An Ah-Ha! Moment

We all hear people talk about light bulb moments, but I've had very few of my own. I don't know if that's because I'm too dense to recognize the moment of enlightenment when it's presented, or maybe I'm such a know-it-all that I'm not receptive.

At any rate, I did have one HUGE light bulb moment about 12 years ago while attending a painting workshop at Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico.  The teacher had us painting rocks -- something that really didn't interest me. Rocks would probably never show up on my list of inspirational subjects!

Totally frustrated with my painting, but recognizing what needed to be different compositionally, I began to tear the painting apart and move the pieces around. I had no glue with me, so I used the hand stapler to staple the pieces around the edge. Wowee! Something with a lot more texture, more depth, more INTEREST began to appear. The light bulb came on. At that moment, I recognized collage as a tool for me to get the texture and depth that had been lacking in my paintings.

"Venus Setting Over Red Rocks"

I felt like I'd gotten a B-12 injection, rejuvenated, renewed, re-energized. I couldn't wait to get home and get started making more collages with torn papers. The really amazing part of this whole process was that when I studied art in college, I did not like or appreciate collage as a medium. It wasn't anything that interested me. Most of the collages I had seen were really assemblages of found-object papers -- old movie tickets, pieces of wallpaper or newspaper, uninteresting photographs. I did not aspire to be a collage artist. So the discovery that collage could be used in a more representative way was a shock to me!

Inspiration:  The "ah-ha!" moment - a complete surprise, but fortunately one I was awake for. Seeing old things in a different light was the trigger.