Creative Process & Development | January 2025
Collage, Birds & the Layers of Visual Practice: January Reflections
January is a month of slow movements—of looking back, gathering threads, and weaving them forward. My creative practice, always shifting and adapting, found new pathways this month. Here, I’m gathering a few reflections on what’s been lighting the way: textures, experiments, and quiet fires in process.
Flowers in the dark, experiments with collage
The Art of Collage: Learning from Juliana Penkova
Some discoveries feel like serendipity: I stumbled upon Juliana Penkova’s work on Pinterest and was thrilled to find out she teaches collage workshops in Berlin. A two-day workshop and deep dive into her process ignited something in me—especially the interplay between negative space and abstract backgrounds.
For the most part, I gravitated toward birds and botanicals, layering them in new ways. But the true revelation came on the second day: working with stencil-like cutouts, I let the absence of material become its own presence. Negative space became an active force, holding as much weight as the shapes themselves. It felt like elements meeting and separating, defining one another in unexpected ways.
This process is already finding its way into my client work. There’s something potent about this emergence—bringing techniques that feel deeply personal into spaces of co-creation and visual storytelling. I sense an evolving language forming, one that captures the essence of a scene in new ways.
A Month of Birds: Drawing as a Daily Practice
January was also a month of drawing birds. I had done a “birds & words” project in January 2023, and this year, I followed the gentle pull of the birbfest challenge on Instagram. My structure was loose, but one thing was certain: analogue materials only. There’s something grounding about the physical act of drawing every day—the rhythm of it and the commitment to showing up. The birds, in their quiet presence, became like companions throughout the month. Some were rough, some more detailed, some became really weird sketches. With some I put a focus on materials used, some were drawn with wanting to create a scene and set an intricate background.
The Nuances of Tone & Value: Sketchbook Studies
Another thread in this month’s exploration came from Emma Carlisle’s Patreon sketchbook challenge. I’ve long been inspired by her work and her Patreon offering. Working through her “tone and value” and “composition” exercises opened new doors. There’s a deep satisfaction in discovering how even small shifts in contrast can reshape a scene’s energy, how a single tonal adjustment can shift the emotional weight of an image.
I find myself thinking more and more about these technical nuances—not as rules, but as tools for expression. The more I learn, the more possibilities emerge.
Moving Forward: Expanding the Conversation
What I love about these moments of experimentation is that they don’t exist in isolation. Each discovery becomes a conversation—a dialogue between techniques, materials, and ideas. The interplay between collage, daily drawing, and tonal studies is shaping something new in my work. I’m excited to see how it unfolds.
For now, I’ll keep gathering, layering, and exploring. These small acts of making, of paying attention, are their own kind of practice. A way of listening to what wants to emerge next.
