My hand holding a little red piece

I am a hoarder when it comes to anything with a remotely interesting visual. Every little piece counts. It either goes on my inspiration wall in the studio or in a baggie of other interesting stuff. This habit can get out of hand often so I have to be mindful of what I decide to keep for later, but my art has gone in interesting directions because of it, so I keep saving those little bits of beauty. 

This little red piece comes from a painting that had a bunch of red, yellow, and orange marks. It didn’t go anywhere. It was pointless and it said nothing. But, it had interesting patterns. I cut up all the interesting parts of it and stowed them away for later. My husband calls me a squirrel.

That was about 10 months ago.

For who knows what reason, I went through that pile and decided that I wanted to try making a collage. I especially loved the idea that stuff that could have been discarded can still be made into something interesting and beautiful, if only its given a chance. Almost everything in a collage is something that must have been rejected at some point. Had it not been for someone who decided it could become something more, it would end up as trash. 

I’m coming to see that collages are full of hope and stories. Sort of like caring and showing kindness for our own rejected parts and seeing them in a new and hopeful light. This past whole year I've struggled with self acceptance due to challenges I'm not yet comfortable sharing here. I've had to look at my "self" differently and perhaps this is why I'm currently feeling drawn to creating collages? Because I can relate with the process of seeing hope in my own rejected parts? That makes me smile. 

On another completely unrelated note I do not enjoy taking pictures of myself but it’s important for me that you know that there’s a real person behind all this mess and beauty you see. Which is why, I keep sharing images of my hand with the art I make.

Here's some other pictures of the process that I've taken so far.