This series of large format mixed media collages came about organically. I started with a timed blind contour drawing of a buck’s skull and was left with a chaotic scribble of lines.

With a closer look I found shapes that I could map back to the skull. In a sense, I took the subject matter apart and put it back together with color.

For texture and narrative, I was struck by pages from Madame Bovary. There was something about the story of a woman delusional yet trapped in a world that imposed these delusions upon her: dependence on a man for happiness, disappointment with reality, being used by other men and disposed of, and the unrealistic fantasies that she escaped to.

The pages yielded phrases that were suggestive and poignant. Each collage represents a stage in the journey of a lost woman, from the energy of waking to the cold isolation of waiting and wanting. The deer’s skull with antlers happens to be a muse that is featured, neither symbolic nor representing anything more than a vehicle for line work and color. It is through these elements that I evoke the atmosphere for each piece.