Looking at My Chin-Colle Collage

Art always sounds more artsy in another language. In this week's mixed media workshop, we dabbled in something called chin-colle. That's French for "pasted tissue." (I keep thinking of the song from the movie Mary Poppins called "Chim-Chim-Cher-ee.")

The true chin-colle process involves binding together tissue-thin paper using a printing press. We didn't have a printing press handy, so we used a faux technique ("fake") -- applying matte medium.

This is what my page looked like at this stage.

Our workshop leader John was very generous with his fabulous ephemera. He shared a bag of old letters (circa 1930) and a ripping-apart-at-the-seams dictionary of optical medicine. That's where the eyeball came from. I can't stop looking at it. And it can't stop looking at me!

The next step was to apply color and marks using a Gelli plate. This, officially, was the middle ground of the collage.

I'm drawn to red and orange. I don't know if the black was a good idea, though. I covet the stencil that made the Googie-style shapes in the middle. 

At home, I added images in the foreground to complete the spread. What can it mean?

I feel bad that Buddha ended up upside-down. I like the blank stare of my Easter Island man, and the seductive gaze of the belly-dancer. Maybe this collage is all about looking.

Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey 
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey 
Chim chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you