Collage work really helps to stretch my creative muscles when I’m working with new ideas in my writing. This first piece – Miss Understood, became my contribution to the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts “Secret postcard” fund raiser this past autumn. It has since found a new home, but I saved an image of it to remind me of how stifling and oppressive expectations can be.
It takes inspiration from many sources… the lives of women during the Victorian Era, turn-of-the-century sideshow posters, and my own personal battle with trying to balance my writing life with the rest of my life.
(motherhood, community, realationships, etc.)
I recently wrote to a friend: “So many days I ask myself which is worse, the guilt I feel for taking the time to write, or the thought of not writing?”
Her recent post on “me-time” made me examine the nature of guilt, expectation and self-preservation all over again.
What do you do for yourself?
Do you feel guilty about it?
This is a more recent collage – make a little birdhouse in your soul
I’ve been going back and making a collage for each chapter in The Virgin Cure, just to gain a better understanding of who my characters are and the things they are dealing with in their lives. This piece is inspired by the protagonist – a young woman who is fast coming to the realization that she is the only one who can look out for herself. Again, the expectations of society and her relationships loom large. What does she want the most in her life? Is it even possible to achive? Hopefully she will survive the journey…
And for those of you who are hovering around the 40-year mark… No, you’re not imagining things, I named the collage after a TMBG (They Might Be Giants) song. The entire time I was working on this little page in my notebook, the song kept running through my head – only this time the phrase “who watches over you” was a question rather than a statement.
And if you want to have a fun, chair-dancing flashback – here’s the video!
And if you’re hooked on Pushing Daisies (like me) here’s a clip where the song was featured on the show.
