For Days 10 to 18 of my 100 Days of Collage, I focused entirely on a neutral color palette—black, white, and brown.
This second group of nine artworks was all about exploring the play of light and shadow while grounding it in the natural, earthy tones of brown. I wanted to capture the rhythm of nature—where light and dark constantly shift, creating contrast, depth, and balance.
I started by creating collage clusters—small compositions of torn papers, packaging scraps, inky pages, and fabric, stitched together to form interesting textures and layers. Working in clusters first was such a game-changer! By the time I moved on to creating my 4×6-inch artworks, the process felt effortless. It was just a matter of layering these clusters over background pages, adding a few final details, and letting the pieces come together organically.
There’s something really special about working within a limited palette. Black and white represent light and shadow, while brown adds an earthy grounding force—like soil beneath our feet, holding everything together. The textures, the contrast, and the raw, fragmented beauty of it all made this series deeply meditative and fulfilling.
I also put together a small YouTube video showing my process—how I organized my scraps, created these collage clusters, and then moved on to my artworks. The video walks you through the cluster-making process clearly, and while I don’t show the full collage-making process, you can get a glimpse of how I layered everything together.
This process has made me realize how much I love working in layers—starting with smaller elements and letting them evolve into something bigger. It’s like piecing together little fragments of thought, memory, and texture to create something whole and meaningful.
I can’t wait to share these pieces with you—each one carries its own quiet story of contrast, balance, and organic beauty. Keep reading to see how they came together!
Day 10 - Woven in Wonder
For this piece, I gathered fabric scraps, laces, and paper and tied them together with thread.
I created two distinct clusters: A larger cluster with fabric and paper as the backdrop and a smaller, tied bundle of fabrics and laces.
There’s something so beautiful about how everything is connected, bound in wonder, showing that even small fragments can come together in a truly special way.
Day 11 - Threads of Time
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about time—how it’s not really a thing, but just the space between moments, something we measure to make sense of change. And in a way, this piece feels like that too—layers of vintage paper, coffee-dyed fabric, and stitched textures holding fragments of time.
The French knots and loose threads remind me of how some moments feel stitched in place, while others feel like they’re slipping away. The earthy browns ground everything, while the little bits of black contrast mark the shifts—just like time leaves its traces everywhere.
Day 12 - Silent Echoes
Silence isn’t nothingness—it has a presence, that’s always there. I hear it constantly, like a quiet current running underneath everything. It’s not a whisper or an echo of the past; it just is.
For this piece, I kept the background soft and neutral, almost weightless, like that subtle, ever-present sound of silence. The stitched fabric cluster with black and white French knots feels like little pulses in the stillness, tiny markers of this invisible rhythm.
And the words “Silent Echoes” are tucked under a layer of fabric—not meant to be obvious, just like the silence itself. You don’t always notice it, but it’s always there.
Day 13 - A Dance of Shadows
We all have a shadow side—the parts of us we try to hide, suppress, or push beneath the surface. But as Carl Jung said, it’s our shadow that truly shapes us, guiding us in ways we don’t always realize.
For this piece, I built a layered cluster of black fabric, black and white inky pages, and coffee-dyed fabrics—the shadow, tucked beneath. The smaller cluster of tangled threads, jute, and laces sits on top, like the self we present to the world.
But the blacks, whites, and browns are all woven together, because no matter how much we try to separate them, our light and shadow are always dancing—intertwined, inseparable, shaping who we are.
Day 14 - Layers of Light
White isn’t just white. The more I look at it, the more I see—soft ivories, warm creams, cool greys. Light shifts through these layers, revealing depth in what we often think of as just “blank” or “empty.”
For this piece, I wanted to explore that. I built two clusters—with soft white fabrics and laces and stitches. Everything is white on white, blending together, yet still full of texture and movement. The background is veiled under a thin, transparent fabric, softening the layers underneath—kind of like how light filters through sheer curtains.
