It lights up in the dark - collage by douglas brent smith, 1 January 1989.
This was a bit of a departure for me and got me going on tearing the paper. I enjoy the textured effect and the versatility it adds. I still mostly use scanners (sewing scissors are my favorite because they are sharp and articulate) and still tearing sometimes.
You may have noticed that this does not really light up in the dark.
Here is the full page in Journal #26, "Communication" where the concept of the album, song titles, and evidence of water damage all appear. Clearly, I was having both a) fun with markers, and b) delusions of grandeur.
Mineral Wealth 2 with song titles
Face In The Crowd - pen and marker drawing by douglas brent smith, 1989
At the buttom of the drawing you can see the effect of water on the paper. I feel lucky that my journals weren't more severely damaged or even burned completely up in the fire at Elm Street. I spent hours afterwards drying them out in the sun on a trampoline, carefully turning page by page and giving each page some drying time. This is from journal #26. I was up to journal #41 at the time. Fortunately, not all of them were drenched.
Mineral Wealth - River Gold - drawing by douglas brent smith, 1989
This is an imaginary (so far) record album cover, drawn back when album covers still mattered, when they still helped to sell recordings, when they represented additional enjoyment for the music.
I never had a band named Mineral Wealth, but I think it's a great name for a band and the name of the album, "River Gold" makes it seem like a greatest hits collection. Imagine that. Greatest Hits albums were far more important in 1989 than they are at the moment when streaming one song at a time is much more common. In a way, it's all one continuous "greatest hits" parade.
The colors in this sketch were effected by water damage to the journal that occurred during the fire on Elm Street in 2008. A lot more than this whimsical picture was harmed in that fire.
- dbS -
How do you like to spend your birthday? Apparently, I like to spend some of my birthday making collages! I've done several collages on my birthdays and this is one of my favorite. Dancers are wonderful additions to any visual composition. The balance, the focus, the motion all add a dynamic that is distinctive and pure. I'm not a great dancer (although I used to think I was, I later discovered that it was my partner who was making me feel like a great dancer. When my partner moved on my dancing confidence dropped. Fortunately, I held onto my collage steps...)
- dbS -
Oddities Unexplained:
This collage, created June 1, 1989, appears on page 249 (with the back-side of the page simply the title) of journal #25. Communication, and the following poem, "Waves" was written on June 30, 1990 (more than a year later) and appears on page 251 of the same journal.
I think how something like that happens is that there was a time when I created collages in my journals deep within the pages, long before the journal writing caught up. Plus, this particular journal took longer than usual to write.
Does it matter? Not much. But, there you have it. Here's the poem:
Waves
everything on the surface
develops
a skin of its own
unexamined,
unrevealed,
unkissed by the sun
and then
something falls with the
unrelenting
force of gravity
and breaks that surface
bearing a new moment
which
makes waves
ohmyohmyohmyohmyohmy
holycowholycowholycowholycow...
but then
the waves dissipate
and the skin
of the surface
relents as
peace returns.
- dbS -
How Was Your Vacation? - collage by douglas brent smith, 29 May 1989.
Did you go to exotic locales? How was the weather? My dad went 19 years in a row (and maybe more) without ever taking a vacation. Instead, he used the money from continuing to work to support the family. You probably experienced some sacrifices in your family, too. Are you grateful for the things that those who came before you did for you and yours?
It's so easy to forget big things we should be grateful for. Let's give thanks for them now.
Oh, and would you like to go on vacation in the location of this collage?
- dbS -
Check Your Pockets for the Key - collage by douglas brent smith, 21 November 1988, paper, magazine pictures, glue.
Magazine pictures, paper, and glue.
Carefully they view the evidence. It is only in this moment that any of this comes together. The placement is precise, the conclusions uncertain.
"Do you see what I see?"
"I do not know what you see."
"You are looking right at it."
'I see my view, you see yours."
"What is she doing?"
"Examining the evidence. She's using the scientific method."
"How do you know?"
"I read her log."
- dbS -
What The Cats Discovered - digital collage by douglas brent smith, 2 March 2024
With glue and paper, once you've set the glue you either live with it, tear it off, or paste something over it. That makes the work exacting and a bit risky.
With a digital collage, such as this one, you can change your mind and simply iterate. That's fun, too. There could be an endless series of versions of the same picture that is not the same picture.
I don't necessarily want that, but I wasn't sure I was satisfied with the first version (above) so here are some alternatives. The What the Cats Discovered Remix, or More of What The Cats Discovered:
More of What The Cats Discovered (Outside Remix) - douglas brent smith 2 March 2024
ore of What The Cats Discovered, Inside Remix, douglas brent smith 2 March 2024
What one do you like the best?
I promise that I will NOT do this with every collage. Tonight, it was fun.
Worldview Built In A Day With Fire - collage by douglas brent smith, 3 January 1988
Something about this collage causes me to page quickly past it, yet if I spend more time absorbed in it there is more to see. I pondered cropping it. I cut out dozens of pieces of pictures that could go in with it, but found it hard to obscure the central image. Worldview? Examination? Built in a day?
The hints of mixed media with the pen lines were attempts to draw it all together. Did it work?
