One Background Four Ways

A collage background arrived in the mail yesterday. For collaboration. From South Africa. From my good friend Margaret. You can view her extraordinary collage/mixed media/jewelry work here:  http://hogret.deviantart.com . I like Margaret's background because it is vibrant in all four views. But how to pick the view that's right for me?

Background View #1

View #1. Because of its contrast with the other colors, that green stripe is dynamic. In this view, because it dominates the area just below center, it would most likely be covered up eventually with whatever the focal point turns out to be. That would make me sad. But I like that old magazine page (1953) at the top. The brown splotches at the bottom ground the composition and the white dots are interesting elements. I don't particularly like the location of the scissor tape framing, but this is definitely a workable view. Is it just me, though, or does this orientation look too predictable? I am not finding wit here, and I do so enjoy wit!

Background View #2

View #2. The descent of the brown splotches from the top edge is, frankly, depressing, especially with the contrasting lightness of the white dots, which remind me of falling snow. There's a lot of movement here, but it's a bad sort of movement for me. It feels claustrophopic, especially since the sharp angles and paper tape border are pushing my eye to the lower left-hand corner. Since, according to Margaret, most people approach a piece of art from the upper right hand corner, this relentless drag of my eye to the bottom could be an issue. Fighting the tension of this movement could overtake my meaning and dictate my content. I like to be in control of my content. #2 is officially off the table.

Background View #3

View #3. Darn! This view also has the falling brown splotches contrasted with the sparkly snow dots. However, the scissor tape is more amiably positioned at the left side of the canvas and the green strip is now above the centerline, which I like. Not crazy about the text being upside-down at the bottom because it is lost there. I know already that I want to incorporate this text into my content, but its position here would make that a stretch. Overall, I find a jarring randomness in this view—the horizontal slashes of paper, the descending splotches and dots. Unless I wanted to make an anxious piece, where a background like this would reinforce and energize my foreground, this would just get in the way. Of course I could slop on paint to neutralize the composition, but I would rather listen to the paper. http://lauratringaliholmes.blogspot.com/2011/06/listening-to-paper.html

Background View #4

View # 4. Of all the orientations, this one seems to naturally align itself into thirds, at least to my eye. This is a good thing, proportionally. The scissor tape is holding the left and bottom edges, another good thing. The brown splotches are back to being design elements rather than harbingers of doom. The white dots are back to being dots, not snow. In this view, the composition appears to be neutralizing itself. If I work carefully, I can preserve some of that delicious green at the top, I think. And I know I can keep the text snip visible in the finished piece. Can you tell I'm getting excitied about getting to work on this? View #4 it is!

But wait! First things first! What orientation would you pick?

Stay tuned for next steps.