I am thinking of this post as an experiment: Can I actually get my thoughts and work “out there” once again? After a while, the “maybe I will do that tomorrow” begins to feel a bit cowardly, right?
I am back in my studio in a somewhat regular way…both of them, actually. ( I have the ultimate luxury of a space for “paper” and one for “fabric”, i.e….the two empty bedrooms). After a long time of putting others first (for truly excellent reasons…no regrets, there), I am now trying to once again engage in a daily, creative practice. In the one spot, I am working on the Passacaglia…which is something of a “once in a lifetime” piece of work…more on that another day. To counterbalance the awesomeness of that effort, I am also making tiny collages using up scraps from other work. The little book in the photos below is a small 3″ x 5″ Moleskine. Every day I try to do something in it…if I complete ONE page, it is “enough”.
The process, though, has become something more than simply cleaning up. All of the paper is scrap…the under-papers created when making more “important” work. And, therein lies the joy in the process. Each page is just “something from nothing”…on a very small scale…using simple tools…ruler, scissors and glue.
The underlying “restriction” or challenge for all in the book is to create a small collage in which one can “see through” to what is going on underneath the top layer. A secondary expectation is that each of the collages on a given open spread should relate to each other in some way. That’s it.
In a very odd way, this book and its contents have become very important to me. Each page is a reminder that I have given myself time. I have fiddled with little pieces of paper until they make me happy. Simple idea…it doesn’t always have to be hard.
