I’ve gone back and forth with using collage in my works on paper practice for years. I love adding and subtracting. I love that no piece is too precious - that a painting can have endless outcomes. More recently, I tend to use collage when a piece isn’t working as a whole. Collaging is how I address failure in my work. Failure leads to innovation and unexpected outcomes. It keeps me on my toes. I usually work on three pieces at a time, and when one starts to fail, I consider ways to cover up what’s not working or change the piece altogether. I rarely start a work on paper with collaged elements in mind. Collaging comes as an organic response to the frustrations of developing a painting. It almost always presents itself very late in the process, when I feel my most uninspired or lost. Collaging revitalizes what I’m making and it often elevates the piece to a place where I never imagined it could go.
Below is a work on paper piece Two Moons that had several different variations before arriving at the final image. It demonstrates how my work often starts out in one direction but ends up somewhere completely different. I will also note: my works on paper happen in the moment. I do not plan out in advance the colors, marks and textures I end up using. I am responding to everything that’s happening on the page. I usually have a few icons in mind and the piece develops from there. The final outcome is always a surprise.
*Pickle my cat, the best studio assistant around.
