A Girl Her Dog and Her Wagon

If you click on it you can see a bigger picture!

Here is a collage of a collage that I made back in college.  It was supposed to be a piece using ink and pencil and only done in black, white and mid-tones (gray).  We were to find things in life we liked, loved or had affinity for.  We were also to include a silhouette of ourselves somewhere in the picture.  We were to write about what was happening in our life at the time we were making the piece (writing is at the bottom).

When I got this out of storage and read the writings it totally brought me back to that time in my life; it was a mini diary of snapshot in time.  I had gone back to school after getting divorced from my children's father.  Yes, I was a starving student and had a starving artist boyfriend, too.  It is amazing what you can do without much money really.  Museums usually have one free day a month to visit and the student ID helped, too.  There was the library and parks; picnic lunches or cheap fast food.  With not much help from the ex there was bitterness and resentment.  What balanced it was to create art.  My escape from the cruel economics of life.

The pen and ink outlines are taken from a vintage photo of a girl, dog and wagon that overturned spilling out flowers.  Then I added a rose, a songbird and an outline of a winter barren tree, 3 things I love.  The photo I chose reminded me of both my younger sis and my daughter when they were little with our family dogs.  What kid doesn't have fond memories of their dog & wagon? 

We never lived together but the boyfriend was talented, funny and romantic and we had a great time doing artsy-fartsy stuff together.  We went to art gallery openings, traveled up the pacific coast to draw and paint; he lived in San Luis Obispo for awhile, I'd go to visit and almost moved up there with my kids but after a couple of years or so I figured he was never going to settle down or ever have a pot to ....you know...#$!@ in.  I had two kids whose needs grew, like $ for college soon, etc.  The relationship took it's course and he took it harder than me but we moved on. 

More art from my "Bohemian" past life in the days to come!
Hope you're enjoying today.