FoundMadeArt – Summerhouse Art

Five New Abstract Paper Collages

Posted on December 11, 2020December 11, 2020 by Helen

As I work on new collages, I like to experiment a bit, with colours, composition and even the kind of glue. So far, all the collages have been on paper and adhered with Gel Medium. I also enjoy finding other collage artists on youtube and began to do a bit of research into what they were using for glue. One artist that was really interesting and doing fantastic work is 104 years of age! In the video she was in her 90’s,going strong and actually working on the floor of her attic studio. Beautiful work! You must look her up if you haven’t seen her work yet…Eunice Parsons. Very inspiring!

As I watched her arrange and re-arrange her torn bits of old posters and magazines, I happened to notice when she got to gluing down, she used a glue called “Yes”. So I went right out and found some at our local art supply and started experimenting with that. It’s sort of like the glue from a glue stick, but acid free, and comes in a jar. Eunice used a brush to apply it but I found spreading it with old gift cards worked quite well.

Here are my latest efforts. The first three have a colour theme, with yellow-orange and teal blue predominant.

Small Abstract Paper collage, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com — Small abstract collage, mixed media with pencil crayon, ink, various created painted papers, on paper, 5 x 5.5 inches, Helen Bushell

But the last two are much more jewel coloured, teal, magenta and black and white. As with all the paper collages so far, many will be posted on our Etsy shop FoundMadeArt. My next collages are started, but again, something different, on cradled wood panels and will be done again using gel medium.

My Latest Set of Small Abstract Paper Collages

Posted on November 18, 2020November 20, 2020 by Helen

The beauty of being an artist is that I’m rarely bored. There’s always something to try, something to research, something to mess around with. It can make having to stay home in a pandemic and perhaps suffering from what I like to call “the-four-wall-bouncies” quite a bit easier. I can divert my attention and get into a meditative space in my studio. Making the paper collages has been a great diversion and an excuse to try out ideas, and see where they lead.

This next set is a little odd. I’ve been finding that each of these sets is sort of like a little series but this time 5 of the 6 collages are in variations of the same colours.

And one, totally different. The odd one out, just seemed to come together immediately or close to….

The other five all have elements in common, either the colour, mostly turqoise and orange, or textures or just the “feel”. These collages didn’t come together easily. In fact , I pushed bits and pieces around over a few days. And then, voila, one day I walked into the studio, moved a few pieces around and hey, all of them seemed to get to the finish point. These will be on our Etsy shop, FoundMadeArt, eventually. Still catching up there. They are priced at $60 each and we do offer Free Shipping.

I’m already working on the next set on paper. And I’m planning to do some on small cradled panels and also some small stretched canvases. Got it all ready to go.

Another Six Little Abstract Paper Collages

Posted on October 23, 2020October 23, 2020 by Helen

Today I’m posting another set of six small abstract collages that I’ve been creating lately. I’m quite enjoying working on these, finally finding a use for all those scraps of tissue and painted paper. Some of these have as an element, scraps from photographs of the seed pods of a wild sweet pea that comes up in our garden every year. I’d taken the photos into Photoshop and upped the contrast and created some interesting lines and textures. Now was my chance to use them. Others have scraps of sewing pattern tissue, just for the lines and colour.

The fun thing with creating these is the layering of colour, textures and lines, each piled on the other. I work from one composition to the other, loosely and intuitively. I enjoy taking my time, pondering, and often trying the same scrap in each composition, until I find the one where it fits perfectly. Once I have it all laid out as I want, I take quick photos to remind me of where everything went before I go back and slowly fasten each layer down with matte medium onto acid free mixed media paper. It’s quite the process!

Each collage is quite small, only about 5.5 x 5.75 inches or approx 13×14 cm. I think they tend to have a cohesiveness and would look quite good in groups. I hope to have all of them posted eventually on our Etsy shop FoundMadeArt soon. They’re sold unframed, priced at $60 each and we offer free shipping too.

Working on a new set now, so more to come! The next set looks to be quite different in composition so far. Experimenting again….

