douglas brent smith

  Back Inner Cover of Journal #33, Life In Progress, by Douglas Brent Smith, A collage that's not exactly a typical collage. It's what I often do with the back inner covers of my journals -- simply randomly put stickers, stamps, name tags, and other sticky objects. 

  Gears of Joy, collage by Douglas Brent Smith This is page 305 of Journal #33, Life in Progress. 

  Density by Douglas Brent Smith

  Bugs In The System, collage, mixed media by Douglas Brent Smith

  All At Once with Trap Doors, mixed media by Douglas Brent Smith

 Page 309 from Journal #33, Douglas Brent Smith

The less we make our world look like a casino the better off we'll be. -- Doug smith Notes: Just for fun, I added this collage. It is not a casino.   

  Still Going Up? -- mixed media, collage by douglas brent smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress. NOTES: Usually, I crop the spiral binding out of the picture. This time I decided to leave it in and show the whole page. It provides some idea of what each of the journals from this period are like. Big pages and many of them. The clip art that makes guest appearances is primitive, sure, but maybe a little charming, too?

  Going Up? collage, mixed media by douglas brent smith, from Journal #33, Life In Progress, 1998

  Drive Dougie Drive - mixed media, collage by douglas brent smith, 1998

  What color would you say that rose is? My default is red, but it could be many other colors. Perhaps orange. Even yellow is possible. What color do you see? "But I don't see any color, Doug -- it's in black and white." "Is it? Is it really?" "Why did you keep using that clip art you created of the circle arrow?" "Must have liked it." "I wouldn't call this a collage, would you?" "Nah, just mixed media. Fun, though." "Maybe." Competitive Reflex - mixed media sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life in Progress

  it was a fortune in facts tested against emotions processes swirling we sat by the fire mumbling vague traces of truisms we did not believe there was a time when a fact was a fact where is that now? Contrary Facts - collage, mixed media sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, from Journal #33, Life In Progress, 1998

  Man with Three Hands - mixed media collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress

  Whatever floats your boat matters. Send yourself on a journey unique to your character, special for your strengths, resilient to your challenges.  My dad once made a canoe. He carved it out of a single piece of wood. He told me that it floated, the way a canoe should, but it leaned to one side. I never got in that canoe but I did see it. It's a gift to be able to make things out of wood, even if the first time you try it comes out a little wabi sabi. Terra Cotta - collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress

 One of a series of mostly black and white mixed media/collage pieces with a photo-copy base.  Here's the poem that is on the facing page in the journal: we're not perfect but we are trying trying to get along to talk to touch to see each other's                           point of view we're not perfect but we have a history that is wrapped in strands of perfect moments                         perfect steps                                             perfect strings of perfect love. 23 April 1998 Platform Flyer - mixed media sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress.

What is your closest thing to an inner sanctum, a place where you can hide away and be completely yourself? Imagine a text book in living creatively. Here's a page from that book, and like any great textbook, has a little insert for detail. Where is that detail? Somewhere in the rest of the picture. Detail: Inner Sanctum - mixed media sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1997, from Journal #32, Secret Change Agent.

  A business call that takes too long. A meeting that's rambling. Waiting for the copy machine. There must have been times when an odd doodle showed up and grew into something collecting, something expressing. Here's an idea -- the next time you reach for your device to idly scroll, instead pick up a pen and some paper and doodle. It does not need to be anything at all. Doodle. Poke it. Prod it. Dress it up in your favorite doll house.  You will not have wasted your time. Think Tank Leakage - collage/mixed media/sketch by douglas brent smith, 1997.  From Journal #32, Secret Change Agent

  Even when I created this collage the source photo, the basis of the scene, is an old photo of a Child's Play performance. That's a distorted Victor Podagrosi in the left corner. I drew the halo because Victor had died about a year earlier than when I made this piece.  It's a fever dream to mash-up some original sketches with an actual CP performance. My world blended so well with that company.  Do you have a group of people you blend with just exactly right? I could feel that from the start with Victor and June and everyone who entered the company contributed to that superb blend.  Scene Change #42, collage, mixed media by doug smith, from Journal #32, Secret Change Agent

  Even when we're lost there is a pattern, discoverable, discernible, mysterious. Are we being led thru that pattern, or are we creating that pattern? How can we know where we're supposed to go if we are supposed to go anywhere. Maybe it's all just happening and we are not responsible for twists, turns, and new lessons to learn. Amazed - mixed media collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress.

  Globes, at one time, were everywhere. Then, they kept changing. Especially in Africa but also everywhere. Names, boundaries, the "natural order" of the planet kept changing as we kept spinning. It's easy to believe that things are stable, durable, resilient. Instead, motion is the natural order. But, you knew that, didn't you? When was the last time that you saw a globe? slips, trips, and falls - collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1996