Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Synchronicities - review of Safety

Synchronicities
A very mixed media collage reviewing my first week of revisiting the artist way.


Earlier in the year I really enjoyed the Mixed Media Memoirs inspired by Melba. The way that I did them I found them to be a very powerful method for dredging* through my not-conscious self and putting together the images I'd already been working with, whether on the computer or in my journals or dreams.

As I've not been joining in with the current run through the chakras that Melba has been engaged in I've not been doing any recently. However I thought I'd experiment with this style as a way of doing my reviews of each week this time through the artist way. After all if I'm doing Morning Doodles instead of Morning Pages it seems only logical to have a more image-oriented way of reflecting on the week that has past.

Some of these images I blogged on the day I did them but others have gone unmentioned until now (still more didn't make it into this collage but that's okay reviews are selective).

Clockwise from the top

Shepherd - in this last week I've been drawn to three different images of shepherds; one a Cotswold shepherd (drawn here), one a bishop and the other a woman who is both a shepherd and a priest. (And I've wondered why they carry crooks because, with all my recent reading of detective stories, crooks are the bad guys! ;-)

Boat - see Lifes Ups and Downs

A rather sad looking woman - she was a doodle that came through one morning and does express the not so cheerful, not so brave, not so carefree part of me
Witch
The witch - I got as far as putting her up on flickr but when the posting I'd written to go with her was discarded by Firefox crashing I got all superstitious and refused to redo it!

Life / DNA building block - this was a fun doodle that I just didn't happen to blog

Face Your Body - see Day 1: Revisiting the Artist's Way

Madam Butterfly - see yesterday's Butterflies. I've never laughed so much at one of my own pictures as I have done looking at her!

Blue butterfly - this was one the first versions of the butterfly that became Madam Butterfly - though here I've played with it some more so its transformed yet again.

Then there is the big black butterfly which I cut out intending to make the diamond earring be lined up with the body. When I opened it up and looked at it I discovered that I also had some words on it - "art of you" - this had originally been "part of you" in an advert for jewelry - I took this as encouragement to make the next butterfly

Me as Butterfly - and now I know that if you feel little bumps on your head they might not be devils horns growing but the beginning of your butterfly's antennae!

In the background I used the orange scribble from last Friday. Reluctant Nomad had commented on this being a synchronicity for him and has since blogged about it.

I found myself very engrossed with making art this week, however I also found time to read E is for Evidence, F is for Fugitive, G is for Gumshoe and H is for Homicide and sold (through my Amazon marketplace listings):
So, having laid what I hope is a good safe foundation for the next few weeks, tomorrow I'll be starting on identity - but wait I've just started that today - I am a butterfly and I have come out of my chrysalis! I really do hope it is safe!

* I dredge my not-conscious, whilst I've noticed Tinker has been wading in her stream of consciousness.

12 comments:

andrea said...

I see your face peeking out of the collage! I still stand by my opinion that your mixed-media collages are the best work you do. Do more!!!!!!!!!!!!

isay said...

what a beautiful beautiful mixed media collage.

Caroline said...

Andrea - yes that's me in "Me as Butterfly" in the middle. Is it the complexity that you like? Layering all those things together and seeing what comes out - its what I like! But I find there is a limit to how many I can do. I hope I'll manage one every week for the AW but that might be too taxing.

Isay - thank you! I'm very glad you see it as beautiful!

Joy Eliz said...

Caro... I really love your second butterfly - the one with the boots.
I have two synch's with this post.
1. I was thinking about making a chakra piece of art and keep putting it off and
2. I have a book by Sonia Choquette I have not read yet.
So, I'm taking your post as gentle nudge:)

Caroline said...

Thanks Joy Eliz - I think the booted butterfly, otherwise known as Madam Butterfly, has got lots of character and I am really glad to have made her acquaintance. Glad you got some synchronicity our of this post - I love the way it gets passed on!

Reluctant Nomad said...

WOW!!! That's all I can say.

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic, Caroline! How did you find the time to do all that AND read all of those mysteries??

You've dredged up an awful lot of gold here (and haven't shrunk any metaphors either :)

Thanks for the linkage!

xo

Caroline said...

Mr Nomad - does that mean I've left you almost speechless?

Tinker - I'm not sure how I found the time - it just happened. And sometimes you can't tell with a metaphor until you try it on again ;-)

Ian russell said...

excellent caroline! it's very effective, complex without being too confusing - i would think that isn't easy and you've nailed it perfectly.

Caroline said...

Ian - thank you - it is fun juggling with lots of images and seeing if they can be made to work together - sometimes they can.

You have a wonderful assortment of photos and drawings that you could try collaging together.

Caroline said...

Melba - thank you - you are right about the different yet connected, funnily enough I drew a picture of just that this morning in my journal!

I don't know whether I'll take on any new challenges for a while at the moment I feel I've got enough to do with this new run through the AW and Illustration Friday. I've not been doing any others. But I'm glad that you've got something new to be organising!

Cheryl Finley said...

Hi Caroline,
Synchronicities do abound! Oops, I "just" read your comment on my SoulCollage blog on 12/31/06 - "Becoming the Butterfly"!(www.acapellasoul.blogspot.com) - (I didn't know I had unmoderated comments) -- I love that all of our cards and art forms can help enlighted each other's journey...and soul. Thank you for sharing yours Caro. I love this collage.