THE LIFE I WANT ...

The picture above has come out rather dark, but as you'll be able to see below the yellow is much brighter than it looks here.

I started out with a background of old gold/yellow (Anita's Caramel Corn if you're interested) onto which I dry brushed some mid brown for interest.

I'd bought an old book at a car boot sale, and used one of the pages for something.  In my rummaging in the collage drawer I discovered the remains of the page in my stash and so (not an original idea) I cut out lines of text to make random thoughts.  Quite like the effect of this.  It doesn't mean anything unless you think it does.

Then above, I put down the usual bits and pieces of collage, including my Modigliani lady, plus a bit of outlining.  You can also see on the large half moon shape at the top why I try to avoid using materials from glossy magazines, because you get an awkward reflection from it in photographs and I don't much like the result.  I go for matte finishes as much as possible, but free materials of this kind aren't always available.

I didn't know where this was going until I studied the figure and wondered what she was thinking about.  She seemed to be in an in-between stage of happy/unhappy ... which resonated with me.  We moved here 2 and a half years ago, and I am still lonely occasionally for the many friends I left behind.  Not getting out as much as I'd like to means it isn't all that easy to join things and make new ones.

But I'm working on it, and one or two special people have turned up lately who I hope will be sticking around, and (because knowing these things take time) I'm happy for that to be where I am for now.  Great oaks from little acorns grow (I hope).