theusedlife

Torn & Other Art

Torn, paper collage, 2025 Here are some new experiments in collage art. I hope you enjoy this collection.
On Self-Fashioning

I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me. – Anaïs Nin I have always been interested in Jungian psychology. I’ve read quite a bit of Carl Jung over the years, along with some prominent Jungian psychologists and mythologists whose work coincides closely…
On Becoming

Cosmic Cowboys, paper collage, 2024 As I was having coffee this morning, I found myself contemplating some of the ideas I encountered in Carl Rogers’s On Becoming a Person, which I was rereading the other day. And I was struck by a thought that I believe is worth sharing: Allow yourself to be shaped by…
On Looking and Listening

Northern Cardinal (male) It is my opinion that living is not only inherently worthwhile, but that the basic experience of being alive is also inherently pleasurable, or should be inherently pleasurable. And if the basic experience of living is not pleasurable, it is likely because our way of living, or mode of experiencing life, is…
Good Morning & Other Art

Good Morning, paper collage, 2024 Here are some recent experiments in collage art. I’m starting the new year with fresh materials, including a bunch of 1940s-50s National Geographic magazines, Arizona Highways from the 1970s, and a Spiegel catalog from 1956, which is a treasure trove of fun images. It has everything from vaccuum cleaners to…
Stay Close to the Cosmos III

Lost Sunset, paper collage, 2024 We know ourselves by experience. The feeling that you’ve somehow “lost touch” with yourself indicates an impoverishment of experiencing. At any given time, I have the choice to be active in—to be the creator of—my life, or to regress into passivity. Said differently: at any given time, I can make…
Merry Christmas

Christmas 2024 Every Christmas for the past three years I’ve made a holiday-themed collage that I share on Instagram and send to family and friends. This year, I thought I’d share it here along with those from years past. Merry Christmas!
Cactus Lounge & Other Art

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…
Stay Close to the Cosmos II

Counting Stars No. 2, paper collage, 2024 It is a frosty December morning, and I sit with a cup of coffee in front of the fireplace. There is soft piano playing in the background. Wrapped in a blanket, I watch the songbirds flock to my bird feeders, as they tend to do in large numbers…
Stay Close to the Cosmos

Over the Horizon, paper collage, 2024 The older I get, the less I view my life as a series of successes and failures, goals to be accomplished, or opportunities for productivity and improvement. I look at myself at age 42 and realize that I am not, nor have I ever been, something to be optimized…