Street Collage

spread from Philly in the Fall

On a trip to Philadelphia 4 years ago to visit my daughter Bronwyn(who was attending design school) I created the above collage in my travel journal. Everything in the piece was picked up off the street during the course of a walk across the central city. I was thrilled - there's lots more street detritus in a big city than here where I live. My daughter, however, was horrified. "Mom! What are you doing?!" I guess at her age I would have had the same reaction if my mother had been picking up trash off the street, but geesh! - this was great stuff!

Now here's the punchline: later we were having lattes at an outdoor cafe and I was busily arranging and affixing all my finds. A man walked by and then stopped and came back and complimented me on my collage. Turns out he was a professional photographer and had published several books. I had discovered art journaling and mixed media only a year or so before and it was great to receive this kind of affirmation. But the best part was the look on my daughter's face!

(In all fairness I have to say that Bronwyn is one of my biggest supporters - but we all know how mothers can embarrass us!)