And then, just for a little contrast, I added a touch of corrugated cardboard, painted white but letting a bit of brown peek through. Because even in the brightest light, a little shadow makes everything feel more alive.
Day 15 - Moments in Black & White
Most days feel the same—a routine, a rhythm, the same steps on repeat. It’s easy to call it monotonous, to see life in black and white, predictable and unchanging. But if you look a little closer, there’s always something more. A shift in the light during sunset, the quiet in-betweens, the way your coffee tastes just a little different today.
That’s what this piece is about. Layers of black and white, stitched together, structured, expected. And then—just a tiny touch of brown, a quiet warmth breaking through. At first, I thought I’d keep it strictly black and white, but this small moment of color felt necessary, grounding, alive.
Even in the most ordinary moments, there are whispers of something more. You just have to notice them.
Day 16 - Fragmented Harmony
It’s funny how the smallest, most ordinary scraps—torn paper, frayed fabric, leftover threads—can feel like nothing on their own. Just bits and pieces, disconnected, almost forgotten. But the moment they come together, something shifts. Layers start forming, textures build, and suddenly, there’s harmony where there was once only fragments.
That’s exactly what happened with this piece. Beige, brown, soft whites, with little peaks of black—nothing too bold, nothing too loud, yet everything feels just right.
It was pure joy watching these bits of nothing turn into something. Just tying them together with thread, layering one over another, and somehow, all these forgotten pieces found their place.
Maybe that’s how life works too—we’re all just fragments until we come together.
Day 17 - Whispers of Shadow
We like to believe we move through life by choice, that every step, every decision, is entirely our own. But if we listen closely—really closely—there’s something else at play. A quiet murmur beneath our thoughts, a pull from the unseen.
That’s the shadow, not demanding, not loud—just whispering. It moves through the smallest spaces, in between the obvious, much like the black splatters and French knots scattered across this piece. Tiny marks, barely there, yet impossible to ignore. They linger, they guide, they shape.
The contrast of black and white here is stark, yet soft—a quiet dialogue between light and dark. And in between, the whispers weave their way through, nudging, shaping, reminding us that sometimes, what we call free will is just the shadow leading the way.
Day 18 - Stitched with Soul
It’s funny how we overlook the simplest things. Corrugated cardboard, honeycomb packaging paper—just scraps, right? Cheap, ordinary, everywhere. Things we toss aside without a second thought.
But the moment I stitched them together, something shifted. They weren’t just scraps anymore. They became part of something whole.
That’s the thing about creating—it teaches you to see beauty where you didn’t expect it. A torn edge, a rough texture, a simple stitch binding it all together. It’s not about what something is, but what it can become.
Maybe that’s why I love stitching so much. It’s like giving forgotten things a second chance. And in doing that, I think it gives me one too.
If you enjoy experimenting with mixed media techniques like me, I have a collection of creative projects for you! From abstract mark making to textured collages and art journaling, explore a variety of tutorials that will spark your creativity.
And just like that, the second group of my 100-day collage project is complete. Nine pieces, each exploring light and shadow, contrast and harmony, whispers and echoes. What started with a pile of scraps—discarded papers, torn fabrics, coffee-dyed textures—became something meaningful. Something stitched together, layered with intention, filled with stories.
This group felt different. More grounded. More raw. Maybe it’s the limited palette—just black, white, and brown. Maybe it’s the way I’ve started seeing time, light, and shadows differently. Or maybe it’s the simple act of trusting the process, letting things come together in their own way.
I also realized something while working on these—art isn’t just about creating something beautiful. It’s about seeing beauty where you never thought to look. In a torn edge, in a faded print, in the rough ridges of corrugated cardboard. In the unnoticed and the overlooked.
And that’s exactly what this project is teaching me—to look closer, to listen deeper, and to trust that even the smallest fragments can come together in harmony.
Here is a look at all the 9 artworks:
