Diners, Dogs & Don't Forget

A lot of my collages are thematic; ways of expressing a feeling, a situation, what's on my mind.  But others are inspired by what has caught my eye, often a single image.  It speaks to me, shouts out loud and then I have the fun of the search for other images that resonate with the key image.  I really love how the colors, shapes, meanings find each other and emerge on my digital canvas.  I can immerse myself in this journey for a long time.  A few years ago I started calling these collages 'Anonymous Content' and now have a series of them.

Diner began as an Anonymous Content collage and the most wonderful dog was the key figure.  I just love this dog.  He's just alive with 'dog-ness'.  He is actually a working dog who is trained to sniff out a specific endangered Salamander!   The magical red dress woman showed up next and red began to become the link.  Patty Smith & her old-school camera showed up and a little red colorizing made her fit in perfectly. And early Edith Piaf with her accordion found her way to me. When I came across the diner background, while doing a search totally not diner, the collage went from Anonymous to Diner.  And I would love to be in a diner with this crowd.  I have a 16x20 print of this in my office/studio and love coming in the door to see that super K-9 face and friends.

Diner collage

I collect quotes and sayings.  Things that seem perfect little reminders of this and that.  And I have a series of Quote collages as a result.  Recently I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, managing some things and worrying about some other things, when I realized these were not actually my own things.  I was looking only at these stressful aspects and forgetting that, while I was helping, they were not actually mine.  And in that, it was also too easy to forget the  good things present with you everyday.  So these are my two current 'reminders'.

Stay in Your Own Life ~ Quote Collage

When you Don't Get What You Want ~ Quote Collage