Create a Stronger Art Series With Repetition and Variation
Have you ever put several collages next to each other and wondered why they don’t quite feel like they belong together? Maybe you love each one individually, but when you see them side by side, they look more like five separate pieces that happen to be hanging on the same wall than an actual series.
I used to think the answer was simply repetition. Choose a limited color palette, repeat a few shapes or materials, keep the size consistent, and eventually the pieces will start talking to each other. And all of that definitely helps. But there’s another piece of this that I think is just as important, and it’s the part we don’t talk about nearly as much.
A strong art series isn’t only about what you repeat. It’s also about what you deliberately change.
That combination of repetition and variation is where things start getting really interesting.
First, Decide What Will Stay the Same
Whenever I’m creating a series, I like to give myself a few loose guidelines before I begin.
And I really do mean loose.
I don’t want so many rules that I already know what all five collages will look like before I’ve made the first one. That would take all the fun out of it. I just want enough consistency that the pieces have something connecting them. Sometimes I use the same limited color palette throughout the series, or every collage is the same size, I repeat a particular vintage paper, handwritten marks, circles, or another element I happen to be obsessed with at the moment.
Those repeated choices create a visual thread.
Think about siblings in the same family. You might immediately recognize that they’re related because they have the same eyes or smile, but you certainly wouldn’t want them to look exactly alike.
I think an art series works much the same way.
The collages need enough in common that your eye recognizes the relationship, but not so much that looking at one tells you everything you’re going to see in the others.
That’s where variation comes in.
Now Decide What You’re Willing to Change
Once you’ve chosen a few things to repeat, give yourself permission to play with almost everything else. This is the part I love.
Maybe a tiny shape in the first collage becomes enormous in the second. Something that was the focal point in one piece might barely peek out from behind another layer in the next.
Your composition might be quiet and spacious in one collage and much more energetic in another. You could repeat the same piece of vintage handwriting throughout the series, but tear it differently, turn it upside down, cover most of it, or let it take center stage.
The question I’m asking isn’t:
How can I make another collage that looks like this one?
It’s:
How many different ways can I explore this idea and still have the pieces feel related?
Repetition Creates Connection. Variation Creates Curiosity.
If everything changes from one piece to the next, the viewer may have trouble seeing the relationship between them.
But if nothing changes, there’s not much reason to keep looking. That’s why I think of repetition and variation as partners.
Repetition tells your eye, These belong together.
Variation says, Come a little closer. There’s something different happening over here.
And you can experiment with that balance endlessly.
Sometimes I make a series where the differences are fairly subtle. Other times I’ll push one element so far that I wonder whether I’ve gone too far, and that’s often when I learn the most. Because the wonderful thing about working in a series is that you don’t have to solve everything in one piece. If an idea doesn’t quite work in collage number two, you get to explore it again in number three.
Then number four.
Then number five.
When you make one collage at a time, you’re faced with an enormous number of decisions. What colors will I use? What size? What papers? What shapes? What composition? What feeling am I trying to create? A series removes some of those decisions.
If you’ve already decided that all five pieces will be 6 x 6 inches, use the same limited palette and include some form of handwriting, you don’t have to think about those things anymore. And strangely enough, having fewer choices can give you much more freedom. You start noticing which shapes you naturally return to, which compositions feel most like you, which papers you can’t stop reaching for, and what happens when you push an idea further than you normally would.
Over time, those repeated preferences start telling you something about your artistic voice.
Try This With Your Next Five Collages
The next time you sit down to create, instead of making one collage, decide from the beginning that you’re going to make five.
Then give yourself this very simple challenge:
Choose three things that will stay the same and one thing you’ll deliberately change.
Your three repeating elements could be:
- the same limited color palette
- the same substrate size
- one repeated shape, paper, mark, or image
Then choose one element to intentionally explore differently in every collage. It could be scale, composition, value, placement, orientation, or whatever makes you curious.
Don’t worry about whether all five pieces are equally successful. They probably won’t be, and that’s perfectly fine.
By the time you reach the fifth collage, I suspect you’ll know much more about your original idea than you did when you began. And you may discover that the piece you love most is the one you never could have imagined when you started.
That’s the real gift of creating an art series. You’re not simply making several pieces that look good together. You’re giving one idea enough time and attention to show you where else it can go.
And somewhere along the way, you may discover a little more about where you want to go, too.
I’d love to hear from you. Have you ever created a series of artwork? What did you discover by staying with one idea longer than you normally would? Share your experience in the comments.
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