Barriers, whether physical or mental (Never! Always!) can need rethinking over time.

This piece started as a sketchbook exercise, from a class I took in 2022. After completing a month’s worth of prompts, I sent each sketch back into the digital lab, to see what I could build up. Despite many attempts on them all, this is the only one that made it out the other side! It’s not an analog aerial, but it’s a keeper.

Like every other piece in this series, there have been many edits and adjustments. But this is the model for contrast that spoke to me the most. I headed over to each other candidate in the series, and tweaked the values in each of them, to bring them all closer to this one, and that helped me turn the corner on this group as a whole.

This composition also has the most recent layers, too: some large swipes of red paint on a big manila pad provide some extra pink coverage on the right side. A collage from 2021, some colour from 2022, and rectangles from 2023 round out the selections.

Digital collage, 21 layers © 2024 Liz Ruest
From the Digital Aerials series

History

On display for World Collage Day, May 10, 2025, in Vancouver, courtesy of Atelier 8.18

Availability

• Signed editions created as custom orders: specify the base surface and size you’d like.