ninety and counting...
I've amassed a nice little collection of these tiny collages and have a few left to do though I'm taking a break for a few days
studies of water, sand, driftwood, seagulls, seaweed, wild roses, aspen trees, fir trees, moss, mushrooms and so on
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| aspen trees |
I've been looking at them and making notes, thinking about what I'm seeing, noticing commonalities, what is being repeated - they're a clue as to what appeals the most to me which seems a good place to begin
when I was working on the bird tracks in the samples I began stitching some, then wondered if what I was doing was correct - I decided to double-check online - a perfect case of what we think and what we see and what is really happening
even though I was only wanting to look at the shape of the marks, the images were all so inspiring that I knew I wanted to do more with them once the collages were finished... ideas tumbled and the next thing I knew I didn't know where to start
(Lesson 1 - stay away from the internet!)
when I don't know what to do I start small... a line of tracks in the sand then
I drew a few simple curved lines on the khadi paper I am loving working with and then found a small painted collage I had done a while ago - it was done to capture a thought, not meant to be anything other than that
when I laid it on the paper it looked fine but I had a hankering to do something a little more interesting so I got my ruler and rotary cutter, turned the collage over and sliced away
a slightly staggered placement and I was happy
I posted it in the forum of a class I'm taking by Karen Ruane and then a short while later I posted it on Instagram as well
one of the comments from a classmate gave me pause...
to paraphrase, "I like this but I prefer the layout of the Instagram version"
?????
the image I posted in the class was with the strips just laid on the background and in the Instagram version they were affixed but I had used the class photo to ensure things were in pretty much the same position so I was a bit puzzled
over to Instagram to have a look I saw immediately that the image had posted upside down
odd how that one small thing can change a work so much
to be honest I wonder about version 3, which does not exist... I like the orientation of the marks in the first image and the collage in the second
good thing everything is in place and can't be fiddled with
yesterday I started playing with beach finds
today I'm taking photos of driftwood to have a close-up look at some of the interesting marks on the surfaces
and I am NOT looking at anything to do with driftwood online!
6 comments:
It's always a bit dangerous to go looking things up online - there are rabbit holes waiting for you to fall down at the end of every link!
All lovely! I love the simplicity that creates complex designs.
I love the upside down look - awesome. It give a look of water, trees, mountains, I see so much in that. Love it.
Yes, I like it better upside down too… either way though I love it. But it does prompt us to look at things from different angles sometimes doesn’t it? I have just completed a small piece which ended up taking matters into its own hands causing me to make two ‘mistakes’ which, in the end, improved it. You will see it soon enough but for now it does give me food for thought. My mind and my instincts were both working during the making of the piece but clearly didn’t agree on a couple of things. Instinct won the day and I am often apt to trust him more than my brain although strangely I am not always aware of it at the time.
Interesting to see how much difference there is between the two images when you simply change the orientation of the photo. I must admit if I had to choose between the two I would opt for the 'upside down' version as well. To my eye that one evokes the froth in the water in the fore, with sand and then mountains in the distance. The tracks immediately give you the feeling of the beach.
I have heard it said that a “painting is really good when you like it in all directions…right side up, upside dow, and sideways”. So I see your collage is really good both right side up and upside down. Oh that Internet Black Hole that just sucks us in…
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