Another set of Small Abstract Collages

Posted on October 13, 2020October 13, 2020 by Helen

I’m back in my studio, creating a new set of collages and I’m finding it very interesting and fun. They don’t happen really quickly, they take time and lots of pondering of each little composition. Today, I’m posting another 6 paper collages with another 6 still to come. This set is again very colourful. I do like lots of colour. The surfaces are a collection of painted papers, very colourful tissue, bits of pattern papers and even some seeds. The images of seeds are from photos of seeds in our garden. I had a bit of fun taking those photos and manipulating them to high contrast images which ended up being a nice source of texture in the collages. These collages are built up in layers, each layer attached with matte medium onto the paper and then onto the next layer. I will be posting these as well on our Etsy shop FoundMadeArt. They are priced quite affordably and we also offer Free Shipping anywhere. I’m hoping they find homes either alone or in groups.

So, here is my second set of abstract collages. I haven’t given them titles. I like the idea that each one is left to be interpreted by the viewer.

Abstract Paper collage, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com — Small abstract collage, mixed media with tissue, pencil crayon, ink pen, various saved and painted papers, fennel seed photo copy 5 x 5.5 inches, Helen Bushell

Next Installment of My New Paper Collages

Posted on October 8, 2020October 8, 2020 by Helen

I was expecting to post the next sets of collages much sooner, but, due to a few health problems, NOT COVID, thank goodness, I had to delay. So although these collages have been done for a while now, there was a lot of scanning and preparation to deal with before I could finally post.

I have also taken a big step, for me, and decided to put the collages in our Etsy shop FoundMadeArt! I’m hoping they’ll fall nicely into that “affordable art” niche, something colourful and small to jazz up someone’s walls. I’ve kept them priced quite inexpensively ($60 Cdn), for a one-of-a-kind art work, and hope that they’ll make a nice gift for someone else or just for yourself. We all need a little treat, right? Although they are being sold unframed, here is a little example of one framed. We love to find frames at thrift stores and really encourage everyone to try that too. Great recycling! We’ll be adding more as we go along.

Framed small Abstract Collage by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com — Small Abstract Paper Collage,5x 5.5 inches (approx 13 x 14 cm)created with paper, tissue, paint, pencil crayon. Helen Bushell

The next batch of 6 collages are again very small, just image size 5 x 5.5 inches (approx 13 x 14 cm), and would work quite nicely framed and hung in groups too. Each composition is created with layers of paper, tissue, painted paper, black and white prints of seeds from the garden like cardoon or sweet pea, even fennel seeds. In some, there is even a bit of tissue from patterns for sewing. Nothing wasted around here…

Doing Some Artsy Experimenting with Beach Pottery

Posted on January 13, 2017June 5, 2020 by Helen

Beachcombing treasure summerhouseart.com

In the spring and summer I tend to check online for low tides. And if it’s nice out, and the tide is really low in the morning, I’ll be convincing Will that we really need to go beach combing in Sidney. Luckily, he usually doesn’t need much persuading. Now you don’t want to know how much beach pottery I’ve already collected.. ok, LOTS.

But there is something about wandering up and down on the beach, head and eyes down, with the sun and the seagulls overhead, the smell of the ocean around you, searching for those lucky finds. It’s so calming and lovely. If I’m going to have an addiction, I’ll take beach combing any day.

But what do you do with all these lovely finds? So far, we’ve had a good time creating birdbaths and mirror frames with it.

Beach Pottery Mosaic Birdbath by summerhouseart.com

We have plans, in the summer, for making a couple of garden sculptures covered in pottery.

And Will has been making jewelry from driftwood and beach glass and pottery for our new Etsy shop, FoundMadeArt.

Sea Pottery Pendant by Will Bushell, FoundMadeArt

I had an idea of creating small wall pieces with the bits all arranged like a collage, but shipping weight was a problem. Then I discovered Wedi board on an online mosaic site. It’s relatively unknown in Canada, I had to search like mad and finally found a tiling company in Nanaimo that had just started carrying it. It’s a light weight substrate created for bathroom tiling, with foam sandwiched between two thin layers of cement. Trust mosaic artists to see some new uses for this product. Suddenly a lightweight substrate for outdoor mosaic instead of heavy cement board!

