January 2012 Collage

I have been itching to do a collage since December. I had a lot of good images stashed away that I wanted to be able to look at regularly and couldn't wait to put to use. The problem is, between my movie posters and all my other collages, I am seriously running out of space around my apartment. And I just don't consider the ceiling to be a realistic option.

However, I got home on Friday night, and while waiting for my weekly pizza to bake, I decided it was high time to take down the Calvin Harris, Nikki Sixx, and James Murphy magazine covers (right) that had been gracing a space between closets since I moved into my apartment nearly four years ago.

The problem with this space is that it has weird dimensions - it is just a hair over 9.5" wide, meaning it won't accommodate a lot of great 11x17 concert posters that I have. Thus, I had left the magazine covers up for so long because I enjoyed them and because there weren't any other good options for the space.

Fortunately, I happened to have a few paper Whole Foods bags around, so I cut one open and then cut it down to the appropriate width. 9.5" is really narrow! However, I saw it as a fun challenge to construct a collage with necessary space limitations.

I was able to include the majority of clippings from my priority file within my collage folder. I am very pleased with how the collage turned out and I like what it adds to the space. It has a lot of black & white clippings and subdued tones, with a few pops of color here and there, which is perfect for a collage made in the winter. My favorite section is the one near the top with Ryan Gosling and Robert Redford separated by Patrick Swayze's back - all the shapes and lines fit so well together.

Here is a shot from December, when I was starting to play around with some of the images in my folder:

And here is one taken while I was building the above finished product: