Witty Collage Art enters a whole new dimension, too!

As devoted followers of this blog and my art know, I got into the hang of creating collages about a year or two ago, as I was overcome with a strong desire to both destroy old work (okay: work I considered failures) and create something new. So why not combine those two forces, and instead of looking at drawings that didn't turn out so well as ''failures', use parts of them and turn them into the foundation for a whole new series of Witty Art all together?

Hence, the creation of the series 'Once Upon A Time.. Never Happened!'

Now, it was time for more.

Lately, I accumulated a lot of ''half-way-there-works'' (half finished or just not-quite-that-good drawings, etc) dwhich to me provided more than enough volume for a whole new process of what I've come to call 'Creative Destruction and Resurrection': cutting or just downright tearing or ripping things up and readjusting the remaining fragments, trying to see if and where they'd fit in - and if not, that that'd be also fine because than they simply belong elsewhere.

No shortage of paper or canvas to create more works of art!

While working on this new batch of Witty Collage Art, something interesting started to happen. Comicbook-style elements like text balloons started appearing out of nowhere, while trusted characters and familiar faces popped up (including a couple of little lost bears and sinister looking rabbits, ofcourse), as I began mixing different materials and techniques into one big blend of both cartoon and surrealist art - without having any real idea of what on earth I was doing.

But boy, am I pleased with the outcome! It's almost like I've unknowingly been creating the picture book I'd always dreamt of, except that there is not such a thing as a storyline involved - well,not at the moment, that is. And perhaps there is no need to, as I got taught by a somewhat unexpected visit of an expert in storytelling - but more on that in my next blog!

So, what do you think? Is this gonna be a book or not? What's your opinion?

'And I Almost Succeeded In Passing' dedicated to those who do not fit in!

So, it's been over three (!) months since my last blog entry here and that is just way too long. Time for a much needed and looooong overdue update on all things Witty Art, as there has so many things happening - that I don't even know where to begin...  You see, it's not that I haven't been busy creating new artwork (those of you who follow me on Instagram know better) but overall, my other (creative) projects have absorped so much of my time, it's been very challenging to find the time to properly write about my art these days. Instead, it's just easier posting them on my Instafeed, add a short text and that's it.

So, what better way to start with posting a brandnew series, then? This one I created a couple of weeks ago and it's one very, very dear to me. Ofcourse, all of my work is extremely dear to me, but there are those just a bit closer to my heart than others, because, well, they bascially are me in my most pure, honest form. Perhaps even more true to my true self than I am even capable of being in person. Because every now and then, it just feels safer wearing a mask of some kind, a protective shield between the world and me, myself and I, so to speak.

Not that I am in any way implying I am ''fake'' or constantly pretending to be someone am I not. It's not that simple - if only it were! It's not a matter of being deceitful at all, it's about trying to fit the mould that society has carved for you and expects you to fill and fit, even if you don't. And no matter how hard you try, no matter how you twist and turn, bend over backward and forward, you just know you won't do it - not because you don't want to, but simply because you can't. You cannot ever fit this mould, because it was never carved with you in mind. Yet, you try - and for a while, the longest while, you succeed. Well, at the surface at least.

But not inside. Inside, trying to fit in just tears you up from inside. It eats away at the very core of your existence, of your identity, of your true self. And while your life appears to succesfull to others, inside you are a mere shadow of the person you could have been.

You are succesfully passing for something, for someone, you are not.

... So, I dedicate this series to all those years in which 'I Almost Succeeded In Passing', untill I managed to break free and stopped trying to fit in - but to reclaim my own spot, both personally and professionally. And, though it hasn't been an easy path, far from it, I feel all the better for it, and definitely all the more creative!

And I dedicate this particular series to all of you out there, who felt or perhaps still feel the same way, those of you who feel like you just don't belong, those Perfectly Imperfect Misfits, those beautiful people, of all colours, shapes and sizes, all of you who feel they need to adjust their beautiful neurodiverse minds to a neurotypical world - well, to anyone who ever felt bending & breaking over backwards to fit in.

This one's for you: a small but heartfelt reminder that you, too, belong.