generally try to
tell a specific story with my work, but one will sometimes come out on
its own. I take whatever combination of feelings, memories, and
influences that is swirling inside me at a given time and bring that
into my work. Everything I create is in some way a part of me… an
expression of that vivid world in my head. And like me, it’s not always
deep or full of symbolism, except when it is. '
For
one of Gwen's releases she created these beautiful mixed media panels
using what she called her Suzani Flowers set and it's based on
traditional Suzani embroidery
designs from the many bed-covers, wall hangings, and other pieces she
saw whilst travelling through Uzbekistan
Gwen
combines so many colours and textures whilst still maintaining a
wonderful cohesive style. Just zoom in and see all the incredible
details.
Looking at how our bloggers use Gwen's images, there is such diversity. Amanda Pink took Gwen's medallion images and created something wonderfully textured using shaving foam.
Autumn took a different route, with a vintage-vibe floral piece, full of lace and texture.
Our
third designer is Ellen Vargo and she's recognised for her abstract art
and mark making images. These cards are created using wonderful
collages.
Ellen
describes her process in this blog post, and whilst the tag might look
uncomplicated at first glance, look further - there's much to notice.
How
do the PaperArtsy bloggers get inspired by Ellen's bold and graphic
carved-style stamps? Nikki Acton created a really cool and colourful
mini book swiping paint on with a credit card.
Alison
Hall weaved layer upon layer with tissue paper, Gesso and Fresco Finish
Chalk Acrylics, finishing with some larger than life flowers created
from Ellen's leaf stamps.
It
might only have been posted recently, but Leandra's recent exploration
of faces and de-laminated cardboard used several of Ellen's sets and
shows how they wonderfully add texture to any project. Check out the
blog post to see the stamped images close up.
The
final member of our creative quartet hardly needs many words to
describe her... as she is so well known for words themselves!
When
looking into Alison Bomber's background, I found that her day job
involves being a voice and text coach and director including working
with the Royal Shakespeare Company which makes sense of her utter love
of language and beautifully curated quotes and words.
One of the things I automatically think of when I think of Alison...is tags!
It's
tempting to use words as an afterthought, as the supporting player to
the main image. Yet words can speak the loudest and have far greater
poignancy as they inspire us to ponder, invite us to wonder and signpost
us to wander far from our current place.
How have these words inspired our blogger team?
Jennie Atkinson has framed her words with flower and butterfly clusters using an Infusions technique.
This moon themed project from Miriam Grazier has so much movement and echoes the quote from Vincent Van Gogh.
Using
a tiny base to frame your words is exactly what Ruth Mescall did and
isn't it a small beauty? Alison Bomber's word stamps tell a circular
story punctuated by colours and thread.
So
how do you bring 4 wonderful designers with such different ideas and
styles and combine them into one inspiring project? You may not have
stamps from all these designers, but we would love to see any
combinations you come up with from these 4 fantastic designers!
Well
that's the exact task facing our bloggers over the next few weeks. I'm
excited to see how they do it and the different artistic directions that
they travel in.
If you want to create along with us while we explore this topic, please share your makes on our social feeds so we can follow along. Instagram @paperartsy or why not join us and post in the PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!
stunning!
ReplyDelete