Thought process behind "Planetary Shift"

When I begin making a photomontage, I usually have no map, design, or plan in mind. I'll often start laying down various textures or elements in my photo stash to see how they begin working with each other (or, more likely, fighting among themselves). Gradually something comes into view, a little "aha" moment that leads me on to something else.

Invariably I'll make a "mistake" that turns my piece another direction entirely and, for me, that's a huge part of the fun.

In this case, before I put the "planets" on, and the strings, I was thinking about the long, ragged "tear" I've got running the length of the image. I was thinking "fault zone," "rift," and "aerial view."

But the piece looked too empty. It needed some sort of focal point.

The concept of "aerial view" made me think of outer space and so I thought maybe I'd put a planet or a moon down toward the lower right. I used a piece of metal to create the round form. I drew the strings to sort of rein it in, to anchor it.

But where does the eye go from there? If there's nothing else in the piece (especially in a piece this tall), the planet is kind of lonely by itself and our eye tends to glance upward, see nothing, and then move back down to the moon/planet.

So I put two more round things in the upper left corner. I also drew some strings to hold them in place.

The strings make me think of orbits, maps, and movement. The smaller "moon" in the upper left makes me think of it orbiting the larger "planet" right next to it. Thus the name of the piece, which I call "Planetary Shift."

So what do I have now? I have a number of vertical background elements that encourage our eye to move up and down. I have the three moons/planets that catch our eye and that become focal points. Their shapes are the same but their sizes are different. Their patterns are similar, but different. Our eye recognizes patterns and shapes, so our eye now flickers diagonally from lower right to upper left.

By using strong vertical elements, I've created movement. By using strings, I've created movement. By using similar shapes in two different parts of the piece, I've created movement. My viewer's eye has places to go and things to see, and now you know why.

©Carol Leigh

P.S. If you'd like to see this image much larger, and if you'd like to see parts of it at 100% resolution, you can do so here at my art website: http://carol-leigh.artistwebsites.com/featured/planetary-shift-1-carol-leigh.html