Creating with Constrained Materials
aka In the Cracks: Part Deux
I’m still working on this series, In the Cracks, with just a set amount of source materials. In this case 54 images & scans and I’m trying to see how far I can push them.
I have thousands of photos of source material on my phone and it’s hard to work with so many choices sometimes. I often just pick a few and put them into a folder to limit myself, but it always makes me more creative than when I have access to everything at once.
When I first sat down over the New Year, I told myself I would just make a set of 3 from these materials. But the materials were still interesting, so I just kept going.
Now I’m up to 21 but the day is just getting started. Who knows where this will end but I suspect not any time soon.
These are just a few of the source materials I put into my project folder and you can see some of them repeated over & over in this work.
I’m still really fascinated by the diagrams from the antique book ‘Geometrical Psychology’ (more on that here) and it just makes me want to keep going on these. (
And also, what IS geometrical psychology??? I suppose I should read the book…)
The diagrams work really well with my favorite color & mood schemes. For some of these I have masked out the color in the diagram and inverted them to white, as you can see below.
Last year I was spending a lot of time at the ‘Grand Galvez’ hotel in Galveston, Texas for work. The woman in the collage below was from a photo I took of the elevator door.
I am constantly looking for source material and shooting photos. I clear most of the photos off my phone about every six months because they build up so fast. (I can’t access the cloud with my work situation so they have to be stored on my phone.)
I currently have 2847 photos on my phone. I might be a little obsessed with collecting source materials…
Here are some additional source materials from this project. I included the diagrams as well as photos of different elements that can be used to structure the pieces and give texture/light to them.
It’s the weekend. How can you limit your materials to see how far you can push yourself? I’d love to see what you create if you try it.
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A stunning series, I'm really into them. ✨
For me, the restrictions and limits form part of the narrative. I sometimes use as little as possible in a bid to question originality. I sometimes bash two images together into something unrecognisable, but does my bashing become beauty through my doing? Are two deformed images laced with effects and opacity really a reflection on my creativity?
Even with a collection of images and textures in the multiple thousands, I'll still hop on Unsplash+ and use a few of that day's newly featured images.
All this is with positivity, intention, and exploratory excitement. Collage has the capacity to uncover new ideas amongst what's already there. Collage can help us better understand what's going on in the world. Collage can be approached by anyone and they can find magic if they seek it.
Your working within limitations has brought you to art within art within art. Here's to more and more "In the Cracks". Despite limitations, infinite possibility calls out.
Thank you for answering the call.