All My Yoga Friends

I miss my yoga buddies!
• I hear Catherine's voice, "It's all good!", "Just let go!"
• I can hear Alexis's laugh
• I see Patty across the room assuring me, "It's coming!"
• I remember Susan W. and how she challenged herself to get up on the "bridge" pose. She didn't give up. (it's my hardest pose!)
• I feel Susan Scotty's enthusiasm and longing
• I hear Valerie's guitar playing and singing to the Stevie Wonder song
• I see the smile and light that shines from Jenny
• I feel the rythm of the drums that Bobbi played
• I laugh at the wit from Susan's "yoga pie" poem and I'm grateful she shared it with us.
• I'm amused at the humor that Linda and ElMatha shared and now I will always believe that the moon is closer than Florida!
• I'll cherish Linda's energy for healing and sharing that energy.
• I'll remember the sweet sound of Kit's flute
• I'll remember colorful Judith who was always smiling.
• Most of all, I met up with my husband again and enjoyed all the support that came his way by all these wonderful women and how I finally gave myself permission not to worry about him. It doesn't help him or me!

I did not begin this collage with any particular idea in mind. I mixed the lavender paint and decided it needed to be all around the edge. Then I saw I had this bright orange sitting on the table in front of me and I wanted to use a color that gave me a great contrast. I left the edges white with the paper showing because I enjoyed the contour lines and shape as the paint flowed on the paper. Next, I grabbed a catalog and began looking for images. The leaves had that same white contour edge that I played with for the background and I cut them out. The woman is wearing clothes that I'd most likely find myself wearing and her pose looks comtemplative so I added her. The words came from a book I'm reading.

So what am I doing with these collages? I wish I knew. Well, actually, no not really. It's the process, the act of discovery that is what I like about collages and art journals. So different from my drawings which are precise and predictable. Spring and summer are good months for experimenting and playing around with ideas. I'm also reading more for pleasure now that I am not in school. Just finished "The Zahir" by Paolo Coelho.

These are the kind of collages that you don't want to think too much about. If you do, you never get anything done because you're always looking for a certain image or something in a particular color or a word or phrase that fits perfectly. Instead, give yourself permission to randomly fill up a page and let the idea happen on its own. This isn't easy for those of us who like to be in control all the time. Sometimes it's just a matter of letting go!

Thought it was about time I posted somethig visual. Here's a page from my art journal.