The Coble Effect: A Mixed Media LifeBook Lesson

I have a total artist crush on Roxanne Coble. The way she stacks colors, the way she incorporates collage, and the mark making…seriously inspired stuff.

The Colors

In this LifeBook lesson, she walked us through the creation of painting an abstract background that was so easy and impactful. Coble uses an analogous color scheme. I chose a deep blue, kelly green, and olive green. In addition, I used Dina Wakely Night paint as my not-completely-black and Golden Fluid Titan Buff as my not-too-bright-white. I followed Coble’s easy color blocking explanation and had a decent background in 10 minutes.

Collage Elements

For the collage portion of the project, I flipped through a multitude of magazines to audition imagery that shared the colors I had chosen. A large, dark wooden door won the starring role. The supporting case of images symbolized my love of reading, the outdoors, wine, and our Navy lifestyle.

Coble had us rip the dominant image to add interest to the composition. I chose to rip it in 2 places, creating 3 sections. I then balanced the rest of the collage pieces visually and glued everything down. This was not the last time I had to let go of parts of the composition that I liked by layering on top of it. I see that as a sign of success when I like the current state of a piece so much that it pains me to cover it. And, it makes me happy when I’m fearless enough to push on, cover it up, and have faith in the process.

In the end, I think I went a tad overboard with the mark-making; however, I can see myself using these techniques repeatedly in the future. As such, I’ll call it a success.