This collage is bubbled and irregular. That’s largely because I was trying to use Golden Gel Medium as the adhesive. It’s what I’d used almost 20 years ago, when I was art journaling through a difficult divorce.
And, for this collage, that’s sort of appropriate. Since the start of the 2020 holiday season, I was beginning to feel as if our extended family was fracturing. Perhaps it was politics. Perhaps it was distance. Or maybe it was something else.
I just had an uneasy feeling. (In retrospect, I should have trusted it.)
Of course, my writing career was in a holding pattern as well. Covid-19 had a significant impact, and – by October – I’d seen that book sales weren’t bouncing back.
When I created this collage, I was beginning to see that, perhaps, everything does happen for a reason.
The “unexpected solution” was to return to my first love: my artwork. In this case, my torn-paper collages.
And, as the collage says, perhaps the message was: Liberte. Egalite. Anime! (In this case, liberty, equality, and energy/life!)
So, I’m making art again, and it feels very good.
Even better, in later collages when I switched to Yes Paste as an adhesive, the results were vastly better.
This collage is about feeling adrift, looking forward, and realizing that challenges present possibilities.
Size: 8.5″ x 11″
Materials: Poster board, torn magazine images and text, Golden Gel Medium (Matte).