This
collage was inspired by what Josephine said about searching for a way
to incorporate drawing with collage. A number of years ago in
February, I gave myself a challenge to draw one fish every day of the
month. I didn't have much in the way of art supplies back then--mostly just markers. So I got out my references on fish, drew each
fish first with pencil and then with a fine-point black marker, and
colored them with Prismacolor markers. It wasn't an ideal way to
execute the project, because it's hard to do proper shading with
markers, but what the hey...I made 28 drawings of fish, and
eventually turned them into a mini-zine.
What you see is a collage made from half of those fish. I have a lot more to say here, so I won't go into details about what all the species are, but I do want to warn you that these fish are not to scale. Some are very big, some are very small, but I drew them all about the same size. If you happen to be wondering what that spotted ray is doing in the lower righthand corner, let me say that rays are fish, too. They're closely related to sharks, so they're sort of like flat sharks.
As for the "Share" part, "Share" to me immediately suggested that I should share something personal, something from my life.
So here goes....
In
June of 2009, a dear friend of mine, named Kay, died of cancer.
That's a sad thing to relate, of course, but her life was never sad.
She was a green-eyed Irish gal with curly red hair and a fun-loving
personality. She loved life and lived it to the fullest. She was an
artist and crafter with an amazing array of talents, but her favorite
thing to do, artistically, was knitting. She was always knitting, and
most of her yarn creations were given to a charity for needy
children. And she was into fish. She loved fish in kind of a silly,
feminine way: she collected mostly goofy-looking fish--stuffed,
wooden, plastic, pottery, fabric, whatever. And of course she knitted
fish--warm fish hats that she designed herself. Her fish collection
was so spectacular that she was invited more than once to design a
window at a local public library--a window that displayed part of her
fish collection along with a selection of fish-themed books for
children.
As
it happens, I've long been interested in sharks: I founded a shark
mailing list called SHARK-L back in the early years of the
Internet--a mailing list for shark enthusiasts of all stripes that
luckily attracted quite a few shark experts who were happy to hang
out and answer even the simplest of questions posed by the less
well-informed lovers of sharks. When the Web came along, in the
mid-'90s, I put up a shark website with shark graphics, stories, clip
art, and an extensive collection of links to sites with information
about sharks.
I didn't mean to go off on a tangent about my shark activities, but simply to explain that my interest in sharks and Kay's interest in all kinds of fish were certainly compatible when I first met her in 1991. And Kay and I had the same sun sign: Pisces. =smile=
In
the last two years of her life, Kay lived with my husband and myself.
A small part of her fish collection, those she didn't want to put in
storage, was in our guest room, the final place that she called her
own. Sharing our daily meals and activities as she did, Kay came to
have an enormous influence on me, reviving my long-dormant interest
in art. I simply couldn't be around such a wildly creative person on
a daily basis without having my own creativity come out of hiding and
demand to be expressed. I can easily say that I would never have become an artist, were it not for Kay.
When
Kay died, it was really hard for me. It was a long time coming, but
still, I wasn't ready to lose her. The latter part of 2009 was rough,
as I struggled to keep my head up in what felt like a dark time,
without Kay's light in my life. Slowly, though, as I pursued the
artistic interests that she had sparked--at first just reading a lot
about art and checking out art history books from the library--my
interest in art became a way to feel close to Kay and to remember her
in a positive way. But still, my grief for her was painful.
In
January 2010, I started making collages. And I met collage artists
who incorporate fish in their work, photographers of fish in the
wild, people who make rubber stamps of fish, artists who paint
detailed, realistic portraits of a wide variety of colorful fish, and
so on. Suddenly, I found myself fascinated with fish as well--not
just sharks, which will always remain special to me, but tropical
fish, freshwater fish, all kinds of interesting and multifarious
fish.
And
guess what? My grief over losing Kay transformed into a celebration
of fish. Instead of feeling pain every time I remember her, now I
think of her daily with pleasure and gratitude. Not only did she
stimulate my creativity to emerge, but her ongoing presence in my
mind, since she's died, has helped usher into my life the fascinating
world of fish.
My
fish are for Kay! Hooray!
Lovely and inspiring story to go along with your delightful dish of multifarious fish!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael!
DeleteAt first I was searching for the fish you did draw, but than I realized they are all drawn! I didn't see that at first glance, well done Fi.
ReplyDeleteI'm also inspired by your story, it's a good thing to realize that, although gone, it gives you this warm feeling to remember dear friends who shared and inspired you during your life story.
Somethin' I wanted to tell ya, Jo: while I was makin' this collage, the radio played one of my favorite songs from a favorite band, George Thorogood & the Destroyers: "Ride on Josephine". It's a Bo Diddley tune: here are the lyrics..
DeleteI considered that a cosmic moment. =grin= Thanks so much for your kind words!
Well that's a lovely song Fi, thanks for introducing me to a band I had never heard of, always good ;))
DeleteI agree with Michael & Josephine...very very inspiring! I know you are a Pisces and I thought that was the relationship you had with fish. Now I know the rest of the story and I enjoyed reading it. You were very lucky to have such a beautiful person in your life who inspired you. Three cheers for Kay!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your fish renderings are quite beautiful!
DeleteThanks so much, Angie! Three cheers for Kay, indeed! I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her.
DeleteBy the way, if Jo is workin' on how to incorporate drawings with collage, I've been workin' for years for how to combine writing with collage. Y'all have given me a lot of positive feedback in that regard, and I appreciate it it a great deal.
ReplyDeleteYeah that will be a great combination too!
DeleteYou know how exhibitions of art often have little cards glued to the wall by the curator, w/ comments on the wall? I'll probably never have an exhibition, but if I did, I'd want to write those little cards myself!
DeleteAlso: I send out most of my collages as postcards, because I get to put writing on the back. =smile=
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