Clowns

It's time for the performers to bring you the joy you were seeking. I was one of the demanding audience always asking for more; and it has to be to my taste and liking. Now being an collage artist; although only six month old, I saw a glimpse of how artists feel...

I understand why Joy Chien was so frustrated when she couldn't finish her art project and I tried to help by "giving her ideas" to wrap up her work.

I understand why Carol Rae and Daniel Finn and many other artists would find a "simple" job to get by and put their hearts and souls to their art.

I see the struggle of an artist in making art for the "market" through the mask of a clown on the stage. And aren't we all a clown on our life stages one way or the other?

Spring

I was looking for topics to do collages. Since everything is from recycled magazines, most of the time we get solid and bold colors - colors used mostly in commercial arts. So I thought maybe I should challenge myself and try to use these bold colors "only" (colors with shades are much more helpful in making art). Less shade and less texture. I also try to use "curves" as much as I can just for fun.

I looked at the color papers I collected. There are really beautiful colors. I thought about the seasons. How about using these colors to tell the story of the four seasons? So the first one of course is called spring. Doing a spring in the middle of a winter? Why not? after all, there is global warming, spring can come a bit early.

It turned out to be like a kindergarten work - childlike but not childish I hope. I have found myself lost in all these colors many times in the process. But I hang in there, forget about the smart art rules, just enjoy the fun in playing with more colors, more colors, after all, this is a piece about spring.

Now I have done it. Hopefully the black and white cat could be the anchor for the eyes in these busy colors of spring.

I saw my own busy heart in this piece. So much on my mind at this point in time and they showed.

Far and Away

I visited my ailing sister in LA. Seeing her being so sick I feel helpless. In LA, I took my collage stuff out, didn't have a heart to finish the one I was working on before the trip, I started a new one. It's a foggy city view in Baghdad. I love the purplish gray sky, I used a dark green back ground; my mom's favorite color, it represent life and deep peace, I thought about trees, bare barks, only some leaves left dangling... I finished the piece before returning home.

Looking at in online, I named it "far and away" - a second later, I realized that's what I felt when I was in LA - the helpless feeling about life, about departure, yet there is always life and life to come. This is the first time I actually see my feelings in my work.