Spontaneous Collage

I ran across these in the studio last week – experiments from a couple of years ago. In an attempt to prod myself out of a creative slump, I had decided to throw all caution to the wind and do some spur-of-the-moment collages. This was a real stretch for me, as by nature I horribly over-think things.

At the time, I was in the process of purging stacks of old, once-treasured magazines. After setting a self-imposed time limit, I quickly began thumbing through their pages, tearing out any images that appealed to me – textures, colors, shapes – resisting the attempt to reason why I found a particular image appealing. I became a woman on a mission… feverishly ripping, cutting, tearing… all against the clock. Then, after hurriedly dividing the pile of images into color groups (no surprise there!) I made quick collages using each group’s clippings.

It was a very freeing experience, with surprisingly enjoyable results. I highly recommend this process for anyone who needs a creative boost – shutting your brain “off” and letting your creative spirit play with abandon. Of course, using materials destined for the trash bin certainly helps…