Embroidered Collage

Why do I always strive for layering and complexity in my art?  Well, I like it!  But this is also a common theme in the altered art world.  What happens if I try to go minimal but stay mixed-media?  What do I need to do to keep the work both effective and mine?

This is my first attempt.  I glued a torn piece of paper to an 8"x10" of watercolor paper and then extended and distorted the patterns with Pitt Artist Pens, essentially colored India Ink.  It's interesting, but I think I can do better.

The dirty little secret here is that the other driver for going more minimalist was the need to have a completed piece every month to display as part of an online art group that I'm in and want to stay in.  That deadline combined with the layered and stitched work that I most want to make, even on an ATC scale, and my limited time was causing me way too much stress.  So I needed something else and that led me to ask the question I started the post with.

Creating this piece was an interesting exercise, but it was pretty spontaneous.  Future pieces should be better if I spend more time conceptualizing as I create.  That can be done during dishes and feeding time.  It will stretch my brain in different ways than my usual work as well as helping me meet a practical goal.