Anyone who is making the creative journey through the landscape of collage and assemblage certainly has some experience with the joy and beauty of serendipity. Of course, being "on the lookout" for "specimens" to include in creative works is necessary for ultimately creating a piece of work. And preparation and planning are also important in various ways. In addition, as Julie and others have pointed-out, being in a fertile mental and physical state always helps too. But... it is wonderful and exhilarating to experience the serendipity so often associated with spending time and manipulating lots of collage materials. So I thought I would share the two images (or perhaps I should say one or "one-and-a-half" images) shown here. Here's what happened. I have been intrigued by images I have come across in a health book from around 1915 and the illustrative photos of various exercises. I cut out the image of this muscle man which I thought I might use in a piece and was playing with the image of the man and the strawberry (I really enjoy the contrast of B&W photos and colorful fruits and vegetables). Anyway, at one point, I turned the image over and "Viola!"... I found that the back of this cut-out muscle man just happened to look quite interesting. I don't think that I would have "seen" that if I was only in a "planning" stage. I have not even completed a piece with inclusion of this image... but I am certainly enjoying it now. I hope you do too.
Great stuff - and good insights into the creative process!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how ideas hit us out of the blue or by happy accident.
About an hour ago I was working on the eleventh chapter of my novel. I was happy with the end of it, all seemed well. Then, walking a few feet, somewhere between my computer and the kitchen, an idea HIT me. New ending. And one that paves the way for future chapters, just rolls things the fuck on OUT! Yeah!
Where'd that come from?
Ha, you started a blog! Yes, the back of the picture works better than the front, more interesting image, more depth, and the shape of the man in the front is still really crisp and interesting to look at.
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