Created by Liz Kurtz, September 2018.

This collage was one of the most advanced projects I have done on photoshop so far. The complexity of creating an overarching idea, and then using images to portray it was one of the hardest elements. I started over time and time again, trying to come up with an idea that could portray itself through my collage. After many drafts I decided to leave the message out of it and create something purely based on my preference of design. To my surprise the art I created seamed to communicate many meanings depending on the viewers interpretation. One of my favorite responses was the idea of being lost in your own thoughts, or the feeling of incomplete or loneliness. My design consisted of a black and white man representing man kind or an individual. The background I selected was a personal photograph taken in Hawaii, here the sea looks dark and stormy adding a depressed, dark emotion to the collage. Most of the images I used were ones that I found on the internet. As an artist I enjoy geometrical designs, this resulted in my use of straight lines. To add some life I decided to strategically place roses along the collar of the man. This added color and complexity to the meaning of my piece such as beauty and or love. In my eyes my collage gives off a feeling of heartbreak, it seems to tell a story rather than directly giving the viewer a simple meaning. In my design I used an exponential amount of the paint tool, this allowed me to select curtain elements of am image I wanted to place in my collage. Because my collage has an unrealistic geometrical look, It needed to be created on Photoshop. It would be impossible to take a realistic photograph that looks like my design. I spent a lot of time and thought in creating this collage, and I loved every second.