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Friday, December 2, 2011

Shattered

This week's theme at the Butterfly Effect is "Broken Pieces"

It's easy to feel fractured in this modern life of ours.  There are so many things that demand our attention, and so many roles we play in our own life and the lives of others.
When I'm creating, I feel calm and peaceful and whole - which only serves to emphasize the areas in my life where I'm not quite as content, furthering this feeling of being fragmented.

Of course one of the things I do best (and perhaps all women do best) is hold all those pieces together with a smile on my face, even when I'm being pulled in a bunch of different directions.


This piece started with a collage sheet I made months ago and never used. I'd layered dozens of squares of paper (some of my painted papers combined with scrapbook paper and book pages)

I also had a series of self portraits I took last year - close-ups of portions of my face.  I printed them and layered them into an approximation of my head.  I cut the whole collage into pieces and linked them back together with jump rings.  I attached a string to each of the pieces and "installed" it on the wall with the strings wrapped around push pins.  I think I might find an empty frame and  tie the edges of the collage to the edges of the frame - maybe with fishing line so it looks like it's floating.  not sure.
Here are a few detail shots:



Now I'm off to the Butterfly Effect to see how everyone else has interpreted this theme.

13 comments:

  1. Oh so very clever! ... and so very symbolic of our lives as you say. I like the close up of your 'smile' because it looks to me more like you are 'gritting your teeth' in response to trying to hold one to many worlds together. I like the result of your efforts very much. :o) Donna

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  2. This is just plain COOL! I like the fragmented & re-assembled idea. Installing it in a frame suspended in fishing line would be awesome. I like it right on the wall too though, it's looks like entrapment or something!

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  3. I really like how you linked the fractured pieces with the jump rings, cool!

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  4. Wow, Karen....it is something one would see in a fancy gallery! So avant garde...so clever....

    ...so very true!
    Feeling this way myself....but I don't smile....I get cranky...haha!

    Hugs to you!
    Cam

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  5. oh i love this one, and so true, we are pulled in a million directions, but still try to keep tht smile on our faces

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  6. An excellent photo, I love the beautiful game of puzzle pieces of this fragmented composition, a delight. Greetings.

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  7. Wow! This is fantastic! What an unusual and creative idea.

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  8. Oh I love this. I love the jump rings holding things together and the stretched out ropes pulling at you. Clever. Very clever! :)

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  9. You actually used pieces and bind them together. Amazing! Looks like a broken mirror. :)

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  10. holy shit! this is great!

    don't change it with fishing line!

    xxa

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  11. This is brilliant! Love how you did this and the whole thought process behind it. It's a gallery piece for sure.

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  12. Wow!! this is a scarily creative piece!! Love it to pieces :D (pun intended) :d XXX

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  13. Remarkable! This is cleverly executed and I love the use of the jump rings holding you together :)

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