Here Comes the Sun

This experience is inspired by illustrator Clare Youngs and her joyful, graphic suns. Her work is bold but gentle, playful without being busy, and full of simple shapes layered again and again. It feels like a perfect fit for a week centred on warmth and light.

Painting your own collage paper before any of the cutting and tearing happens is where so much of the magic lives! Set out paper and invite artists to explore warm colours freely. Yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, touches of white. Scrape, brush, dab, drag. Thick paint, watery paint. Nothing needs to look finished as it's all about colour and texture and experimentation.

Let the papers dry, then cut or tear them into strips, wedges, and loose shapes. A little swap shop between artists at this point is lovely and keeps things feeling generous and shared.

Have a sturdy base ready. Something like A3 cardstock works beautifully. A lightly pencilled circle can help anchor the composition if that feels useful, but it’s not essential.

If you have a look at Young's gorgeous collages, you'll see that she cuts radials / rays in different thicknesses and lengths. And adds in (or cuts out) repeated shapes to add visual interest. Experiment with ripping instead of cutting too, as this keeps the edges softer and brings in a different kind of texture to the paper.

This is all about colour relationships. What happens when orange sits next to pink? When red overlaps yellow? When a quieter piece gives the brighter ones somewhere to land? Start building your sun from the centre out. Layer paper pieces, overlap them, rotate them, move them around before committing with glue. If any are hanging over the edge of the paper at the end, you can chop these when you're finished (or decide to leave them long!).