'Originally developed by the cubists, collage is a means of both asserting and denying pictorial space,' says Philip Tyler.

'By placing textured paper onto canvas, the flatness of that support is clearly in evidence, yet at the same time the material itself can act as a mnemonic for real objects. There are three main types of collage: mosaic, cut and torn.

'Mosaic collage uses lots of tiny, cut paper squares; the collage is built up rather like a mosaic. Cut collage requires scissors or scalpel, whereas the paper is carefully teased into shape with the hand for torn collage. Tearing along the grain can produce thin strips, but paper does not easily tear against the grain.

'It is useful to create a range of tones/colours when constructing a collage. Monochromatic collage can become quite flattened, so by using two temperatures of tonal paper to separate foreground and background, space is created.

Demonstration: Based on Celebration of a New Skylight by Euan Uglow

Preaparation

Begin by painting panels of newspaper with a range of at least nine greys, from white through to black.

Make each panel about A5 size. Mix up your acrylic and use your decorator’s brush to apply your colour.

Do not use water in your acrylic, as this will cause your paper to wrinkle and become fragile.

Try to make each panel flat.

Now add yellow ochre to white, to black and to grey.

Try to get a wide range of tones from light through to dark, and make as many as you can.

Allow to dry.

STAGE ONE

This collage was made the same size as the illustration I worked from.

The background shapes were blocked in on top of a grey ground using grey papers.

The wall, seat and some of the measuring marks were added, as well as the reflected light on the edge of the bench.

STAGE TWO

Shifting to yellow ochre papers, large colours were blocked in to define the outline of the figure.

These formed a base onto which smaller sections of collage would be attached.

STAGE THREE

The big planes were given attention and the forms of the figure began to emerge.

Now the chest wall and thighs come forward.

STAGE FOUR

Increasingly the pieces get smaller and smaller.

Sometimes these are pre-cut and placed on the paper, sometimes stuck into place then cut into once on the collage.

STAGE FIVE

The head was a bit of a mess and needed structure.

A lot more layers were added to make sense of the form and expression.

FINISHED COLLAGE

The following day, with fresher eyes, I revisited the head.

The cast shadow of the nose and chin needed work.

The eyes were also positioned.

For fun I decided to finish the collage with some pencil drawing on top, referencing Uglow’s measuring marks.

Based on Celebration of a New Skylight by Euan Uglow, this collage is on 220gsm paper, (15x10cm)

Philip Tyler’s practice involves painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, collage, digital image and writing.

He exhibits widely and his work is in public and private collections, including those of Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and Peterborough Museum, as well as in America, Australia, Finland, Hong Kong and Sweden.

Philip is represented by Northcote Contemporary Art London, The Harbour Gallery, Portscatho and Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel.

His first book Drawing and Painting the Nude: A course of 50 lessons was published by The Crowood Press in 2015.

See more at philiptyler-artist.squarespace.com