On Intentional Design

Collage background by Margaret Orr (http://hogret.deviantart.com)

In my last blog post, I rotated a collaged background through all four orientations to find the one I liked the best. That's it, shown above.

Collaged background with yellow ochre glaze

To unify the diverse elements, I gave the background a couple of thin washes of glaze. I like how it turned out. I used yellow ochre glaze because not only did I want to warm up Margaret's umber splotches, I wanted to highlight the tones of the various papers, and I know yellow ochre will do that. I sing the praises of yellow ochre glaze.

While working with the glaze, my imagination was exploring different concepts for the piece, as inspired by the background paper and color. The thing about collage is that it is inclusive of virtually all choices, and in my shop I have collections chock-full of choices. Depending on the day, all this choice can be liberating or frustrating. Mostly it's frustrating, and I find that by working “intentionally” (as opposed to “intuitively”), I can give myself both the creative direction I need and the potential to maximize the development of my ideas.

Here's how it works in practice. Consider the process of selecting an old photograph for a focal image to place atop this background. I've already noted in my last blog that I wanted to feature that bit of text on the right about the “power of the magic of believing.” While the message of this text could easily lead one to think of cheery birds and butterflies, there is another direction here begging to be explored.

Girl with Coral Beads, collection of Art-e-ology

When searching through stock photos for images that might be complementary to the second interpretation, I came up with pictures like this.

Blank-Staring Family, collection of Mrs. Inman

And this.

Article by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone magazine, July 7-21, 2011

And then, as a sort of test drive, I snipped around the image and put it down on a magazine article that I happened to be reading...and isn't it coincidental that the colors in the magazine drawing and the colors in Margaret's background are similar? By George, I've got it! My vote is now officially cast for the family with the blank stares. As I attempt to incorporate this photo into the collage, here's the concept I'll be keeping in mind: the power of media in our belief systems, how and whether it causes magical thinking, and what that thinking might look like. Stay tuned...!