Seeing possibilities... collecting collage ingredients

I'm often asked where the bits and pieces of my collages come from... I have a habit of looking at the negative spaces, the spaces BETWEEN and AROUND the featured items in a photograph. It's often there that I see the patterns, color gradations, and subtle imagery that I find most intriguing and useable.

The large photo above shows a recent photograph from the newspaper that had ingredient potential. (Caveat: It's very dangerous not to finish the paper before I get to it, if you want to be assured of reading the complete story!)

At left is a detail of the photo where I've indicated, with green outlines, the areas that I will rip out for future use.

I was recently explaining how I gather materials during a demonstration to a local art guild. Afterwards one fellow said, "You sure see things differently..." Yep, and I took that statement as a huge compliment!

Happy Valentine's Day…

...not to mention paper of all kinds, glue, chaos, order, scraps, synchronicity, ripped edges, wild color, subtle patterns, layering, negative spaces, texture, stripes, printed napkins, forms/grids, postcards, pages of books, ribbon, cardboard, packaging, and unexpected daily "finds" to add to my collection of collage ingredients!

May we all find someone or something to love. I am grateful to have found both.

Leaping rabbit... and other public art

Lawrence Argent's Red Rabbit

Landing at the airport in Sacramento, California this week, I was surprised to be exiting my flight into a new-to-me terminal with lots of public art. I've just finished reading an extensive article about the new art pieces that have been installed. Lots of great photos and information compiled by David M. Roth, the editor and publisher of Squarecylinder, is available for perusing here. I'm looking forward to further exploration later this week when I fly out of Sacramento to return home!

Crazy-wonderful thankfulness (with turkeys)

I'm thinking today of all I have to be grateful for and the list is long and crazy-wonderful, from great big things to fortuitous little details. There remain struggles and challenges but overall, wow, life is good.

High on my list is how thankful I am to be surrounded by a creative and supportive family of wonderful characters. Case in point: at Thanksgiving, the entire family looks forward to seeing the results of a turkey-themed watercolor tradition that my husband and stepdaughter have managed to keep alive through the years, and now, across the miles.

The turkey saga usually incorporates world or family events, particularly travel, and the potential subject matter is a much discussed topic. Last year the turkeys explored Costa Rica...

 

Thanksgiving watercolor: turkey zipline in Costa Rica. © 2010, Jim Leggitt and Gretchen Leggitt. 

The earlier series of 15 can be seen here. Or come by to see the watercolors festooned around the dining room! Can't wait to see what they'll come up with this year. An article from Jim's blog about the tradition and process is here: Thanksgiving Watercolors: A 15-year Family Tradition.

Hope you and yours will enjoy your Thanksgiving rituals and traditions, whatever they may be!