The Art of Robin Colodzin
"La Mort de Mme. Blanchard was born of a flea market find – La Voleur (The Thief),
a French publication from the 1890’s with a cover illustration of Madame Blanchard,
who died in 1891 when her hot air balloon caught fire.
"The collage plays with opposites. There is tension between the rigid structure of
the column, and the more relaxed elements which break through that structure. The
cheerfulness of the pastels contrasts with a story of a rather dramatic death. The
dynamic of the fire and the falling woman confined by the antique architectural
drawing – a drawing of something meant to built up juxtaposed with someone
crashing down.
"First, I prepared my substrate, acid free mat board. I painted it, choosing a neutral
color as I never really know where a piece will take me, and that leaves more
options open. Then I coated it with acrylic medium and let it dry.
"For the columns in the background, I scanned in the architectural drawing,
cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop, and then reversed it in preparation for doing a
photo transfer. I printed the reversed image on transfer paper and transferred it
onto the mat board.
"Then playtime began. I had printed out the image of Madame Blanchard from the
Internet and coated it with acrylic medium in advance. I began cutting out pieces to
fit within the column structure. I used some of the text in the actual article about the
event from La Voleur.
"Because the central image from La Voleur was black and white, and the columns
where just black lines, I worked to introduce enough color into the work to bring it to
life. A failed experiment (see photo on left - The Failed Collage) with adding red
paint sent me back to the drawing board. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to find
and download a brighter color illustration of the same scene [blanchard.jpg]. I
expanded my palette further using paint sample chips cut with pinking shears and a
hole punch. I used some gold leaf here and there as well.
"I assembled the various pieces, and when I achieved a satisfactory composition, I
protected it with release paper and used heat from a tacking iron to fuse the layers.
This method was developed by Jonathan Talbot. I find it frees me up to make and
remake a composition, without the difficulty of having to take it apart to glue it
together. The compositional elements adhere beautifully, without wrinkles or air
bubbles. To complete the sense of columns, I cut some pieces of balsa wood,
painted them, then adhered them to the mat board.
When my collage was finished, I coated it with another layer of acrylic medium to
seal it. When the medium had dried I varnished the piece with Golden’s Satin
Acrylic Varnish with UVLS (ultraviolet light screen). This protected the finished work
from fading and gave it the appropriate sheen."
a French publication from the 1890’s with a cover illustration of Madame Blanchard,
who died in 1891 when her hot air balloon caught fire.
"The collage plays with opposites. There is tension between the rigid structure of
the column, and the more relaxed elements which break through that structure. The
cheerfulness of the pastels contrasts with a story of a rather dramatic death. The
dynamic of the fire and the falling woman confined by the antique architectural
drawing – a drawing of something meant to built up juxtaposed with someone
crashing down.
"First, I prepared my substrate, acid free mat board. I painted it, choosing a neutral
color as I never really know where a piece will take me, and that leaves more
options open. Then I coated it with acrylic medium and let it dry.
"For the columns in the background, I scanned in the architectural drawing,
cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop, and then reversed it in preparation for doing a
photo transfer. I printed the reversed image on transfer paper and transferred it
onto the mat board.
"Then playtime began. I had printed out the image of Madame Blanchard from the
Internet and coated it with acrylic medium in advance. I began cutting out pieces to
fit within the column structure. I used some of the text in the actual article about the
event from La Voleur.
"Because the central image from La Voleur was black and white, and the columns
where just black lines, I worked to introduce enough color into the work to bring it to
life. A failed experiment (see photo on left - The Failed Collage) with adding red
paint sent me back to the drawing board. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to find
and download a brighter color illustration of the same scene [blanchard.jpg]. I
expanded my palette further using paint sample chips cut with pinking shears and a
hole punch. I used some gold leaf here and there as well.
"I assembled the various pieces, and when I achieved a satisfactory composition, I
protected it with release paper and used heat from a tacking iron to fuse the layers.
This method was developed by Jonathan Talbot. I find it frees me up to make and
remake a composition, without the difficulty of having to take it apart to glue it
together. The compositional elements adhere beautifully, without wrinkles or air
bubbles. To complete the sense of columns, I cut some pieces of balsa wood,
painted them, then adhered them to the mat board.
When my collage was finished, I coated it with another layer of acrylic medium to
seal it. When the medium had dried I varnished the piece with Golden’s Satin
Acrylic Varnish with UVLS (ultraviolet light screen). This protected the finished work
from fading and gave it the appropriate sheen."
The Failed Collage
Illustration from La Voleur