shuffling paper

my worktable this morning was covered with at a hundred or more pieces of 

 photos printed on paper, gelli prints etc. and I had a happy few hours playing at layering and composition

not looking for any kind of finished work, rather, i'm combining things based on colour, pattern and visual texture and looking for interesting combinations which will hopefully generate ideas for the way forward

a few came to mind whilst doing this along with beginning to understand what I am drawn to, what resonates,,, how I can take these images of a place that is so completely wrapped around my psyche and tell a story with them

 a few favourites emerged and have now been glued into my sketchbook and next will be some written reflection and thoughts of where to go next

this first one combines three things: two cropped photos, both of water and an acetate print of a branch

and again, that favourite crop taken from the quonset hut photo, on acetate again with a water print behind - the effect for me is snowy mountains through a window

next came painted paper, part of an image of branches on water (heavily edited) and a fragment of tissue paper and scrim, collaged, painted and machine stitched

a fragment of the kandik map of the yukon river, hand drawn in 1880, a different version of the branch on water photo, this time printed on acetate and more of the painted paper

there are other smaller combinations that for now will languish in the scrap pile until i know whether or not they are done with... meanwhile, note-taking is what i'll be doing which should then lead to some mark-making and drawing

my thinking is taking form now and it's almost all to do with the river, it's ebb and flow, continuing on through the years, taking people to and from the gold rush, and still the same after all those years... flowing by,  as time itself does

 there are the riverboats... vessels of people, hopes and dreams as well as loss... the shape of the planks encasing it all

a tinge of yellow for the gold found in it's creeks, the falling down cabins and trading posts along it's banks, indistinct shapes

maps for how to get to the place of dreams 

and maps for how to leave

as time fades memory and memories fade to dust the river runs through it all