Collage of Cats

Great to be back to my Japanese art classes again! With our busy summer vacation schedules and my tutor’s new day job, attendance has been quite sporadic. We plan on making it a regular weekly routine once things settle down more. For that reason, my new project took months to complete, but not to worry, it is the result that counts! I decided to do something totally different this time which did not involve painting. It is collage work, more precisely “Chi-girie” (ちぎり絵), a traditional Japanese form of art which basically involves tearing up bits of special paper and gluing on paper to create a picturesque collage. For more about it, please click here.

The Background

I went for a huge thick poster-size paper this time, taped along the edges on a wooden plank to prevent buckling. A blend of white and yellow acrylic paint was then applied with a sponge roller, first horizontally across the paper, then vertically. This rather marbled effect was not expected as I realized I should have squeezed out more paint or thinned it down, but I liked it!

Drawing My Design

The design I was after actually came from a painting I had come across on a Facebook advertisement for posters. No idea who drew or designed it, but it is so cute! Among all the images I collect for inspiration, this particular one came to mind. I saw a lot of interesting potential for collages there with the simple shapes and variety of color blocks. And of course, you all know I love cats! Once the background paint was dry, I set about with a pencil sketch. Most challenging was having to get the proportions correct and figuring out what colors would go where from the start. For each shape then, I penciled in the names of the colors. It took the entire 2-hour lesson to get the drawing finalized!

The Chigirie

A range of special paper was selected for this project. From a local shop, I managed to collect quite a variety of them, including mulberry paper, lokta paper, Japanese washi, and even banana fiber paper! Japanese rice glue is typically used for Chigirie. One of the tips my tutor suggested is to dilute the glue with a bit of water on a small dish and gently apply it to the area with your finger on your substrate (the big paper) before sticking the bits on. The beauty of these special papers is that as the aim is to create texture, you can layer on the bits of paper randomly on top of one another rather than have them perfectly aligned next to one another. This is why the marbled paper look more marbly, and the orange-colored fiber paper appears so fluffy!

Finalizing

Once the collaging of the cats themselves was completed, it was time to work on the smaller details: The eyes, nose and whiskers! I also tore the bits of paper with my hands but for the whiskers went for scissors. As for the white area on the right side by the orange cat, it had to be firstly filled in with white acrylic paint before gluing on white washi paper because the pencil mark, with which I had previously indicated which color to use, might show through. Washi paper is quite thin, but problem solved! Upon completion, my tutor asked if I wanted to change the background color but I declined given the hassle it would be to paint around the cats with the risk that paint might bleed through the special paper, and he agreed with me. And now, finally done!

It took the entire summer and at least 6 lessons to complete this project, but it was well worth it! I am loving every detail of my work. As a main feature of Chigirie, the great advantage of tearing collage papers with our hands, as opposed to cutting with scissors, is how the resulting rough edges make the cats look even more real. Have a look at the black cat for instance! Working with the orange-colored fibers was also worth the trouble as it made the painting even more intruguing. I would definitely like to do this sort of Chigirie artwork again in the near future. Best for animal paintings or nature, but also featuring Little One too!

And I am getting this masterpiece framed. It was suggested that we use museum glass with some distance in between it and the artwork so the textured collage doesn’t get flattened and look less attractive. I can’t wait to have it hanged at home now!