One of the prompts in the Creative Strength Collective was simply to do a collage; then another to begin work in a series. So, I began with a picture out of a magazine that I cut out years ago and still had…always loved this door! I just worked pretty much intuitively, although on some level I was aware that it had a lot of feminine/ female imagery going into it and I use both words because some parts are feminine/pretty and some are female/strong or mysterious and/or alluring, suggesting the subject may be a mature woman.

So I cut up that collage to take it forward; yet when it came to the following collage, a child steps up to the plate and begins right away to gather some pretty flowers to bring with her. But two very alert birdies stand watch as she sashays on the paper trail.

The mood changes swiftly and takes on a hazy sort of glow as if in a dream or a past time/life. And a whole flock of birds travel directly with her. The blue door starts to look more like a memory than a clear inviting door that promises a garden may be behind it and starts to look as if it may be lurking now. But before she can cross the threshold, she has to step over the beach rocks and the ocean current that runs beneath it. Also, the pretty little things fade away…the delicate flowers simply disappear into the mist and a more solid, single dark flower takes it’s place. Now, mind you, I do not consciously think this as I work. It’s only afterward that these aspects are actually revealed to me.

See, I thought I was just playing and enjoying the paint party, but I was really sinking into that wet sand…is that what it is? What do you see? It may be something completely different!