I chose to focus this piece on my internal imaginative world, and chose tea as my representative food item because of my longstanding relationship with caffeine and the way it affects my thoughts. I chose luxurious images with a strong focus on the natural world and objects that create or reflect light in a smooth, soft way. Everything is or could be made of natural materials, save perhaps the paint. I’m an extremely absent minded person and I’ve depicted the paint dripping onto my head to illustrate this; how I can become so focused on my internal world that I lose track of reality. The woman in red is the oracle. It’s the part of me that sees how things are linked together and connects the dots. I can call upon her for help with problems, but most of the time she’s there, in the subconscious, guiding me or showing me revelations without my conscious input at all. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to respect and rely on her and give her what she needs. The left side of the collage is where she lives; a dusky shrine on an island, nonsensical but beautiful. The top portion is of course all foliage and natural beauty. The lower right portion is an interior, full of the vividly colored objects and calm interiors that I love to be around. I have a particular love of velvet for its texture, and love things that gleam, like the polished black stone or metallic embroidery on the walls.

Materials used:
– Magazine clippings
– Bay leaves
– Loose Earl Gray tea leaves
– Ink made from Earl Gray tea with a touch of gum arabic for stability
– Paprika
– Cloves