by Susan Irving

I could not go outside for most of the day as I was waiting for a phone call. (Landline stays in and so must I.) Since I did not feel like cleaning my house, doing laundry (BORING!) or starting a new painting, I decided to try an experiment.

Using only torn bits of paper from a magazine (no scissors) and a sheet of paper for a base, I thought I would try to do a face. I hesitate to call it a portrait, as it is just someone I made up out of my head. It was a bit of a challenge, not being able to cut pieces with scissors so as to get an exact shape, but it did make me think about how to go about tearing the shapes that I needed.

At first it was hard going, but as I began to loosen up and not worry too much about a final result, this face began to emerge. All in all, it was a satisfying exercise and I am pleased with the result.