Collage and Automatism (again!)

janettesumnerart
Jul 15
4 min read

Updated: Jul 30

I'm back to automatism, which I chatted about in a 2021 Blog post! It has always intrigued me how we can create artworks without thought, will or intervention from the conscious mind. After further investigation into the subject, I discovered that automatism was a source of fascination for Surrealist artists in the 1920’s(1) In fact, Surrealist collage was one of the first forms of automatism!

When I lay down the foundations for a new painting, collage is always one of my first steps. I add the torn papers, with different colours and textures, without any thought of placement, and they give me the base of a composition. I add oil pastels. inks and crayons by taking the lead from the shapes and letting them guide me.

The collage compositions don’t always stay, and lots do become embedded beneath the textures. However, they can appear again later when I scrape back into surface. The collage is always there in some form within the painting, and I like how the pieces decide how present they’re going to be! I do have favourite collage papers! One is mulberry paper, which is made from naturally shedded bark, and into this is pressed dried seaweed. It takes ink really well, and when applied to the painting surface almost disappears and so just leaving crinkles, seaweed and my ink marks. My other favourite papers are old letters. I inherited oodles of them from a stamp collecting relative, and so have used some of them as collage. I love how the beautifully written addresses, postmarks and stamps give history to a painting. There are even a few Penny Reds enbedded into the paint too!

I also use collage when I’m going around in circles with a painting, pulling and pushing the paint, but not getting very far. This is usually when I’m putting too much thought into it. When this happens I step away from the work for a few days, this way I can come back to it with fresh eyes. I usually then add a piece of collage, picked randomly, from one of my collage baskets, this I just plonk onto the surface (no thought involved!) and it can immediately break the composition problem, giving me an opening that I can take forward.

Automatism also surprised me over the last month or so with my colour palette. I love the blues that I use, but I felt a bit restless, and had the urge to mix it up a bit. So, out came my Pantone cards, I whittled down six colours - lilac, two yellows, a lime green, an indigo blue (there had to be a blue!), and a pink/aubergine shade. I felt quite uncomfortable when I started mixing up these new colours. However, I pushed on and I’ve now completed six 30 x 30cm pieces using this these colours (tweaked here and there), and I’m really pleased that I stepped out of my comfort zone. So, what I’m leading onto with this tale is; I’ve been trawling through my photos trying to find a particular image of my bobbin artist books. I found it, but what I also found were photos of these ‘new’ colours that apparently I had been experimenting with about with a year ago. I mustn’t have been quite ready to shift my palette at the time, but they've now flowed out subconsciously!

I’m delighted to have this new work exhibited in two lovely Summer Shows, at the Torrance Gallery, Edinburgh, and at Dukes of West Barns, Dunbar. They work so hard in curating such wonderful exhibitions, and their Summer Shows are no exception, a feast for the eyes!

After a short family break, I’m now working towards the 7th August, when I will have two of my artist book bobbins in the Summer Show at Garfield Mill, Hawick in the Scottish Borders. It’s a new, exciting, community art space, and this is their first exhibition! The Open Call for exhibits was for all types of visual art, so I thought my bobbins would be right at home in this beautiful textile mill. The exhibition is open for ten days, so a good opportunity for a day trip out to the beautiful Borders, fingers crossed that the lovely weather continues!

Following on from Hawick, I’ll be exhibiting at Visual Arts Scotland's first Artist & Makers Show which is being held in Dalkeith Palace. It’s going to be an exciting weekend at this beautiful historic venue with so much art work to see - definitely a date for the diary, and a chance to peek inside the Palace too!

So, it's now all systems go on with the preparation for these two exhibitions, this warm weather doesn’t help with my sunny garden chair and book calling!

Thanks so much for reading, enjoy the warmer summer months, and for those in the Southern Hemisphere - keep warm and cosy.

Janette

Dukes of West Barns - Summer Show - 26th June to 2nd September 2025

5 Duke St, West Barns, EH42 1UR

https://dukesofwestbarns.com/summer-show-2025

Torrance Gallery - Summer Show 2025

36 Dundas St, Edinburgh EH3 6JN

https://www.torrancegallery.co.uk

Garfield Mill Summer Exhibition - 7th to 16th August 2025

Garfield Street, Hawick

10am - 4pm

Dalkeith Palace Artist & Makers - 15th to 17th August 2025