What’s in a Story? — #6

J. C. Bray
Last Draft /Stories
2 min readMay 12, 2020

Below are five collages done over the last few weeks. I guess I am imagining traveling even as I’m sheltering at home.

Cycle: Dusk
Cycle: Morocco

Abstract art tells stories through colour, line, shape, size, material. For me, colour is a particularly evocative means of expressing a mood, emotion, temperature, time and / or place.

Cycle: Mexico

The inspiration for this project was the work of avid cyclist and London ON artist Greg Curnoe (1936–92). His custom made Mariposa bikes were often the subject of his paintings. I started to think about how I would convey a cycling journey if I were relying on colour to tell the story. Every place has a unique colour palette whether it is Mexico, Spain, England, British Columbia, Ontario, a city, or the countryside. In March, the colours in the landscape are different than in May, August, or October. The quality of light is not the same at dawn, as it is at midday or dusk. All variations in colour, and colour combinations, describe something.

Cycle: August

For this series of five collages, I used coloured paper, and dyed newspaper. I layered and experimented with colour combinations, and the width / weight of the bands until I had a colour story that resonated with me. The pencil-drawn circle or cycle wheel superimposed over the colour strips, alludes to movement, travel, change, things happening and not remaining static. Each piece tells a story of a place and a time in abstract.

Cycle: Spain

J. C. Bray is a graduate of OCAD. Her artistic practice is inspired by found colour and colour combinations.

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