A Passion for Creativity

Another World

©Joan Desmond, Another World. Mixed Media Collage, 7"x5"

It’s important to push boundaries in studio work, there are so many wonderful unknowns to explore, always so many new ways to learn and grow. In this case, I’m using an unfamiliar color scheme, neutrals with just some flashes of pure color. I rarely use black in painting or collage. While that shade may immediately create strong contrasts, it can also pull the viewer into a dark hole, leaving the eye stuck there. In the studio, I was listening to “Ankh: The Sound of Ancient Egypt” by Michael Atherton. Using traditional Egyptian instruments he considered how they may have been arranged back then. He created haunting melodies and rhythms, some including voice, with occasional elements of familiarity. I don’t know whether that imprinted on my working process. At the end this abstract, mixed media landscape, brought to mind something extraterrestrial, hence the title, “Another World”. Look closely, it’s there.