Something I've been doing lately in my art practice (as an aside, "art practice" sounds rather highfalutin for what actually is simply a nom de plume for what I do: Make art. Every day.) is make small things: paintings, theraupeutic doodles, collages. I purchased 4-4x6" art journals which may or may not have something to do with this. I love their size and portability. But it is the collages that are really floating my boat at the moment.
Back in Get MessyMay (May?! blows my mind that we are already in July!) Kellee Wynne demonstrated the mini collage, dividing a page into 4 then having at'er in these smaller than usual spaces. It was revolutionay. And I've been making them ever since.
What is it about such a small space that is so compelling?
- The size itself. It's fast. Takes little to no resources. And it's CUTE!
- Though small, it actually requires a little more thought. In a bigger piece sometimes a corner can get carried along. In this size, every inch COUNTS!
- Using up all those torn off corners of larger collage papers that were too pretty to throw away suddenly come into there own. A boon for this paper hoarder!
- Exploration on this minute scale gives immediate feedback. Trying a particular colour palette? Know in a few minutes whether you want to try it out on a bigger scale. Same goes for markmaking or composition.
- Speaking of composition: with such limited acreage I really have to get CLEAR on what I want to convey. Something I've been trying to do with larger works (and sucking badly).
