I began combining my artwork and my writing a couple of years ago. The visual almost always comes to me first, even if I don’t recognize it right away. Many times a poem, a story, or even a just a thought I want to remember pops into my head.  As I am writing it down I’ll say to myself, “I should make an image to go with this.” Then I realize I already have one that fits the words very well.

It surprised me the first few times it occurred, but made perfect sense after I thought it through. I am sure it happens because of the way I work. When I sit down to draw or collage, I almost always begin without any preconceived notion of what the finished product will be. I just start doodling, gluing, or putting down a color that I happen to be attracted to that day. Over the course of a few minutes, or a few days, a picture will start to emerge and I just go with it. Because I am not trying to force anything, my mind has plenty of space to wander. Whatever is floating around in my subconscious finds its way out, first as an image (I suppose because I am a very visual person), and then as words (because the time I have spent making the art has allowed me to organize my thoughts).

When I was making this particular collage, I was thinking quite a bit about my family history. I was trying to locate some information about a relative that died many years before I was born, and thinking how nice it would be to have that knowledge to share with my dad (it was his mother), and also my children.

Here are the words, in case you are having trouble reading them:

As she paused to take in her surroundings

She could not help but wonder:

How many had stood in the exact same place before,

And how many would come after.

She felt strangely akin to both past and future.

A quiet observer. A humble connector,

An amenable gate through which the mighty universe may pass.

She considers the possibility of all existence converging in a single moment

And marvels as time becomes obsolete.