I am not the type to keep an ongoing sketchbook handy or spend hours developing compositions. Maybe I should, but nah. I follow my intuition, allowing an idea to unfold in its own way. Occasionally I will play around with elements of an idea but it soon gets trashed or to goes straight to canvas. The following is how this particular series came into being.
I wanted to break out of a rut so I played with some collage elements to get some stuff out of my system. This particular bit of play made me really happy ~ and before long it was onto color mixing and creating patterned paper with my Gel Plate. My artwork is as much assembled as traditionally painted. I use the patterned paper to collage into forms, backgrounds and more. Here I used it in the flowers and body form. The collage is integrated into the painting to make it look and feel cohesive.
At first this piece, now called "Synergy", had a darker background. After a few weeks of it feeling 'off' I lightened it up and I am much happier with it.
