Mixed media artist: Maxine Kollar

Artist: Maxine Kollar
Blog: Everything Everybody and Everything Else

I am a self-taught and still learning artist. I have an interest in many art forms and am eager to do all of then at once. Since I am retired I have the luxury of taking this path now in my life journey that includes art. When I was young I knew I could draw and now that I am older and an ‘empty nester’ my time is filled with creating something whether it is a drawing, quilt, felted piece or beaded jewellery (which I am also learning as I go). I enjoy meeting like-minded individuals over the internet from all locations in the World and trading for art or talking about techniques or just getting information. I could spend days on end just reading loads of Blogs that are filled with such imaginative and valuable information.



I first started my journey making Art Trading Cards (ATCs) either collaged or fine art hand drawn. This was back in the fall of 2007. ATCs are 2.5” x 3.5” (standard worldwide). I have to say that I love making the fine art ATCs more than collage. I am learning the intricacies of working with watercolor, pencil crayon and acrylic. I like to do a series of drawings along one theme, like the Freckle family kids.


I even studied over the internet how to do Chinese Brush painting (CBP) at the beginner level of course. Wow, I love working in this medium and it takes lots, and lots of practice to do CBP.

As I get more skilled with using the different media I plan to use a larger size surface for my drawings. This is easier said than done, I am one of those painters that seem to find going larger hard and I am not alone in this. Many professional artists are also involved in making ATCs as well as beginners, like myself. It seems to be the thrill of putting an image on this tiny surface that resembles a likeness to an object that when looked at you would swear it was a larger image.


When I hit a slump in the idea file, I take my watercolors and usually use two sometimes three and mix them wet on wet on an ATC and let dry. Sometimes I get surprising results. Sometimes they are a bust – so I use the back of the paper! Shown here is one of these ATCs. It is a purplish muted background with a bit of yellow mixed in and then defined more with a black pen.



Done completely in colored pencil is a 4” x 4” Fat Page of a goldfish, one my first in this medium.



A little dabbling with an iron, some crayons and a slick surface 8” x 16” produced a likeness to an underwater scene.

Everything is beautiful in this world of ours....May peace find us all. ~Maxine Kollar

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