One of the aspects I struggle with most as an Artist is having several quite separate threads to my work. Commercially this is obviously a plus because it allows me to work on quite diverse projects but it can be challenging too. I find I tend to focus on one strand for a time and then move on to another when I really need a break from that particular way of working. I feel like I am always juggling and balancing but I cannot imagine it not being this way. For quite a while I have been trying to find a way of shifting paper cut collage by hand to a digital equivalent. This has involved a lot of time building up my digital library of collage scraps, type, letters, numbers and surfaces but it is now starting to really work and I have been doing quite a lot of new still life pieces and some new narrative storytelling illustrations.
Making collages is endlessly attractive and fascinating to me and I'm enjoying this new process. I suppose a collage is like building a jigsaw of elements and positioning it all together. I like to completely disregard perspective and I often flatten things and see them in terms of pattern and design. I've always done this - Art lessons at school were hell because I made everything flat and my Art teacher constantly told me 'you cannot draw' but in finding my own way as an Artist I soon learned that everyone brings something different to the table and your visual voice is so unique to you.
