Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Collage: Don't Forget!

Collage: Don't Forget!
This collage was created immediately after I finished a left-handed free drawing that I done in the same journal. On my last visit with my sister, she taught me the creative (art therapy) process of drawing with your non-dominant hand (my left). You keep the pen or pencil on the page the whole time and randomly draw across the whole page -- with or without your eyes closed. I found this a challenging exercise. The first time I did it -- I HATED it! It felt so ugly -- it looked so ugly. Then I was asked to fill in the areas with color. Again I felt stupid and untalented. Once I finished my sister asked "What do you see?" I couldn't say. But she said she saw so much energy in the drawing and one particular area I had colored seemed to her to have Kali energy. When I included her perspective I could see what she meant. In the same day I created a collage that was extremely powerful. It seemed to have been let loose by this exercise.

Don't Forget is an very interesting collage for me -- it covers the whole page, it shows a woman dreaming, a woman with deflated butterfly wings, and a kind of angry woman sitting on the ground. Perhaps different aspects of my self. The many-chambered nautilus seems to represent the many passages of life. The best thing in this collage is the squirrel reaching out, perhaps yelling "Don't forget!" Don't forget about what? Me? The natural world? Don't forget to fly?

3 comments:

  1. how about, 'don't forget to be true to yourself'?

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  2. What a wonderful post!
    I love the idea of using the non dominant hand to draw and color.
    Once again, thanks for sharing.

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  3. Chrissy -- "This above all to thine own self be true" -- my mother was always quoting this to me! And although she usually said this with a martini in hand -- I think it's a precept I have always lived by. So of course, how could I have forgotten that?!!!

    Ann -- thanks for dropping by! I am enjoying (with gritted teeth) the NDH experience -- I expect a lot to come out of it!

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