Taradiddle

For taradiddle I was trying to think of a very normal fib in everyday life. Something so commonplace you’d never notice if I didn’t draw attention to it. I chose the generic response to the question “How are you?” Answers are generally “great!” “busy” or maybe just “fine.” There’s usually a lot that’s left unsaid.

I initially considered using a bunch of smiling faces. I looked through my collage magazines (CommArts from the 90’s) and discovered two things:

1. 90’s stock photos of people are surprisingly dated, and it’s kind of hard to find normal photos of people (especially people who aren’t White).
2. This large image really captured the feel I was going for. It’s a paper sample, and the same woman is printed on the reverse, but she’s smiling.

I started layering with papers with this image until it felt right. I’m more comfortable with paint and mechanical objects, so collage-heavy pieces like this are an interesting challenge.