"Above All Humble"

I thought it might be fun to see how a project progresses through a few stages of it's development. I began this self-portrait collage as part of Make it Mondays weekly challenge. I had never done any sort of self-portrait before and was a little stumped on how to begin and what to include. It felt odd focusing on my likeness in a project! As with any collage, I began with backgrounds. I chose a map of Kentucky (my home state,) photocopies of antique letters from my great grandmother (some date as far back as 1858!) I also added a page from a botanical book as well as bits from an old Farmer's Almanac. All background images were sanded and distressed. Next I laid on an old black and white head shot from my theatre days (yes, it's 20 years old!) Behind the photo I used two circular atlas images and on top I placed all the fun birds and flowers. I had so much fun choosing the flowers and birds. I decided to include a bit of symbolism in that the crowned bird on top is the very common raven. All the other "fancy pretty birds" are placed below the raven's image. That was my shot at paying tribute to being above all, humble. Various text clippings were added and finally I finished by adding rubber stamped images. I don't know if I'll ever do another self-portrait but thank-you Make it Mondays, if not for the weekly challenge I would have totally missed out on this very fun project.