the unexpected

I keep a file of magazine pictures that capture my attention for use when I collage. Sometimes, I happen upon an advertisement that includes a print of a canvas, photograph or sculpture that I keep fully in tact or in large pieces that I paste into my journal as part of my ongoing gallery of artwork I admire. Recently, I came across works by Dubuffet and Calder with abstract figures of a male and female respectively that to me felt kindred. Each was part of a larger work but it was the misshapen bodies and hypnotizing eyes that held my gaze, so I cut them from the pages, made them part of my journal entry and went to bed.

The following day, the scrap paper from the rest of the Dubuffet and Calder pieces was resting on top of the magazine. Instead of discarding it, I started making a torn paper collage from the colorful remains. The art and fun of making this type of collage is not thinking too hard about it, allowing the creation to happen by positioning the strips with an immediate commitment to their placement. I just let it flow and know when to stop. When there was no more paper to tear, I had only assembled something that didn’t take up the entire page; I was finished but it wasn’t finished. When I looked at what I made, it appeared to be a hat of some sort resting on top of an implied head. I felt as if a face was there, saw the line of the cheekbones, a chin though nothing else was in front of me. I began clipping lipsticked mouths of various colors and fullness, laying them down, picking them up until I found one that suited whoever was coming to life. A surge of excitement passed through me as it does when I’m solving a collage puzzle.

The next morning, I was not a peace with this piece. I couldn’t put my finger on it and over the next few days searched through magazines for the answer. One day I cut out a fabulous pair of sunglasses but abandoned them; they were too expected and so was the mouth I had put in place. I was a minute away from frustration when I understood what was happening…I was under the influence of the torn paper hat, which was really my version of the turban from the woman in the Calder picture. Because it was designed with strips of paper from the Dubuffet and Calder advertisements, that headdress was spurring me on to create my own abstract inspired by the figures I had cut from the magazine. Knowing this made the search for what fit clearer though finding them was a challenge. Over the past couple of weeks, I have patiently allowed the face to find her way to the page and yesterday, there she was…

…solved.

And then I remembered a photo taken of a blue gum eucalyptus tree in Italy. I had taken several pictures from various angles and was about to walk away when I felt something tap me on the shoulder. I turned around, looked down to find a face I’m glad I did not miss as it reminds me of so many abstract oil paintings

of faces made by my mother (and of the face of the abstract woman created by Calder and yes, upon further inspection, of the image I birthed).

Inspiration is waiting in places and moments least expected. Art is where you find it and is all the more of a find when unexpected, you just have to...

keep your peepers open!®