This exercise did not work well for me. I was very uncomfortable with the suggested process of using bits of photographs or studies for a collage and to use this as a starting point for a painting. The first problem was that the photos I had chosen were made with a zoom camera and thus my elements did not fit very well together in size.

The second problem was that once the collage was done, I tried to make a realistic painting and saw no way how the suggested working sequence might encourage me to work towards abstraction.

So the result is a loosely worked, mixed media painting of a seaside landscape. I used Jet black pencil for the underdrawing, then watercolours to block out my compositional areas with light tones as suggested, then used oil pastels as resist and to give some more structure, and finally reworked the painting with watercolour and white gouache.

Possible future applications

I was surprised and a bit disappointed how uncomfortable I actually was with the suggested process. I’d have thought that this is a very good way to develop a composition from a selection of photographs, and it would have been a great and convenient way for me to work, because I always have the time to take photos when I’m out but it’s much more difficult to sit down quiet and draw a sketch, a study or even a considered painting.

Actually I don’t know what went wrong and why I did not find a way towards abstraction. Maybe my image idea was too ambitious and I get along better if I use only a single photo and select just a section of it to study the abstract nature of what I see. After all, I’ve been working quite a lot from photos directly off the computer screen. A typical phenomenon is that I try to include everything in the picture, which is quite a pain as the photo includes so much detail, but only on a small scale.

The exercise leaves me relatively confused and doubtful of future applications of the technique.