Studio Series: image transfers

Merry go round collage© Karen Thiessen, 2013

Summer is soon upon us and I'm looking forward to changing up my studio practice a bit more. I'm dreaming of playing with image transfers, dyeing with indigo, and playing with sun prints. Wayne Allen is a local artist with whom I took a few collage classes. He is a master of the image transfer and I admired how he approached the technique with rigor and dedication in class. During our independent collage classes, I would look over his shoulder and watch the progress of his layering. He had the technique down to an art and I was in awe of the results.

Dartboard collage © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Since I only flirted with image transfers, my successes were sporadic and I can think of only four or five transfers that I was happy with. Spring is one piece that I shared in 2011. The key to image transfers is to make a lot of them since the results are unpredictable.

Oktoberfest men collage © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Image transfers have an ethereal, old quality, very Wabi-sabi.