In my quest to further expand my knowledge about the new Communities feature of Steem, this will be my first post at @midlet's art community OnChain Art. It is an active art community and i think the reason is that Midlet did a lot of work exploring, promoting and raising attention around the Hive. Browsing at his posts you can find apart from amazing art, valuable information about how the feature works and what you can do with it.

General Description.

I will present a collection of four of my earliest collage artworks along with the original painting for comparison and better understanding of how i am using the medium. All of them are handcut creations and back then (2005-2006) i was trying to find my art style by exploring the possibilities of making a stained glass artwork, using paper pieces instead of glass. At the photo above you can see the colour and pattern palette i used, printed at 120 gr paper, cut with scissors and pasted at black hardboard. All the black lines you see are the space between the paper pieces, its a bit like a puzzle.

Young John the Baptist by Caravaggio.

This was an artwork i really enjoyed making and the painting belongs to one of my favourite Masters. The reason i chose Caravaggio was because of the dramatic shadow play that makes him stand out from the rest, a real master of the Baroque movement. This helped a lot my collage as i wanted to give volume and 3D effect at the final result. I had a clear image of which piece will be dark and which light in tone and could play a little with the hues between. i took the liberty of changing a bit little John, give him longer hair, a spear and a horny goat. In this version he is a fallen angel, wingless, thinking of his past glorious days. The background is from the Paradise Lost engravings of Gustave Dore, inverted and given a blue tone to make them more glassy.

Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio.

Another Caravaggio study with the same palette, this one i remember had a lot and really tiring work. A lot of little pieces and strips of paper had to be cut in for the dress and had to be extra careful in the pasting stage. To be sure i was cutting a collection of 5-10 pieces, arrange them together, trim them a bit if needed and then paste them. It was a slow process. The part i do not like in this artwork is the hands but it was the hardest one and had to practice also, the one i like the most is the face and the eyes that make the artwork alive. The background is from Hieronymus Bosh painting The Garden of Eden.

Judith and Holophernes by Caravaggio.

This is one of the largest artworks i did back then (120/80cm) with two main characters and a head. The dress came out really good in this one, the shadow play is very obvious and creates a little movement .I also like the empty eyes and find them very appropriate for such a violent scene. The background is made from a collection of photos showing violent scenes that took place at Middle East wars. The original painting is also inspired by an ancient story in Middle East and poses a still contemporary ethical dilemma.

Portrait Of Ginevra De Benci by Leonardo da Vinci.

Last but not least a simple portrait with a lot of changes from the original painting. I simplified a lot of elements in this one and tried to give it a futuristic look, the nose is a bit funny with the little button and this is the reason i later discarded this detail. I think i made a really fine selection of the eye set which i found and cut from a magazine advertisement.The background is again from Hieronymus Bosh painting The Garden of Eden.

I hope you enjoyed the selection and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.