Pictures and found words
Embellishments on canvas
Visual haiku

I remember a summer vacation at the Outer Banks when it rained for days. I convinced several of my housemates to pass the time one rainy afternoon by composing haiku. It seemed festive at the time.

Haiku is about using a few carefully chosen words to paint a picture. Collage is about using a few carefully chosen elements to hint at a story.

Someone once described Bob Dylan's song writing as "chains of flashing images" - I like that turn of phrase. I also like Dylan's lyrics. I've always found them evocative. You don't always completely understand the gist of the story, but you find yourself fascinated, nonetheless. For me, Dylan's lyrics create a collage with words and ideas instead of scraps and paint.

I'm certainly no Dylan, but I prefer the scraps and paint when I work. Those are the tools a collage artist uses to produce her own chain of images and, hopefully, to tell a story that might even be a little fascinating in its own right.