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| "Glimmer of Hope" |
My current motto seems to be when in doubt, make more collages. I can't explain why I love making them so much. Back in my younger days, I would never have envisioned this new passion in my artwork. I was definitely more of a purist then, concentrating especially on my drawing skills. I do not begin my collages with a preconceived notion of what my finished piece will look like. Yet somehow, once I begin, I am able to compose without fear or tension of any kind and I seem to instinctively know what I should do. There is freedom in this thoroughly process-based approach. It's a great feeling. For now, I'm just going to go with this flow and see where it takes me.
This recent set was done incorporating hand painted and stamped papers (the stamping was done with an onion). I used a combination of ink, watercolor and caran d'ache.
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| "Middle Light" |
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| "Metallurgy" |
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| "Dark Thoughts" |
As I work in this way, I've found myself moving away from working representationally. And I've also noticed that the circle motif keeps reappearing in my work, even though I hadn't given much thought to their symbolic meaning. As it turns out, this deceptively simple shape is fairly complex in what it can symbolize. According to Steven Bradley of vanseodesign,
"Circles have no beginning or end. They represent the eternal whole and in every culture are an archetypical form representing the sun, the earth, the moon, the universe, and other celestial objects between." and "Circles are graceful and their curves are seen as feminine. They are warm, comforting and give a sense of sensuality and love. Their movement suggests energy and power. Their completeness suggests the infinite, unity, and harmony."
(source: The Meaning of Shapes:Developing a Visual Grammar by Steven Bradley)
In other words, circles have some very rich and beautiful potential as a design element when considered in this way, which is very nice to know. I'll take them as a good sign and embrace their presence in my work.
You can see more of my painted paper series of collages here. Thanks for stopping by. I always love your comments.
How smart to use an onion! I would have never thought of that. I love the circles... there is something very attractive about them - whether as polka-dots the moon!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous blues!
ReplyDeleteLove your flowing compositions in these collages!
♥♥♥
Happy PPF!!
Mary
Mixed-Media Map Art
Your collages show your sense of freedom that you have when you create! They are fanastic! Happy PPF!
ReplyDeleteThese are superb- I love the textures, colors and the way you've composed them- and I especially like the titles each one has; really gives them so much meaning!
ReplyDeleteHappy PPF,
Stephanie
i love that you stamped with an onion, circles within circles.
ReplyDeletesuch lovely colors and designs.
Beautiful! I adore collage too. The process can be so freeing. I loved reading the meaning of circles too! I think I need to go to my pantry and grab an onion. :) Thank you for visiting my blog and have a beautiful weekend.
ReplyDeleteDebbie you're having such fun and going with the process, just letting go and letting those creative juices flow, I love that and your creations with their symbols and colours...lots of playful fun!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, your take on the circles. No beginning, no end. I never thought of it that way. When I do incomplete circles, I think of Van Gogh. I love your pages. Lots of texture and color and their titles are so unique. Well done Debbie. Have a great weekend. Happy PPF!
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool! I had no idea circles had so much meaning. I'm a lover of circles too, curves also.
ReplyDeleteI love your collages. They are beautiful! So, so, creative! Happy PPF!
If you're good at it why change it. :) Collages look wonderful!
ReplyDeleteLoving your beautiful collages. Happy PPF, Annette x
ReplyDeleteI love that you are (pardon my crudeness) following your gut, thats what make these so beautiful, they are truly coming from within, you're just transferring these beautiful images from within yourself to paper, wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteLove your collages and your color are so pleasing :0)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely lovely collages ~ excellent colors, composition, design ~ thanks ^_^
ReplyDeleteps. I find collage quite freeing and stimulating and meditative ~ just my thoughts ^_^
Looks like you were having great fun creating these lovely collages!
ReplyDeletebeautiful collages, your creativity has been unleashed!
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting post!! Thanks for sharing your wonderful process of these lovely collages!! You are such a refined artist I imagine it's very freeing to just create collages with abandon!!
ReplyDeleteHugs Giggles
Lovely collages and using an onion, that's different but it makes great shapes. Who would have thought the humble circle could mean so much.
ReplyDeleteVon (PPF)
These are all SO nice--but I especially love that first one, the colors, the composition...and are those leaves in the top left? Beautiful. I find circles appearing in my artwork a lot, too, so enjoyed reading Bradley's description of the symbolism.
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to read the symbolism behind circles - and I do see them a lot in this work. I'm with you, I love to just let loose and painted papers and collage work allows us the chance to do that. Beautiful pieces - love the blue and the compositions are very appealing, xo
ReplyDeleteOhh the first one is the favorite of mine !! ...hehe stamping with an onion...looks very cool!
ReplyDeletei love your collages. it's very personal and expressive. love the textures too! Go with the flow:)
ReplyDeletecircles and collage sooth the soul i think... it takes us back to when we were kids and just tore and glued and coloured... this is a great piece...xx
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and creatively beautiful work!
ReplyDeleteI think your collages are wonderful. They have such a sense of harmony and grace.
ReplyDeleteI like how life pushes us to change and challenge ourselves to do new things. Makes it all so much more interesting. These are lovely pages and pieces of art.
ReplyDelete