I care a lot about framing. I want boundaries to be important - both the boundary of the page and of the collage. Generally when I start a new piece I try to build a space for the disparate found paper elements to live in. With this series I tried to work without a frame. Each collage in this series starts with one or two watercolor rectangles laid down at random on a blank page, and new elements are added reactively. The goal isn't to build constrained compositions, but to respond to the shapes and colors sitting on the page.

Key to this response are large, abstracted pieces of typography. The contrast of hand-carved type printed over machine-set typography allows the different letterforms play off of each other, working both as abstract shapes and as language.

The collages in this series are intentionally simple - several feature only two collage elements on top of the watercolor shapes, and the most complex just four. Limiting the number of collage elements makes each chosen page, letterform, and cut/torn shape that much more important. Arranging them without a frame makes the work more about edges, and the juxtapositions along them.