The Collage Process

Here are some of my latest collages.

The creative process of collage has taught me a lot about

Rose and Beans, mixed media

composition (juxtaposition of color and form) and how art emerges. Unlike a painting, I never go into a collage with an idea of how it should be. I peruse shapes, subjects in magazines and my own artwork, cut them up, and arrange. Through this process, I have discovered the technique of layering. I use a simple monoprint to serve as a first layer (this is evident in the collages below). The synthesis of the parts--monoprint, magazine cutouts, etc-- brings into being an entirely new image.  What delights me, what keeps me coming back for more is these emergences, discoveries that I make while playing.

I think that is one of the secrets of contentment: always setting time aside (and space in the mind) for small discoveries, be they artistic or otherwise.

REM Guitar Dream
mixed media (the music of our sleep)

Bright Idea, mixed media                                                    (If only there was a potion we could drink to give us bright ideas!)

Bottles, mixed media