I thought if I created some small wall pieces, they would be quite ship-able with the low weight. Wedi board is a bit more expensive than cement board and you have to buy special hangers for it too, but I thought, it would be worth a bit of experimentation. So with thanks to my sister and her husband, in Nanaimo, who very nicely brought down the 3ft x 5ft. sheet for me when they came for tea and goodies, I had something to work with.

The beauty of Wedi board is that you can cut it with a utility knife. I decided to start small with 6 in x 6 in pieces. Then, after lots more research online ( don’t you just love youtube?) I decided to cover each piece with a thin coat of mortar to hide the grey surface.

Then came playing and trying out layouts some chosen bits of found beach pottery. All, btw, freshly washed and dried to remove the salt residue. Kind of funny to think there I was washing dishes that had come from the ocean.

playing with beach pottery layout, summerhouseart.com

The first experimental arrangement went through lots of changes, I even took photos so I could test the look.

Beach Pottery layout, summerhouseart.com

And then, with the air getting rather blue, because of the difficulty of trying to adhere the pieces without getting mortar everywhere, the first piece was done.

Beach Pottery wall piece, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

For the next piece, I decided to wing it. I basically chose the pottery I was hoping to use and applied mortar and stuck them down with less worry about placement, using intuition and speed mainly. You don’t have much time with mortar anyway. It may be a method I’ll use in the future, when I try to create more of these little wall pieces. These are just the start of a new idea. Who knows where it will lead? One day, hopefully, they’ll be for sale on our Etsy shop. One thing I do know, is that I’ve got an awful lot of beach finds that need a home. And I do have a bit of beach combing addiction.

Beach Pottery wall piece, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

(BTW, if you’d like to make a comment, just click on the title. It’ll take you to comments….and we do appreciate comments )

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We’ve Got a NEW Shop on Etsy called FoundMadeArt!

Posted on May 4, 2016November 17, 2016 by Helen

Beach necklaces by Will Bushell, summerhouseart.com

We’re a couple of artists who are always open to new ideas, new avenues even. In the last few years we’ve been exploring some new ways of selling our work online. We’ve got lots of work up in some Print on Demand Online shops like our Summerhouse Art on Society 6, Summerhouse art on Zazzle and Red Bubble. It’s been a bit of learning curve but lots of fun too.

Which brings me to our latest venture….FoundMadeArt

So, a little lead in…. We’ve always been in love with beach combing. I’m one for watching tide charts and finding just the right day to head out to Sidney to look for beach pottery and beach glass.

Sailboat in Sidney BC summerhouseart.com

And we’ve made a few things like Bird baths

New Mosaic Birdbath by summerhouseart.com

and mirror frames with it.

Beach Pottery Mirror by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

One day Will started playing with the idea of making jewelry from driftwood and beach glass. Off he went researching and learning everything he could about wire wrapping online and at the library. Honestly, there is nothing that hasn’t got a tutorial about it somewhere. We love that generosity. And with his natural sense of design he was soon creating some really lovely necklaces.

Beachcombing treasure summerhouseart.com

Which brought us to where to sell it all? He’d made quite a few. So we looked into Etsy. This time though, we couldn’t use our usual name of Summerhouseart since it had already been used in one form or another. But Will soon came up with the perfect new name. So, drum roll…… our new shop is called FoundMadeArt.

I love the new name since its all about finding things, like beach glass and driftwood and making something artful with it. And it leaves a lot of scope for other things that we like to work in too, like collage, assemblage and mosaics. The plan is to start with jewelry now and add a variety of other “found art” as we go along.

Here is a little introduction to what he’s been creating lately. We like to think of it as Surfer, beach jewelry. You can just link to the Etsy shop by touching the pic. BTW, you may notice in the photo of us, we look kinda young. But never mind, we decided to use it anyway since that’s how we still feel as long as we stay away from mirrors. Young at heart, that’s us.

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