As promised, here are images of the early stages of my work on a new and larger-than-typical collage. Pages from an old book were adhered to the wood support to create the background layer. I like the casual grid of the type from these pages as a place to begin. Because I wanted to dim down the readability of the type a bit, I tinted the pages with acrylic (top photo). Then it's back to the easel as the first pieces are applied.
The pages come from a 1961 edition of Who's Who in the Theatre, a thick tome that the public library was discarding. It was fun to skim the text as I glued... each entry has a space for "Recreation." My favorite answer was from a British actor, born in the early 1900s, who answered, "sauntering." Phone numbers had formats like: "Ambassador 5438." The volume also lists every part and play/film the actors were in... a time capsule of sorts from another era.
I'm working on several collages at once these days, but will continue to post photos of this one as it progresses. I have an idea of where the composition is going... but it's always an adventure to see where it goes. Serendipity* is a factor!
*Love the sound of this word (so appropriate to my work), and its derivation: coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” (origin 1754)
