IsabeauxStudio

I honestly have to admit that I can remember the days before digital.  What a difference a digital camera has made in my work.  I have already told you about how I take pictures to track the progression of a piece.  This was extremely helpful, especially in projects that didn't turn out well,  I could look back on the pictures and see at what point I took the wrong "fork in the road."

I take pictures constantly in my travels, mostly of obscure things.  I collect textures. I collect people. I collect pictures of industrial sites.  I love factories and bridges.  I file these pictures away for future use.
                        

I have already mentioned that the use of collages are often a starting point for me in my work.  Initially I made them from tear sheets from magazines like this one at left.  It definitely conveys a feeling of color, but it is not personal to me.

Thanks to computer software and my self taught knowledge of Photoshop & Illustrator,  I pieced together bits and pieces of photos taken to create digital collages.  Now by using my digital camera, my collages have become more intimate and sentimental, as they combine snippets of my life, and tell a story. 

 
This is a newer photo collage that I made recently,  it is out of sequence with in the confines of my sequence of  projects, but it illustrates my point.

I combined the two pictures in color at left to make the larger collage above.  I removed the color so I didn't get distracted by it.  This way I can take the color in any direction that I pleased for the final piece. 

 

I used collages for each of the next six pieces that I will write about.  I had entered the Emeryville Art Show, and needed to complete six pieces in three months.  I worked like the devil in order to be ready in time.