Danielle is an experienced and well-respected local artist who has demonstrated and run workshops for us before. She is a member of the Leicester Society of Artists and was a contestant on Sky’s Portrait Artist of the Year in 2018. She specialises in mixed media and in particular, ripped paper collage.

She considers hers to be an environmentally-friendly approach, her works in the main utilising waste materials. The ripped paper is mostly from discarded magazines and her ground is often recycled cardboard from packaging etc. This also frees her from feeling precious about, and wasting materials which are these days so expensive.

Her main subject matter is portraits and flowers. Portraits are ‘the hard graft’, the floral works are the relaxing interludes in her work and it is the latter she will demonstrate for us.

Danielle has made a ‘canvas’ from an old cardboard box. To make it more rigid, she adheres further strips of cardboard horizontally and vertically across the back.

Her materials comprise a number of old magazines from which to rip the paper to form the collage, and a jar of slightly watered down PVA glue with brush.

The image, a small glass vase of flowers on a table, is to be from Danielle’s imagination. Her development of the image is intuitive. However, it is important she says, to have in mind the order in which the various parts of the collage will be applied. For example, the background leaves are placed before those in the foreground.

The first stage is to lay down the background by gluing narrow, horizontal strips of paper - in this case a brownish colour - to the ‘canvas’. Horizontal strips are used to complement the verticality of the vase of flowers. This was brought already prepared.

Danielle prepares rough templates of the vase and two ellipses which will represent the bottom of the vase and the surface of the water. Next, Danielle browses the magazines for potential colours to use. The colour of the vase of flowers should complement the background.

In turn, the templates are placed on the ‘canvas’ and paper is ripped to match and placed over them until the correct position and suitable colours are decided on. The templates are removed and the chosen paper fragments then glued in their place; first the vase, then the ellipses. Extra glue can be applied on top of the paper to give it a textured/wrinkly appearance.

Danielle often finds adding darker colours towards the bottom of the picture helps ground/give weight to the subject.

With the basic shapes in place, paper is ripped and added to complete the edges of the vase and the stems of the flowers below water level. Colours are chosen carefully to demonstrate the way the subject is lit, in this case from the left, where the colours are lighter. Darker colours in shadow, are used to the right. Highlights are placed with lighter coloured paper, for example at the edges of the vase. Ripping paper in a way that leaves a white edge is a useful technique for creating highlights. The stems above the water line, the flowers and the foliage are then added. Finally, if required, minor adjustments in the form of extra highlights, patches of reflected light etc. can be added.

Throughout the process, colours are sampled for suitability before being pasted in place.

To create edges in the image, it is often effective to ‘borrow’ these from the photographs on the paper that is being ripped.

The emphasis throughout is on ripping paper rather than cutting it, which Danielle rarely does, except where hard edges are essential, such as in depicting a bird’s beak. Ripping the paper to the desired shapes requires practise and care. Danielle describes her ripping technique as ‘nibbling’; that is, tearing pieces gradually in small lengths/pieces at a time between her fingertips. This improves control and accuracy and avoids leaving white edges along the tears.

She finds that in most magazines, because of the structure of the paper, you have more control over rips made from top to bottom of the page than those made from side to side.