Beginnings

This past summer I started really exploring my creative side. I've always been "arty" without ever thinking of myself as artistic. After all, I can't draw, so how could I be artistic? (Love that kindergarden teacher who chastised me for coloring outside the lines...) I had, summer before last, taken a short drawing class and found out that I might be able to get better at drawing if I worked very hard. But finding the time always proved to be difficult.

So when I discovered magazine collages, they were something I could do in the time I had and didn't involve as much internal criticism about my artistic abilities. I made a few stabs at collages while sitting around watching TV and they were OK... and then one night I did a collage around a small picture of some figs in a bowl. This is still one of the most complex collages I've done, and actually one of my favorites. It convinced me I was on to something, and that for once I'd actually pleased my inner critic. From then on it's been easier to allow myself the time and space to create.

It's still hard to let go of the inner critic long enough for the piece to speak to me, but when I can do that... such rewards!! I call this piece "Figgy Pudding."