Illuminating mistakes

On Saturday, at the reception for an exhibition of my nature prints combined with lettering, my friend, Linda, asked how I’d created one of the collages. The one to which she referred (shown below) was the most complicated. I wasn’t sure I could explain the process of putting it together. It’s not a matter of being cagey; not an unwillingness to share “the family recipe.” No, it’s more a matter of being so absorbed in—or dazzled by—the colorful, patterned possibilities of the prints that I lose track of tangible factors such as time, process, sequence, and decisions.

In fact, the method I use is to make copies of the original prints, then tear them apart and position them onto the substrate (support surface). When I’m satisfied with the composition, I take a picture of it. I then unassemble the collage, numbering each piece. When I start to assemble the actual collage in which I use the original artwork, I follow the numbers, putting piece number one in place first, followed by the second piece, and so on.

Do you wonder why I came up with this plan? Naturally it’s due to another lesson learned “the hard way.” Of course, I pasted a piece to the substrate that I’d intended to place on top of something else. The piece had this lovely, ragged torn edge that was now never going to be seen because it would be covered by something else. I mourned my foolishness for a minute, then got going. Hey, there are more illuminating mistakes in my future!

Two distinct prints came together to create this collage. You’re seeing the whole, “raw” collage here. I cropped it to make A-2-sized note cards, and it’s exhibited in a square frame. The translation of the rubber-stamp seal is “Wisdom,” a quality for which I’m always longing for more. • Yoga sutra IV.22 from Bernard Bouanchaud’s book “The Essence of Yoga.”

It’s my party…

Do you remember the hit rock and roll hit It’s My Party by the late Leslie Gore? Some of the lyrics are, “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to…?” (I thought there were also some lyrics about laughing, but I’m mistaken.) Well, at the reception last night for my nature prints that are combined with lettering of some of my favorite yoga sutras, I didn’t cry—but I sure laughed a lot!

Thank you for stopping by. It’s not often the host of a party can say they had a good time, but I’ll tell you that I had a really good time. The main reasons are because people dear to me helped me, and people dear to me came to the event.

My guests left their cozy homes to drive in dark, damp, cold weather and search—and search—for a parking spot, just to see my recent work. In fact, my friend, Shannon, observed that it was a coming together of friends from activities I most enjoy: nature printing, yoga, lettering, gardening, and writing. What’s extra exciting is that among my friends, many share several of these interests!

After Dan and I got home and unloaded the van, as I was reading Fred Vargas’ book, An Uncertain Place, one of the characters chose to open a bottle of wine to accompany the dinner he’d just made for Chief Inspector Adamsberg. The character explains his rationale by saying something like, “Drinking wine on one’s own is like having a birthday party with no guests.” Such was not the case for me at the reception for “Breathing in the Universe.” Thank you so much for your interest in my work!

Yoga sutra II.38 from Bernard Bouanchaud’s book “The Essence of Yoga.”

Peripatetic: traveling from place to place, especially working or based in various places for relatively short periods; a person influenced by Aristotle. The Peripatetic School was a school of philosophy founded by Greek philosopher Aristotle. (Chief Inspector Adamsberg was been described as “peripatetic.”)