Cactus Lounge, paper collage, 2024

Here are some new experiments in collage art. I made most of these within the past few days. An observation: I often spend hours, days, weeks, or sometimes even months working with a series of images without committing to a particular compostion. I typically feel during that time that the “muse” isn’t visiting me, or that I’m working in a somewhat uninspired way.

Though, inevitably, that period of uninspired work does come to an end, and when it does, I find the images I’d been working with come together effortlessly and quickly. It’s as if everything I touch suddenly becomes a collage. Even images that hadn’t previously attracted me are imbued with possibility. This intensely creative phase typically lasts several days, during which I want to do nothing but create, create, create.

Indeed, the more I experiment with collage, the easier it is for me to embrace these different phases of the creative process. And the more I learn to value the uninspired days. In fact, I’ve come to believe that inspiration must be worked for. The muse doesn’t visit when she’s ready; she visits when I’m ready.

I wonder if others work similarly. (Feel free to leave a comment about your creative process below.)

I hope you enjoy this collection of artwork. I had a lot of fun with these compositions.

As Good as You Remember, paper collage, 2024

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This afternoon, I added a bunch of new prints to my Etsy shop, including Cactus Lounge. It’s always exciting to see new artwork in print.