Further steps

After contemplating the need to have a narrative to enable my images to not appear merely random, I revisited the work of Annette Weintraub. What impressed my about her work was the fact that she uses images from the urban environment and yet presents it in such a stunningly beautiful way so that it almost looks like the refections of a stained glass window in a Gothic cathedral. I started to consider where I find my solice and a chance to contemplate. As my week unwinds, it is often standing in my kitchen washing hours of mindless dishes that I find my time to reflect on the day and the path my life is taking. If I were to calculate how long I spend in each area of the apartment, this is the region where my life often centers.

Working with this idea, I realised that I could use images from the kitchen to feature in my next collage project. Some of which I have already scanned. As I started to play with ideas I started to think about that fact that without the chance to centre myself and reflect, I would not have the energy and focus to fulfill the role I play in the expatriate community here. When I hit days which are a furl of activity and stress - it is the time spent in my kitchen, praying through my issues that helps to keep going. To keep in touch with those whose lives I encounter - particulalry the students I teach. I am indebted to the fact that my kitchen is actually a safe-haven.

As I was playing with kitchen images, I decided to try to incorporate a portrait of a child I sketched last year. As I explained, I am able to reach out to children on a continual basis because I have ''down-time" in my kitchen, re-energizing.

What I descovered during the creation of this image was that each layer can be "nudged" to shift it to a more appropriate spot. This can radically effect the image moving images away from positions which are distracting.

I also played with using the eraser function to remove sections of the orginal drawing so that images underneath could show through. What I enjoyed playing with was the fact that the white areas of the boys face and collar are actually alive with other images including teabag labels. I love my cup of tea! So the inclusion of teabags represents how I enjoy the solice of a well brewed cup of tea.

During my expermentaion I found that the warmer appearance of the red - brown colour combinations brought about by