When creating Skateboard Boy…
I began with the muse, the inspiration, thought process of aging and the differences between generations. Having been surrounded by teenagers all the time, I was constantly being reminded of fleeting youth. I began with the representations of a young woman and man, and the middle-aged woman.
The young man on a skateboard is a perfect representation of youth. The young woman is obvious but check out the glimmers of light on her clothes! When I found a young woman looking up, I had then found a perfect relationship; now she’s looking at him.
For the middle-aged woman, I wanted to portray the fatigue that a middle-aged mother can feel sometimes. She looks down as if dejected, tired. Sitting below the youth she looks downtrodden, in the background, and alone. All of these emotions I had personally felt during the decade of my daughter’s teenage years.
These characters perfectly blend with the texture of the base image, which is plant matter floating in water. The background becomes something else though, more of a celestial space.
Color scheme is important in a work of art and these pieces fit just right together. The blue of the boy’s jeans reflects the blue of the young woman’s. A pink triad is formed with the pink mattress, pink t-shirt, and pink stripe in the background. The red shifts from the skateboard into the pink of the line below then into the reddish orange of the floweresque shape below. There is a secondary color scheme happening with the orange flower shape, the green background, and the purple undertones in the boys clothes and the woman’s tank top. Lastly, there’s movement for the eye to follow starting with the middle aged woman. The eye then shifts up to the young woman’s eyes which then guide us up to the boy who is eventually going to fly off the page.
Sometimes, these collages come together amazingly well. I probably searched through about fifty magazines to find these four pieces that create such an interesting visual story.
Enjoy Collage? Never heard of the process? Check out the most famous collage artist, Henri Matisse.
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And if you enjoy them, contact me to book a class. I have so much fun when I make these pieces.