1:59 PM: although mikela liked it a lot, i was not satisfied with this collage in the state i left it yesterday afternoon. although i loved the two dancing figures, who have appeared in previous works, as a whole, i felt there was too much going on; too many things fighting for your attention. what do you look at… the goldfish; the blue architectural element on the right; the fragment of a reproduction of a taiga drawing in the center; or the naked legs beneath the goldfish? too much, man!
after making mikela’s coffee, i went through an old, spiral bound sketchbook laying on top of one of my tables. i proceded to tear out the page with a drawing of a potted plant and, using my mat knife, cut away the areas between the leaves. then i lay the ink drawing on top of 6/13/26 collage after flipping it so that it became a vertical. i applied glue to the back of the drawing and pressed it onto the collage. the result was, i found, far more interesting. you can still make out part of the body of the female dancing figure, with her hairy armpit and red hair, as well as the face and raised arm of the male dancing figure, now to her right.
the top of the potted plant drawing was just short of the upper end of the composition, so i supplemented it with a piece of paper from the same sketchbook so that it would have the same off-white tone, and then drew the remainder of the leaf with my fountain pen.
so there you have it! lets see how she holds up to our scrutiny this evening and take it from there tomorrow.
BELOW: yesterdays version on the left
6/13/26 collage, 17x11” collage, colored pencil & pastel on bristol paper as she looked at the end of my painting day
