New Work: Joyland

Joyland 
16" x 16" painted acrylic papers/collage on paper

The title of the above piece is a nod to Stephen King's book, Joyland. While the collage doesn't have anything to do with the novel per se, I felt that the bright colors and shapes gave the whole piece a kind of joyful and rollicking kind of vibe. Sort of what you might experience at an amusement park, albeit not one that is haunted by the ghost of a murdered child. 

In any case, I hope the piece appears happy because it certainly made me happy while I was making it. I started by simply gathering up leftover bits of painted paper in various sizes and shapes. I had laid them on the floor in a pile kind of haphazardly. I liked the look of that pile of pieces so much that I felt I could take that randomness and make a collage from it. My rules for the piece were not to create on the grid but to simply place shapes wherever they seemed to want to go which to me, was the way that they appeared to be in their original pile. Well, once I got going I abandoned the notion of copying what had been in the pile (how it looked) and my old ways of question and answer took over. The piece came together quickly and many of the shapes used were used "as is", meaning I didn't cut them except maybe to straighten them out. Other shapes were "cut to fit" which is fine. I added smaller details last which kept me from getting too fussy too soon.

Overall I am quite happy with the results. The question for me will be whether or not this way of working is repeatable. There are lots of ways for me to start a piece I guess and I admit that I am always trying to get away from a "gridded" look, if that makes sense. I hate having to try and line shapes up so that they aren't crooked. It's very hard, actually, and so it was nice to simply place shapes in a way that seemed natural rather than too tied to horizontal and vertical lines. Though some vertical lines are needed, I think, to kind of corral the other shapes. I am after a "built structure" with my work. I want the shapes to coalesce into one object rather than be just bits and pieces randomly strewn about the picture plane. They all need to be tied together in the end.

Alright, hope everyone is having a good weekend. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby