By Sherry Siska

Collage art: it was something I’d been wanting to try for about five years.

I thought, though, that I needed a class.

I thought that I wasn’t “artistic”.

I thought I’d mess up.

I thought I’d look the fool.

I thought, well, as you can see, of a lot of reasons NOT to do it.

But, a couple of years ago, I finally thought “why not”.

If I mess up, I reminded myself, the only person that would know about it would be me.

So, I did it.

I dug out an unused canvas my daughter had left behind when she went off to college. I searched through a junk cabinet in the basement and unearthed some old acrylic paints and a couple of paint brushes that were still in reasonably good shape. I gathered up a bunch of scraps and ephemera and a bottle of Mod Podge. I logged onto Google and found a quote I liked: “Bloom where you are planted.”

I got to work.

Or, I should say play.

I didn’t judge as I was going and I just let “the girls in the basement”, as author Jennifer Crusie calls her unconscious mind, take over. (Well, not Jennifer’s basement girls, but mine.)

I had so much fun.

I’d not felt that sense of flow for a while. When I was done, I was sort of in love with what I’d made: my first ever mixed-media collage.

Since then, I’ve made many others, experimented with techniques and materials, and learned how to do photo transfers.

I even took a weekend seminar class. Next up, I want to learn how to do encaustic, which is a technique using pigments mixed with hot wax.

 

I also have boldly posted photos of my creations on my Facebook page for all the world (well, at least my few friends and relatives who actually look at my wall) to see.

It is very freeing.

You only get one life. Make it a good one.