The Art of Mixed-Media Collage

Artist Donna Watson collects, cuts, pastes and paints her way through the process of mixed-media collage. “Placing the first element initiates the process,” explains Watson. The materials that go into a mixed-media collage are rarely pristine. In fact, older is better, as a collage artist is part hoarder, part historian. A collage often emerges from a collection of myriad objects: exotic papers, old maps, rare books.

Watson loves to recover papers and objects that attest to the passage of time. “Finding is always about having lost something,” says Watson, a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society whose most recent work is in mixed media and collage.

Below are just a few of Watson’s paintings. You can read a full-length article to learn more about the art of mixed-media collage, and to see more of her acrylic and collage in Acrylic Artist magazine, Spring 2015 issue. The magazine will be available at bookstores, newsstands and online at www.northlightshop.com.