Have you ever begun doing something, let's say years ago, and you didn't know where it was going, but you seemed to be preparing for something? Well, that's what's been happening here.
Slowly over the years I've been working on my photomontages, shooting textures, patterns, designs, etc. I've also been collecting things to photograph for them, such as textured papers, postage stamps, vintage books, cards, etc.
Well, now I've collected so much
The cool thing is that as I make my physical collages, I photograph bits and pieces of them to use in digital photomontages. And then those photomontages are printed and incorporated back into physical collages, and...
Do you see where this is going? Do you see the insanity? Do you see the incredible amount of excitement generated by all these possibilities? I feel I have woodpeckers pounding on my head!
And so I present my first three "real" collages. And then I also present three different photomontages I made that incorporate bits of what went into the physical collages.
#1 is my favorite and my most recent. I just finished it. I used part of a cover from an old (1880s) Japanese book that was falling apart as well as a few pages from within the book. A rusty washer, a coin, some wire, and a strip of paper I used to clean paintbrushes also show up in this one. It's 5x7 inches.
#2 is 5x5 inches and contains dried teabags, bits of paper given to me by Kathleen Amt, tracing paper, part of a Japanese book from the 1960s my neighbor Juanita gave me two years ago, and miscellaneous beads.
#3 is 5x7 inches and contains a shipping tag, parts of Juanita's Japanese book, paper from Kathleen Amt, a postage stamp, pieces of torn red paper from CJ, black and red squares that I painted, and dried teabags.
And then you see the three photomontages I created using bits from #3.
The beauty of this mixed media is how one artform blends into another, how my concept of putting pieces of a puzzle together using photographs now translates into putting pieces of a puzzle together using paper, metal, string, and other things. And then photographing THAT to use in more photomontages, and so on, ad delightum.
What I THOUGHT might turn into something a number of years ago HAS turned into something today. As of 3 p.m. And finally! A use for all those watch parts I've been collecting!
And now if anybody's wondering what to get me for my birthday next year, a little bag of rusty washers would make my day!
Wishing you similar delight in whatever artform you're pursuing...
©Carol Leigh
