On exploring new directions in your creativity

Some pages from my sketchbook and a juicy artist interview

Hello loves,

I’ve been low-key obsessed with patchwork collages since last month, when that initial spark of curiosity I told you about pulled me out of my creative funk, straight to the painty table, and set me off in a new artistic direction.

I almost immediately picked up a new sketchbook — because of course a new project requires a new sketchbook! — and started playing with pieces of colorful paper. Rooting through my stash of collage papers and looking at all the paper and packaging material that passes through my hands with fresh eyes has been a truly delightful experience.

Trying to match the things I’m noticing as part of my 100 day project with the papers or colors I use, has ignited in me a sense of urgency, a very visceral need to piece different elements together as a way to find and make meaning. It’s also been a wonderful counterpoint to my intuitive painting process. These two distinctly different ways of working feel like two streams forking out of the same creative river — maybe they will converge further down the path, or maybe they are two parallel streams fed by the same source, only time will tell.

For now, I’ve been busy exploring this new fork in the creative stream, scribbling down observations, fine tuning what I like and do not like, and making notes for new things to try on these little patchwork collages.

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This is the very first patchwork collage in my little A6 sketchbook, with a permission slip to myself: after all, making glorious mistakes is how we learn what we love, especially with mixed media art, and perhaps also in life.

And because that one permission slip wasn’t enough, I had to remind myself to release my grip {i.e., my desire for control} and allow the magic to emerge. I define the magic as the little unexpected things that I didn’t anticipate or account for. {Ok, fine, they’re actually mistakes.}

Some of the collage papers I used were made with fountain pen inks and coffee, which means that when I went in to seal the collage, the ink and coffee smeared all over the piece. The magic is how I worked with it instead of despairing over the spilled, or rather, smeared coffee and ink — even I can’t quite tell where the original oopsie was, can you?

You’d think that one run-in with non-permanent collage papers would be the last of the mistakes I made. You’d be wrong.

I used some collage pieces that I made last year with distress inks, which re-activate with water. Only, I didn’t realize those collage papers were made with said inks because they’ve sitting in my collage bin since over a year! So of course, they got smeared — all over the page!

But again, almost every oopsie is salvageable when you’re making art, especially when it’s non-representational, don’t you think?

But not all of these have been disasters that I’ve had to cover up! ;-)

I started this collage with a tiny little face, which I drew on a piece of printer paper using my non-dominant hand. I used a lot of brown packaging paper in this patchwork collage — some of it was stenciled, but most of it was just plain brown packaging paper. I added in charcoal pencils and soft pastels on the top to add in some color, along with some of my own hand-made washi tape.

I think I may have over-done the color, though. You can hardly see any brown in the finished piece.

I fixed that on this piece, though — a double page spread in my little A6 sketchbook. I think I prefer using a lighter hand with the addition of color over these collages. What do you think?

I’m still exploring and experimenting. Learning about the materials I’m using and how they react and mix with one another. Trying out different marks and styles to see what I really like.

I already know that I love adding scribbly lines, and extending some of those lines out of the collage. I also like edging the collage using a smudged pencil line, but I’m still not sure if I want to outline the entire collage, or leave some sections unedged.

There’s so much still to explore and so much to love in these little pieces. While it’s easy to tighten up or overthink things, I’m leaning into being a relative beginner again, and it is delighting me no end!

In other news….I had a delightful conversation with fellow creative

Marissa Gallerani

We spoke about what it means to be a working artist {it’s not what you think, I promise!}, filtering out society’s messages about art, resisting comparisonitis, and recommitting yourself to your art. Grab a cup of something nourishing and settle down to read the interview. There are a lot of little nuggets in there!

"It is really important to reflect on what you really want, because there's so much that's possible." - Shinjini Mehrotra

Before you go, tell me this: Which of these collage pieces did you like the best? You can leave me a comment or simply reply to this email.

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