I was messing around with acrylic inks and collage. Who does not love a flamingo? I added a fish from some very thin paper I found in my plan chest, and planted some trees made from interior design photos. It ended up looking (to my mind anyway) like the planet Pandora from the James Cameron film Avatar.
So the flamingo had to be a guest. To enhance her pinkness, I painted over the photo I had collaged on.
What I really enjoyed about htis process was that, by sticking very unrelated images and pieces of paper, I could unite them into a coherent image, using inks and paints.
I rather love this image though I have to say, it is pure fantasy, with no deep meaning
There is collage in many of my more abstract works. Collage can be used in any painting, figurative as well as abstract.
The idea of “inviting” a creature to a place where it is unfamiliar, is echoed in my Telling Stories painting of a Camel at Wells-next-the Sea.
The mixed-media process
These photographs show the process, from sticking pretty paper images onto an acrylilc ink background, through to sharpening up details of the flamingo plumage and the fire tree blooms.
Note how the fish is nearly hidden by dark water and weeds.