All's Well That Begins Well

Chaucer wrote that "love is blind", he believed that the intensity of romantic love blocks our ability to reason and remain objective. In our need to have love we sometimes overlook the signs that all is not well.

The couple in the collage are in the intense phase of their relationship. They have just begun their relationship and all is well. The text provides a tongue in cheek take on what lies ahead.

The lino print is a picture of a young girl arms folded behind her back in an apprehensive but naive stance provides compositional balance.

Varieties of Merit

I created this collage for the 8th Annual International Collage Show. I was not able to part with it. So, I still have it. I think that it may be one that I keep for always.

I love the young woman's stance. It screams of self assurance. The length of her skirt and the fish net stockings just add to you knowing that she is just in control and loving it. She might even be using it. The vintage car in the background seals the deal. She is no fading violet.

The constructed cross provides a contrast both in content and composition.

Hands Tell

I was inspired by this picture of a woman's hands. The way she holds her collar. You can see the years of her life worn by her hands.

I look at my hands and I see my grandmother and mother. My middle finger on my right hand gently curves to the right, just as my grandmother's did. My fingers are short and fleshy just as my mothers are today.

The wrinkled paper is worn by gold paint and black crayon.
The window symbolizes the looking into a person that is possible when look at someone's hands.

Picture Perfect

Perfection is so seductive. Many people spend countless years chasing the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect life.
Never is perfection so ardently pursued as a wedding day. Women look for the perfect dress, the perfect reception site, the perfect cake. The dark spatters of India ink bring reality to this collage.
The reality that perfection is only in our minds.

Perma-Lift

As time passes, it changes things. It changes a beautiful flower. It changes a beautiful body. There isn't anything that escapes the passage of time. The woman in this collage seems hopeful that she has found her answer. However, the large looming clock and the soiled paper communicate the reality.

Hahn

For me, this collage is about balance. The collage is a balance of the mechanical pen marks and the organic nature of the leaf. There is a balance of the large black found paper foil and the india ink run at the top.
The color of the ledger paper and the leaf provide additional balance.

This is such a simple collage, but it's impact always delights me.