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

What would you think about if you weren't worrying?

As I shared in my last post, it has been a stressful time with my sister's hospitalization.  But I am so happy to report that she is finally at home and recovering well.  There will be some more out-patient therapy and other medical tweaks but she seems on the way to a full recovery. Yay!

On the way to her recovery I've had to work on handling stress.  The query 'What would you think about if you weren't worrying?' popped into my head one day and it seemed a perfect question indeed.  So I made a quote collage to remind me of it.  Less worrying freed up some collageability!

The wonderful oddling figures are dolls that I came across in someone's blog.  They were unattributed but good old Google image-search  discovered the source.  You can see more work from dollmaker Kateryna Kalinina.  

What Would You Think About If you Weren't Worrying? collage

The figures here, while contemporary, seemed just right for a retro setting.  Wonder Bread and Pie A'la Mode seemed good comrades for this scene. And what can be seen just out the window?  Google image-search revealed the people are custom-designed paper dolls!  You can be captured in paper-dollness your very self by checking out Jordan Grace Owens' Etsy shop.

Red Retro Dining collage

I came across this super 'It's not you, it's me' image and loved it's great retro feel and tough-girl message.  Google image-search let's us know that you can have this design, 'Breaking Up Is Hard to Do' by Leon Ryan as a t-shirt at Threadless.com.  Cool beans.

It's Not You, It's Me collage

An Outback Steakhouse commercial prompted a conversation that reminded me when I was young my best pal Janis and I used to frequent Tad's Steakhouse in Philadelphia after work on a Friday night.  It was a big treat.  The place was kind of cafeteria-style and you got a steak, a baked potato wrapped in foil and a salad in those retro wood bowls..  I found some photos of the Tad's Steakhouse and with a little altering and combining came up with this version.  The $1.29 price was true!  This was a long time ago.

Friday Night At Tad's Steakhouse collage

Quotes!

A difficult situation is going on right now with someone very close to me, but there is very little I myself can do about it.  It reminded me of a quote I was once gave my artist friend, Deb Booth  'Worry is the misuse of imagination' and I am trying to hold on to that very thought.

Deb and I say that quote to each often and it inspired me to do a collage of it, which then led to other quotes.  I can feel quote collages popping up from time to time in the future as well.

Worry is a Misuse of Imagination collage

Everything Is Possible collage

Be Kind collage

Not My Circus collage

Just Be You collage