A Former Tax Lawyer, Speech Pathologist Finds Fullfilment In Art

This post is about Carla Parris, who won first place in a collage art contest at Fine Art America using a more traditional method of the collage technique.  I am continuing to write about the art of collage, my last post was on a digitally made (usually involving a layers program editor) collage of Sherlock Holmes, his umbrella, violin, violin bow and overcoat, each on a separate layer in an editing program.

Carla has had one busy life with her career as a former Speech Pathologist and Tax Attorney.   Now apparently retired from her previous jobs, has time to create and find fulfillment in her art.

This is the interesting part, her collage 'Ascending Praise' (as seen above) contains old art as well as new.  She explains it this way, "The original piece I never completed and didn't really particularly like in its initial state; it found new life in this collage, and made me glad I heeded an art teacher's advice to hold onto our "dogs," since you never know what you might eventually be able to do with them.  I still have others yet waiting transformation!"  I say it's always nice to have some backup art, I can relate!

She goes on to explain her "...collage incorporates torn pieces of a watercolor painting, snippets of sheet music, gauze, and gold webbing. The words on the music at the bottom say, 'To the God of glory.'  They, along with the composition which seems to have a floating and ascending movement, inspired the title, 'Ascending Praise'."

"It's heavily textured depth comes from its multiple layers incorporating rich water colors of teal, magenta, and gold with white and cream tones.  It reflects Carla's background in conventional scrap booking, working with textures and layers using the same process, only now using torn strips from the old water color painting.  A piece of sheet music added at the bottom was an afterthought which she says completed it and added yet another layer and additional depth."

The message here seems to be don't throw away your art no matter what it looks like!  I know from experience that has been true about my photography, often I can use an out of focus shot, sharpen it and put layers of textures on it, reviving it.   You can sometimes turn that ugly duckling into a swan.  I'm not the kind of artist that is always trying for the perfect shot, there are endless possibilities in the editing program, thank you!

Here are several before and after examples of some of my snow photos that weren't very sharp or not good coloration but look artful when textures are applied.

Now I don't want you to think textures are an automatic fix.  It can take hours to transform or edit photography to get the right look not including the time to capture the shot.  Some photos don't work at all, depending on the light and composition.  Non traditional art methods can take as much time as traditional methods.

Carla Parris gallery website:  http://fineartamerica.com/featured/ascending-praise-carla-parris.html