Red Rhythms
Select a song with "red" in the title, such as "Red Red Wine" by UB40 or the TikTok-popular “I See Red.”
Or explore some red-associated songs like “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift, the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” or the soundtrack from “The Red Violin.”
The idea is to tap into red literally, and as a feeling: bold, passionate, charged. Or emotions like love, anger, or excitement. Let the music set the the emotional tone of your collage.
For my exploration of this prompt, I experimented with a limitation: I used a single torn page from Jazziz Magazine—and nothing else. Working within that constraint created dynamic angles, rough edges, and unexpected collisions of color and texture. This approach pushes you to focus on rhythm, contrast, and movement rather than imagery.
You can try the same constraint or choose a more traditional path using red materials you gather yourself.
Steps:
Choose your ‘red’ song. Sit with the emotion it carries—urgency, warmth, tension, joy, drama.
Choose your materials. Here are a few options:
Pull papers in shades of red—from deep maroon to bright scarlet, edging into pinks or oranges.
Use a single source page that leans red or has enough tonal variation for you to build a red “feeling.” (It doesn’t have to be fully red.)
Gather imagery that signals intensity or passion: fire, roses, apples, lips, bricks, heat, movement.
Build your composition.
You can start with an anchor shape or let fragments lead the way. Try a tearing or striping approach—overlapping rough edges creates a sense of rhythm and heat (as in my sample piece).
