Getting Started...

I don't fancy myself an artist, yet when I came across an article a few months ago on the Internet about something called SoulCollage, it grabbed my interest immediately. There was something freeing in knowing that I didn't have to draw. That I could put a bag over the eyes of my inner critic and simply create.

The first step is often the biggest step in any process. Yet as soon as I started browsing through the boxes of magazines I'd stashed or hauled around with me over the years, I was lost in the process. I tore, trimmed, treasured and sorted the images that suddenly took on new meaning independent of their textual context. They stood alone now, waiting to be reassembled into something...different. New.

Assembling took time, however. For three weeks, I did nothing but turn pages and tear out images that caught my eye. No judgment. No plan.

"Get with the program," I finally said to myself. I spread out some of my treasures on the kitchen table and started assembling them, without any particular intent other than creating a pleasing array. In no time at all, ARTIST'S FANTASY emerged right before my eyes.