"Play is never far from the impress of the creative drive," Mary Oliver says, and I've been actively looking for ways to open wider the doors and windows of my creative process in the hopes that play will find it's way in.
I'm a terrible photographer, but I have a good camera. “What's a collage artist doing with such a thing?”, you might wonder. I ask myself that almost everyday. But, I started thinking that maybe that's the best of all reasons to use it as a source of play.
I drove around last Sunday, taking the wrong kinds of photos, of the wrong kinds of things, in the wrong kinds of ways. The purpose wasn't to make great art. It wasn't to make anything. It was just to capture things. Things that maybe I could use in interesting ways.
I won't lie, it felt uninspired. It felt like I was wasting my time. Like I was being unproductive. In other words, it was checking off all the right boxes for playing, I was just too uptight to see.
It will come as no surprise that the pictures weren't fantastic. And I've only started editing and color grading some of them, because this is too, is a process I find more tedious than enjoyable. Here’s a few I’ve done so far:
Somewhere in the process I started to think about what I could use them for. What I could do with them? I started asking the most playfully important questions an artist has in their arsenal: "What if?" and "What would happen?". Simon Sinek says to "Start With Why", but every creative person knows that "Why Not?" is more fun and interesting.
I put together simple juxtapositions.
Then I combined them with scanned paper elements taken from some of my analog collages while tinkering with layer order and blending modes.
I even printed one out with the intention of using it as source material in my analog collages.
Then I started adding type and designing. I made the piece at the beginning of this post, and I made this one too:
Maybe creative play starts with cheek, rebellion, and flippancy. Maybe it starts with not taking things too seriously. Maybe it starts with getting out of your own damn way. Maybe it starts with doing things how you know they're not supposed to be. Maybe it's the "irreverence towards an object",
says, that turns "it into a...plaything."***The line “we got quieter” used in the final piece above was inspired by a poem by
P.S. ICAD DAY 94-96
P.P.S - I feel like this post was a little heavy on the digital art so here’s an extra analog collage just because.
I love that first collage (especially).... the yellow and white tile (with what I first thought might be a handcut grid overlay until I saw the source photos) immediately jumped out. Beautiful balance with the pink tones and the vertical split... pulls you right in to the words. I think fodder gathering (in this case with a camera, but it might also be just walking around and making note of things seen or culling magazines, for instance) always has its place.... yes, it ticks off all the boxes.... yes.... maybe it gives the brain a bit of a rest.... yes.... maybe sometimes it doesn't feel inspired in the moment.... but it typically leads to something later when you do sit down to move things around and play. Always love seeing your pieces.
From uptight to free flowing! The creative process is so moreish.
In that playful place, do you feel the need to temper yourself, or let the flow continue until fully satisfied regardless of how long it takes?