CONVERSATIONS WITH COLLAGE

A serious work of art on paper!

The story behind the art

This collection has taken me almost seven months to complete. I started in late November 2023, and it is my largest collection to date.

Inspiration for the Collection

When I was young, I was quite an outgoing child and loved to explore my world. Around the age of seven or eight, I used to go around the neighborhood collecting "things." I knocked on people's doors and asked them, "Do you have anything you don't want?" Often, people would smile and find something to give me. I collected various items, and they made me so happy. I received a box of albums, many books, and one lady even gave me her makeup bag. I was so excited that I painted all the kids' faces in the neighborhood, and they loved it.

One day, I knocked on someone's door, and an elderly man answered. I asked him if he had anything he didn't want, and he looked at me and said, "Just a minute." He came back with a huge box and said, "Here you go, you can have these." I looked inside and, to my surprise, he had given me his lifetime collection of stamps. I took them home and spent days looking through this amazing collection. Even at that young age, I knew it was special and couldn't believe he had given them to me. I often thought about him, wondering why he gave them to me. He changed my life with his kindness. The collection was organized in several books filled with rows and rows, pages and pages of beautiful stamps from all around the world. This became my very own treasure! It was certainly worth some money, but to me, it was more than that. For the next few years, I spent every day looking at my stamps and started to collect my own to add to the collection.

When I was twelve years old, my family and I left England and moved to the USA. To my astonishment, I found out that my mom had given my collection away. To this day, I still miss my stamp collection, but I don't blame my mom because she was doing what she had to do, and she didn’t know how important they were to me.

The Process

I wanted to create a truly unique and interesting collage collection that allowed me to explore new ideas and push myself beyond what I had previously created on paper. I allowed myself to take time and really enjoy the process, similar to how I enjoyed looking at my stamp collection. During the creation of this collection, I realized I have been spending all my years as an artist seeking to create my own "abstract stamp collection." Each piece took one to two weeks, building a story with color, collage, and my thoughts. Over the years, I have collected a multitude of papers, and it was so fun sorting and playing with them. They are made to be looked at over and over, just like the stamps. You can tell they took a long time to create, like a fine red wine or a stamp collection - haha! Some of them have another painting underneath and are full of surprises; they have hidden words and beautiful elements. If you see extra writing on the back, that means it was another painting before. I reworked old painting pieces, which gave an extra layer of interest.

This journey is one that I will never forget. It made me pause, listen, and enjoy each moment. This is probably the first collection that I will be sad to see go, but it will give me great joy to see them go to their final home. These pieces are perfect for collecting, and I hope they bring you as much happiness as they gave me to create.

I recommend doing a float frame so the art sits on top of the mat and shows the beautiful edges. Framed with Mercer Slim Black frame from Framebridge