Content or Content

Content, as in what is contained, or content, as in a state of being, that is the question. I hadn't yet received Lesson 2 when I got the urge to spontaneously create my 4th collage so it doesn't necessarily project what the lesson requested because the words out of the mouth are not so much things I reject...They're just words I found that had some meaning to me. I will work on the rejection image later because it makes so much sense to do it.

That being said, the word heart came up often in Lesson 2 and oddly enough, I did use a torn heart in my collage. This means a lot of different things to me. Julia Cameron, writer of The Artist's Way and numerous other books, wrote: "Making a piece of art may feel like telling a family secret." I would develop that even further and say that making a piece of art is revealing secrets both to the artist and to the observer...And that is more than a little scary!

Shelley Krammer, author of the e-line course I am following, compares our unconscious mind to the basement of our homes. Coincedently, my husband and I are currently finishing our basement so that it no longer is the place where you store things you don't want to look at. And here I am, trying to bring forth my unconscious creative being so that I can see what gifts and strengths lie hidden beneath the surface. Life is so full of similar parallels...It truly amazes me!

The Shadow

Lesson 1 - I'm thinking this is a lot like being in Grade School, the only difference is that rather than just play I'm looking for something that seems to be buried pretty deep...Well deeper than what is coming forth so far!

Two of the images I used in this collage were actually spotted yesterday, the face from a photography book and the person carved out of a tree trunk (actually already used to create a print). The tree (I LOVE trees!) was spotted today as were the little notes. The process of putting the collages together and the "serendipitous search" (I may be exagerating a bit...I still can't stop planning) makes me think a lot about what the images mean to me.

The size of the shadowy figure makes me think something is lurking there, in the shadows, preventing the light from coming through. This is why I threw in a little sunshine of my own. Hopefully it will cast it's rays all the way to New Brunswick and shine brightly for a little while!

Mimicking Life for Display

Day two of the free e-course Deepening Creativity and I'm not quite sure that I'm letting my authentic self come through yet. I still feel like I'm trying to control the outcome of these collage exercises. However, that being said, this image is not one I would normally create. The colours, the disjointed subjects that I was led to, the lack of cohesiveness...Still, when I look at it , the elements seem to reflect a lot of my thinking...looking, connecting the dots, sharks, cryptic cards, all viewed by the observer through a viewmaster.

One of the hardest parts of this is exercise is ripping images out of some old photography books I have (even though they are doubles and are about a lost art). Then again, I even have trouble tearing pictures out of magazines.

Although I did say it was Day 2 , I must admit both yesterday's image and today's were created before I even got the first lesson. Tomorrow will be real homework!

My Authentic Self

I've been very busy lately doing the mundane but oftentimes necessary work needed to garner some wages. Add to that spring time activities, i.e. gardening, cleaning and refreshing the interior spaces, and clearly my neverending search for my authentic self has been put on the back burner yet again.

Enter Robyn, author of one of my favourite blogs Art Propelled, and her latest inspiring posts. I don't know where she finds the time to research/find the numerous creative spaces that she so selflessly shares on her blog but I sure am grateful she does. Her latest posts are about a free on-line mini course, Deepening Creativity-Reclaiming your authenticity with creativity, given by Shelley Klammer,Intuitive Artist. As I read about Robyn's foray into the 10-minute collage exercises I immediately felt this could be of some benefit to me. And so, here is my first attempt.

I am a true control freak so this will be a challenge, one that I hope will help me abandon the need to always plan outcomes. Nothing just happens with me...I have even managed to put Order in Chaos.

Chaos Acrylic on canvas (2006)

Order Acrylic on canvas (2006)

Chaos & Order start out the same, one layer at a time. Yet at some point, as each layer is applied, things start to get out of control. It is only by extracting each layer, one step at a time, that order is restored. And in the end, even in Chaos there is Order.

I'm hoping the daily collages are going to help me find my authentic self. Maybe that is a pretty tall order, but I'm up for the creativity and I know I'm in here somewhere!