One of the things I am enjoying about my digital collage is that I work intuitively and therefore am often surprised at what emerges. To give you a glimpse into my process...
I had no idea what I would create today, and I had only about 15 minutes to work. When this happens (which is often) I often start by choosing the shape of my canvas, and let that dictate the next step -- today a strong vertical canvas. Next, as I often do, I went into a file of black & white art pieces I've collected/created/scanned over the years. These are often pieces of my symbolic alphabet (nod to Anahata)--for me women's faces, random objects, butterflies, sewing notions etc. Today, I saw 'chalice' in the folder and thought, yes - no idea why I thought this and I had no follow up idea. So that was my first element, and then I added color - purples and blues which have a spiritual quality, going with the symbolic chalice. After playing with layers and transparency, I decided I needed a woman's face to humanize the piece. As I searched my art folder, I found this woman, whom I used in a previous collage. She looks like she has her hands clasped in prayer, and yet also looks distracted, which seemed perfect. Again, I played with layers and contrast and transparency, as well as composition. The words 'a silent prayer' came to me as I finished. Amen!
(Sorry, I'm a Catholic school survivor, and I often slip into irreverence about religious topics. My God has a really good sense of humor. Let's face it, (s)he invented sex.)
FOOTNOTE: I've altered this collage and changed the woman in the picture... one of my blog visitors commented that she could swear the woman in my original was somehow associated with feminine hygiene products. I was not sure, but after her comment, I kept seeing her on a box of tampons or maxi pads so I had to fix that!!! (thanks NB!!)
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