In the last few weeks, I inched my way closer to abstraction with the shredded imagery. First I used leftover pieces and added some art papers to make a 12"x6" mountain and valley scene. I was pleased with how that turned out and decided to try a desert view.
I worked with a photo I took in Arches National Park in Utah and was planning to make a 14"x11" collage. I ran out two sets of filtered imagery, shredded them, started to organize the strips and decided it just felt like too many pieces, too hard, too too much!
In mulling over my options, I concluded that less height really worked best for the shredded work, so I made a 12"x6"(the one on the left) and shortened the height of the rocks as I built the scene from the bottom up. Since I had so many leftover pieces, I made a second 12"x6" and created my own rock formation. (In both I've added some art papers in green, rust, gold, and some ledger paper with handwriting; if you click on the image you can see those details better.) When I put the new collage on the shelf with the first one, they made a nice diptych! I'm calling it "Entrada" which is Spanish for entrance or entry; it is also the name given to the Jurassic-era sandstone layer that gives the park's arches their form.
