"Serendipity"

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"Serendipity is when the unexpected becomes the plan." It's a word that has a magical quality to it and is generally associated with good unexpected events. It's just a fun word!

Common denominators still come to mind when I think about grade school and fractions. It's also a way to describe "echoes" or conversations in a piece of artwork.

I must admit there is something about preparing and cutting up bits of paper that brings out the child in me again. But I have also been very turned off by collage and its chaotic nature and tendency towards visual overload. It is still possible to have very dynamic artwork using collage when a few common denominators are in place. My first common denominator is using rice paper for a majority of the piece and all mono printed with gestural marks and sometimes a bit of an image adhered to the rice paper before the mono print. The gestural marks leave white space on the print which then connects to the plain rice paper overlaid on old book pages.

The other common denominators that are extremely important to me are the ehoes of my main colors. Repeated elements always create rhythm and will add stability to this kind of "mix and match" design work. But if this is too much for your taste, all you need to do is keep to a neutral palette with maybe one or two punches of color. There is one artist who does exactly that with her very dominant image emerging from the many layers of book pages and neutral papers. You might want to google Ashley Collins and check it out for yourself. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.