Starting at the very end of May I started doing quick collages every time I was in my studio. It was a way of loosening up, kind of like how a musician will play scales to warm up. It was also a way to take away pressure from myself and just play with materials that I have laying around and using stuff up.
I have not done it daily, so I have been calling it my “somewhat daily collage”. This is no. 34. And this one took me way longer than what I usually allot for myself for the collages. I usually try to keep it to 20 minutes or under. But for this one, I kept changing my mind and kept going. I felt determined for some reason.
This one started out with an old photo of a yellow/orange brick wall that had been graffiti’d on and then the city or building owner painted over it with two different white drippy rectangles. The drips, that I loved, ended up getting covered with a print out of an old encaustic painting. And then I added pencil, some other bits of paper, pink sharpie and the little ladder. The little ladder came from an old encaustic mixed media piece that I had taken apart and then saved the bits and pieces in my scrap drawer.
By the end I was thinking about guides and guideposts. The ladder reminded me of a hike I did up in the White Mountains where the trail is blocked by a humongous boulder and there is no way around but to go over it, which is kind of impossible. So there is a little ladder that has been bolted to the boulder to guide the hikers up and over. It is a very much welcomed help at that point in the hike. And because I was thinking of that help when one is tired and spent, I remembered the cairns at the very top of Mount Washington when you’re approaching the summit. At that point there is no trail, but there are cairns that guide you along the safest and surest route. And in winter when there is snow and ice, the cairns are truly your guides. The pink stacked ovals are references to the cairns.
I guess it’s not too far of a leap to say that I have been thinking about how right now it would be nice to have guideposts in this uncertain terrain and a feeling that people who have come before want you to make a safe landing and help you along the way. That’s the way it should be. Creating safety nets and sure paths for those in your community.