It Would Be NIce

This cut and paste collage was made for that quote from Alice (in Wonderland). I loved that old photograph with the spoons sewn to the little girls dress.
I sometimes feel like that- when we see and hear about innocent firefighters shot to death and the other horrible school shooting tragedy it's hard not to view the world through that lens.  I try to switch the lens and know there are many good things that go unreported everyday.  I do think that it is important to see with both of those- bifocal if you will.
I hope the holiday season has been a good one for all of you.  And sometimes it's OK to follow the Talking Heads... Stop Making Sense.

Mind Journey

This hand cut & pasted collage is titled: Mind Journey.  The quote seem right for now with the year ending and another one beginning.  A clean slate.  I think I have always loved beginnings and endings.  As a teacher- there was the school year- The school year started and at the end a time to reflect what went well what I wanted to change for the better- then another start when the next year started.  Now the new year is a time I feel that time of reflection.  Sad to see some of it end and yet excited about the new year ahead.  This year has been a very full one and was one full of change.  I feel so blessed to be living in the woods with my soul-mate.  The move was difficult but so worth it.  I also had the wonderful good fortune to connect with some other artists that I feel very close to.  This has filled a void and is a real boost to my continued growth as an artist.
Happy Solstice- let the longer days begin!

Circus

I love this quote from Annie Lamott.  I love her books and when I read this quote I wanted ot do a collage.  This is a digital one.  I realize the quote is small but you can read it if you click on the image.  I have to say I do love to do pieces to quotes.

What Are We?

This is a hand cut and paste collage.  I made this a while back but given the terrible tragedy at the elementary school I find myself asking this question.  What are we?  I spent a major part of my art teaching career in elementary schools.  How things have changed since I first started teaching- my last few years teaching that level we had to have ID badges on at all times- the school doors were locked as classes started for the day.  We had lock-down practice and practiced school evacuations should we need to get the students out of the school for a bomb threat.  We all have lost our innocence.  So sad to see it happen to such young lives.  My heart goes out to the families and the students and staff. Hug each other and tell those close to you that you love them...everyday.

Stories

The title for this digital collage is: He Lived Inside His Stories.   For me it has a surreal quality about it.  For some reason I get a Rene Magritte vibe from this.  It is fun to create a fantasy and invite viewers to make their own stories up.

Inner Critic

This is a journal spread...after all these years of making art I still struggle with this.  But I move on.  I find that the joy of creating so often can overpower that critic.  He still raises his mean head still from time to time.  I like the image I found for him- I put the red X over his mouth.

Self-Criticism

This one is related to the previous post.  Self-Criticism makes use of another old art education text piece.  The little boy was in the photograph that I cropped the girl from in the previous collage.  I altered it the same way.  I think he was my great great grandmother's brother.  The background is from a Citrisolv paper that a friend sent me.  I altered it of course.  I find that it made for a dreamy background.  I am anxious to try some of my own papers using that product.  The one was a hand cut and paste collage.

Nature of Creative Teaching

The title for this hand cut & paste collage came from the title of the section of text in the lower left.  While I was teaching art education classes at the university I found a bunch of old art education texts from the 50s and 60s.  They have been a fun source of collage fodder.  The photograph is very old-I believe it is of my great great grandmother as a young girl.  The background is from a scan my partner did-  we both like putting things on the scanner bed- he had these old dried dragonflies and put some fabric over them- I of course had to alter that.